Alexander is not dispassionate, a dispassionate observer does not use words as cynicism,deception, lack of candour, blatant misleading .Sid Guttridge wrote: ↑29 Sep 2018, 17:00Hi ljadw,
Neither you, nor I, have any idea what Alexander's moral principles were, so we cannot presume to know how they influenced his analysis, if at all.
If one had to be in the position of the protagonists to be able to comment, no military history could ever be written that wasn't autobiography, which is necessarily the most subjective and unreliable type of all!
Surely, if French actions did not concern Britain, Alexander is more likely to be a dispassionate observer than either a Frenchman or a Pole, who might have vested interests?
Cheers,
Sid.
A dispassionate observer remains neutral ,does not take sides of Poland and condemns France,although Poland was also cynical,deceptive,without candour and misleading .
Besides ,a good diplomat must be without candour, must mislead, must be cynical and deceptive .
The truth is that already in 1929 France had "abandoned 'Poland and that Poland knew it and did not ask a honest answer, because it would know the truth .The policy of both countries was to let sleeping dogs lie .
Only a Frenchman who lived in 1939 could understand the French reasons who were dictated mainly by the memories of WWI : a big part of France was destroyed during WWI and 7 % of French males had died . No British regions were destroyed and only 3,5 % of British males were killed . This is something only a Frenchman can understand .
Churchill said that Britain and the US were separated by the same language, and Britain and France had not even the same language .
Gamelin was not lying ,otherwise he would not become chief of staff, he was economical with the truth ,which was a requirement to become chief of staff .
At the mobilisation France had 60 divisions in the Nord-East Theater of Operations ( Northsea -border with Switserland ) , but the majority of them were not available for an offensive against Germany,as they were located at the French -Belgian border and at the French-German border : a division in Strabourg was not in the Sarre .Gamelin promised an attack with the majority of his available forces, and,as he attacked with 11 divisions, the conclusion is that 11 divisions were the majority of his available forces .
About Vuillemain :the first allied bomber who attacked Berlin was a French one on June 7 1940 .