Comments on: Nellie – Churchill’s Mechanical ‘Mole’ http://www.armchairgeneral.com/nellie-churchills-mechanical-mole.htm All things military history! Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:09:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Aton T. Kunene http://www.armchairgeneral.com/nellie-churchills-mechanical-mole.htm/comment-page-1#comment-22600 Aton T. Kunene Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:37:47 +0000 http://www.armchairgeneral.com/articles.php?page=1&p=3604#comment-22600 At 0900 November 11th, the frustrated cavalry generals, including Winston Churchill, were at last able to launch possibly the largest cavalry charge of WW1 into the German lines. Note the timing against an exhausted and hungry enemy. Just how rapidly the Germans were able to set up machine guns in retaliation is now uncertain. Although perfectly legal not something to be proud of. At 0900 November 11th, the frustrated cavalry generals, including Winston Churchill, were at last able to launch possibly the largest cavalry charge of WW1 into the German lines.

Note the timing against an exhausted and hungry enemy. Just how rapidly the Germans were able to set up machine guns in retaliation is now uncertain. Although perfectly legal not something to be proud of.

]]> By: Aton T. Kunene http://www.armchairgeneral.com/nellie-churchills-mechanical-mole.htm/comment-page-1#comment-22599 Aton T. Kunene Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:30:35 +0000 http://www.armchairgeneral.com/articles.php?page=1&p=3604#comment-22599 This isn't the first publication of this scheme. I remember reading a considerable article on the whole project in a military magazine in the 1970s. There were several colour pictures of the machine, including it digging a vast trench. General Ironside was at heart a cavalryman and seems to have harboured hopes that such a machine would clear away the barbed wires and machine gun emplacements leaving clear routes for cavalry charges. Hitler loved big projects involving lots of concrete and one way of avoiding service on the deadly Eastern front was by pandering to this taste. None of the vast building projects in France were ever intended to be completed. The important point was to simply keep building and away from the Eastern Front until the war was over. This isn’t the first publication of this scheme. I remember reading a considerable article on the whole project in a military magazine in the 1970s. There were several colour pictures of the machine, including it digging a vast trench.

General Ironside was at heart a cavalryman and seems to have harboured hopes that such a machine would clear away the barbed wires and machine gun emplacements leaving clear routes for cavalry charges.

Hitler loved big projects involving lots of concrete and one way of avoiding service on the deadly Eastern front was by pandering to this taste.

None of the vast building projects in France were ever intended to be completed. The important point was to simply keep building and away from the Eastern Front until the war was over.

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