IB, I really shouldn't have asked, should I? Let us leave Australia in the same pending tray as Lord Louis, TSR2, and Buccaneer, and at least agree that whatever else can be levelled at Bomber Harris none of that particular unpleasantness can. Meanwhile some bedtime reading :-
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documen...-Hindsight.pdf
Apologies for getting Alexandria and Mers-el-Kebir confused. So easily done. The fact remains though that both denied Hitler the French Fleet which was absolutely vital. The French may never have forgiven us, but nothing new there. Their man of course could never be described as pig headed, could he?
I'm not sure that I've ever considered Dowding or Park as heroes but simply the right men in the right place at the right time. I know the Royal Navy thinks differently about Nelson and I do acknowledge that he was our salvation.
The odds against surviving a tour in BC were bad enough, but some went on for two or more. That takes a very special kind of courage that I can only stand in awe of.
Oh, yes, Harris. So your final gripe is that he may have lobbied WC on behalf of BC? You may well say that but I couldn't possibly comment!