Last week, AT contributor Steve Feinstein wrote about the British Supermarine Spitfire at Dunkirk.  He postulates that Air Marshal Lord Hugh Dowding made the decision to withhold deployment of Spitfires to the continent, feeling they would be needed for the defense of British Isles and would be wasted in a futile effort in the Battle for France.  (This point is debatable, considering that the vast majority of aircraft in Fighter Command was the sturdy and reliable Hawker Hurricane.)  However, evidence shows that this attitude was mirrored in the use – or not – of British ground forces during the battle, where they were perhaps withdrawn based upon a similar notion for saving these forces for a later fight. First, I'll clear up some misconceptions. The Campaign in Poland The Germans' campaign to defeat Poland was completed not in a matter of a "few short weeks."  It was about five weeks of extremely tough...(Read Full Post)