Erwin Rommel(Desert Fox)

liuzg150181 SG

LoL,sorry my oversight~~~ Laughing
Though for such a general it is worth mentioning his name twice. Smile

Shotgun SG

I wouldn't disagree to the fact that the Americans were really very mislead in their doctrine, and their stubborness in not upgrading their sherman's guns. I watched this discovery documentary about the tanks of world war 2. 4 shermans against a Tiger. 3 will be destroyed by the tiger before the last sherman can dash around to the rear of the tiger to kill it.

liuzg150181 SG

Directive by General Patton:When a tiger tank appears there should be ten sherman tanks to deal with it......... Shocked
Though i browse through some books regarding the issue,one of which got to do with US military complex meddling with the decision of production of the USAF. Cant remember the title but would like to get it one day.

thinkdifferent SG

I think Tobruk. That's atleast my favourite battle. Razz

Shotgun SG

The USAF did not exist back then. It was still under the USAAF. Army Air Force.

In anycase, the Americans only adopted "dive" bombers much too late. Prior to that, the allies also believed the Strategic bombers to be unstoppable. That en mass, they could defend themselves against attacks. Of course, we now know it wasn't true, and that the only reason allied bomber losses were reduced was cos of the introduction of the Mustang.

And the P-51 mustang was not really a late war invention. The first model of the mustang was already in service in 1941. The RAF used it as a recon plane, and the US as dive bombers. It was only much later that they replaced the allison engine with the famous merlin that they realised their solution for long range figther escorts was actually staring at their faces all this while.

Back to the sherman thing. Now, why did the British became smart enough to re-arm their shermans with 17 pounders. Why not the Americans? Somehow, I feel it had to do with Montgomery's experience in the Desert with Rommel. He was a cautious commander that didn't really apprieciate the "Blitzkrieg." Of course, that was why a lot of ppl felt that he wasn't really suitable to be an armored commander.

|-|05| SG

I just dont think Monty was good enough to command anything more then a division. I mean come one, his conduct of most of this campaigns were pretty much won by numbers.

Shotgun SG

He was a cautious commander. Thats all I can say. He never really totally bought the daring armored thrust thing. He tried it once at market garden but screwed it up cos he didn't compensate for time his land forces took to move across difficult terrain.

charlemagne SG

Yeah. Despite his differences from the Allied, he is really one of the best generals Germany has to offer in World War 2. If not for General Patton, he would have overrun America out of Africa.

charlemagne SG

Monty, a prima donna. Laughing

Shotgun SG

Actually, Rommel’s success in Afrika was seriously hampered by the eastern front. Resources were mostly channeled against the Russians. Rommel recieved almost zero air support, and few tanks.

Moltke SG

Yes. After the DAK's defeat at El Alamein and the Torch landings, Hitler suddenly "found" that he could spare reinforcements to Africa after all, including the 10th Panzer Division. Moreover, these were shipped over and supplied under conditions of overwhelming Allied air and naval superiority.

If these reinforcements had been sent to Rommel half a year earlier (mid-1942) he would certainly have ruptured the British defenses in Egypt, taken Cairo and the oilfields of the Mideast.

If Hitler didn't have such a landlocked mindset, and sent four or five adequately supplied panzer divisions with air support in 1941, Rommel would have struck the British Empire a decisive blow in the North Africa/Mideast theater.

fudgester SG

Seriously, the assault on Russia was utter stupidity on Hitler's part. It really didn't make much sense for him to attack Russia other than the fact that he hated the Russians and regarded them as 'subhuman'. Sure, capturing more land in Russia also meant more 'Lebensraum' (living space) for the Germans, but it doesn't make sense to own a lot of land if you can't really live off it due to Stalin's 'scorched earth' policy as the Soviets retreated.

Sure, there were the oilfields in the Caucasus and the grain in the Ukraine, but resource-wise, it still didn't make sense. Had Rommel been properly reinforced from the very beginning, it's not much of a stretch to say that he could have captured the Suez Canal at one end and Gibraltar at the other. They could then continue rolling on virtually unopposed towards the Persian Gulf.

As everyone knows, the oil in the Caucasus is peanuts compared to what the Persian Gulf has to offer.

Heck, they could go all the way to India if they wanted to, coordinating the assault with the Japanese. Imagine this: India invaded from the West by the Germans, and from the east by the Japs.

I know that this is all a lot of fanciful thinking, but I can't help wondering. I got all this from an interesting book I once read about the most stupid mistakes made by Hitler in WWII.

Any comments, people?

Moltke SG

I too believe that a properly equipped (4-5 panzer divisions) and supplied Afrika Korps could have kicked the British out of Egypt and taken the Mideast/Persian Gulf area.

There were indeed some advocates in the Japanese Army that wanted to strike into India and link up with the Germans, but in the end the Tokyo raid (April 1942) put an end to that and the Navy got its way (Midway). Had the Japanese concentrated on pushing into India in early 1942, with a neutral Russia, the Axis powers would've dealt the British Empire a near mortal blow. It might even have caused Churchill's government to collapse. Conceivably a new British government might be persuaded to seek terms with Hitler, and the outcome of the war would've been totally different.

Of course, that's IF the Germans and Japanese don't start backstabbing each other ... Mr. Green

LazerLordz SG

I don't think the Japanese would have been able to take India, Kush and Afghanistan. Confused

Shotgun SG

Wow…. what’s the name of the book that suggested that? I wanan go read it…

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