As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
The following white paper is an assessment on the Battle of, , between Field Marshal Irwin Rommel and General Bernard Montgomery.
I will not in this examination rehearse the names and places which none of you would know anyway, because what this examination is, is the layman's version of battle in warfare, which is important as legend supplants reality, and thereby no nation or military can adequately prepare for theater warfare, when it is based upon legend, instead of fact.
The facts are North Africa was not a German operation, as it was Italian, and Hitler only posted troops and Germany gained command from the Italian losses in Africa.
Africa was a colonial war of very low quality colonials and non motivated Italians. In North Africa, Italy and Britain had been waging seesaw battle over Libya, with the Germans as of late commanding, as the coastal plain was the avenue of battle which advanced to past lines of communication, which favored the other party, and then a retreat would ensue.
This is what Montgomery arrived into as Rommel was in Germany in hospital. Hitler himself asked Rommel to return to Africa and in that Rommel arrived as the first hard fighting was taking place on the eastern line.
What Rommel would face was the Americans and British in the west on the Atlas Mountains and Montgomery in the east at el Alamein.
North Africa up to this point was contested tank battles. Montgomery switched tactics at el Alamein to sending in two spears of infantry backed by artillery. He told his officers and men, that it would be heavy fighting, hard fighting and long fighting. The Germans would not surrender and they would not retreat. The British would not retreat either, as they would fight it out there.
Montgomery analyzed that he would loose over 13,000 men, and he did lose 13,5000 tommies in 3 weeks of horrid fighiting, but finally his second spear broke through and into this he forced his armor.
General Rommel, was receiving little resupply. He had no fuel, his tanks were not able to counter, so he began a retreat in haste.
In Bernard Montegomery, there echoes a great deal of Lord Nelson at Waterloo. At Waterloo, Nelson absorbed the entire French army of Napoleon, burning up his forces all day, but Napoleon did not break through the British position as he did not strike correctly with his cavalry. As the French used themselves up, Nelson counter attacked and routed the French.
Montgomery in like manner expended for 3 weeks around 1/10th of the British army in a horrific casualty count. He had held defensive position for weeks before, and then went on the attack which was different from Nelson, but one finds the same plodding structure of simple tactics, massive losses and then breaking through an enemy which has expended themselves.
Rommel had before him as a command, the Italians who were not motivated for the fight, and a few German divisions. The Italians were not pleased with Rommel as in World War I in Italy, with 50 mountaineers, he had captured 7000 Italians. The result was that at el Alamein the Germans were outnumbered and hindered. What is extraordinary in this was the mauling that the Germans gave the British.
Rommel could not gain supply as the Ostheer was consuming resources in Russia. Stalingrad was a kill zone fro Germans, and in all of this, if an Ostheer division had been directed to Libya, Rommel would have rolled up the British and the Americans. If Rommel could have been at Stalingrad,, those forces probably would have tipped the tide for Germany there.
The Atlas Mountains in the west offered little avenue for German strike forces. The Americans of 1st Army had been mauled, but learned quickly in being unseasoned and did not make the same mistakes in fighting the Germans in the second wave as the British accounted themselves there bravely.
At el Alamein, Montgomery's breakthrough, would force Rommel in full retreat and the New Zealand armoured almost cut the Panzers off in retreat, but that delay, and heavy rains in week two, would mean weeks of forcing the Germans back to Tripoli, instead of a swift roll up.
Montgomery has been in late years castigated for his delays, but that is ignorance of the keyboard generals, in not realizing that Bernard Montgomery was fighting more than Germans.
Montgomery had to deal with Churchill who sacked officers worse than Adolf Hitler ever did, and Hitler pointed that out to his officer corp.
Montgomery had gained the first victory for the British in years of warfare. The British had lost in France. Lost in Africa several times. Had lost in the Orient. They were losing in the Atlantic and the precarious line England was hanging on by, even with Americans pouring into the country, was something no general was ever going to squander and be blamed to be held up to scorn in snatching defeat from the glory of victory.
Lastly, Montgomery was a methodical, plodding officer as were most Americans and all of the British. He was not a Blitzkrieg tactician and never would be.
In Sicily Patton made a point of it to outrace him to Palermo. In Europe, Montgomery was the exact slug as the American 1st Army as Patton's 3rd Army was wheeling and implementing the American Blitzkrieg in smashing the Germans. Montgomery was protecting his reputation and with laurels, why should the British fight when the Americans under Patton were fighting the war for them again.
British officers were always adept at mauling the enemy and mauling their own armies. In retrospect, the Germans suffered from the same problems in Africa as in Europe in lackluster Axis troops not supporting the German corp. Yes the Germans were driven back, but the cost to the Soviets and English were horrid casualties. In conclusion, 1 German Landser was worth 100 Soviet and 20 British. In later engagements, it was the American Germans fighting Sachs Germans which was the equal contest which the American Israelites bettered the German Assyrian.
These battles matter from Carthage to el Alamein, as this is the invasion route which Europe will revisit in moving to annexing the Holy Land in the coming battles. The power to contest this will be Egypt, and if Egypt can not stop the Neo European Army on the coastal approaches of Libya, small division with air support will spill into the sands of Egypt and gain Cairo in 36 hours. With the Jews welcoming their Sebastian Kurz as savior, crossing the Sinai will be a simple convoy drive.
Europe must raise a military of at least 250,000 coupled with 500,000 robotics, and she will gain North Africa, have a capable force of holding the Balkans and in the mountains of Turkey, hold Russia at bay. The weak point being the Euphrates and Tigress Rivers in the east as the Caspian is an open door even with Iran secured, and that avenue would require another 250,000 troops to hold or a better advanced mechanized robotics to hold that field.
el Alamein was not a British victory any more than Stalingrad was to Russia. It was a mauling and exposed the need for German resupply and the use of Russian and British pack carriers as fodder, against lackluster Finnish, Italian and Romanian troops.
Nuff Said
agtG
