good morning jack

  

A  C  T  I  O  N      7

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Mediterranean

  

 The climatic face off between Rommel's Afrika Korps

and Montgomery's 8th Army was at El Alamein, 

1400 miles from Tripoli where all the supplies

arrive from Italy.  All the supplies, that is, that 

make it past the British held island of Malta.

No one beats Rommel in understanding desert warfare.

He makes brilliant use of his armor.  Victories enable

him to ignore a fundamental rule if logistics:

You can't use what you don't have.

 Everything Rommel needs comes from Italy.

Royal Navy subs operate out of Malta.

So do RAF fighters and bombers.

There are months where no more than half 

the supplies made it to Tripoli.  

That's desperately needed new tanks, trucks,

weapons, ammunition and fuel on the ocean's bottom.

Bombing Malta doesn't solve the problem.

Would invading the island with an amphibious 

assault be worth the high risk?

Rommel and his two German divisions in Libya

are a side show to the main event - Russia.

No one matched Rommel in battle.

They didn't need to.  His amazing tanks set idle

everywhere, out of gas.  Trucks worn out.

Troops weak with dysentery.

Maybe we should tell Hitler about our problems.

Maybe not.  The Fuhrer's main event seems to be

going not quite as planned.

* * * * * 

©  Tom Taylor

OVER  EASY

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good morning jessicca

  

B E A C O N 

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Rommel

  

 German troops arrive in three weeks.

Tanks of the 15th Panzers, 120 of them,

off load at the end of May.

Two months from now.

 Two months gives the British time to train

their green troops.  It gives them time to 

plot their fields of fire, fortify positions,

string barb wire and lay mines.

 The Tommy's are untested.

Their leadership green and uncertain.

The speed of desert warfare should 

knock them for a loop.

Italians generally perform better when led by Rommel.

But in this frontal assault the Brits are stubbornly

holding their ground.

Then, late in the afternoon, Rommel delivers 

a sharp armored hook into the coastal flank

of the British line.  The English defense collapses.

Mersa el Brega falls to the Nazis.

Two months early.

 How much time do you think armies put into

practicing retreat?  It's not easy to do.  

In this instance the British formations disintegrate.

Military order becomes a mob heading for the exit.

Rommel's forces stay close on their heels,

gobbling up territory all along the way.

* * * * *

©  Tom Taylor

OVER  EASY

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good morning jeremy

  

N O  !

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Cyrenaica

  

 Operation Compass

At the end of 1940 the British route Italian forces

arrayed along the Libyan border with Egypt.

British Desert Generals

Thinking the Italian threat in Libya is extinguished

Churchill guts his army in North Africa by sending

its best troops off to the Balkans in a futile attempt

to save Greece from a Nazi invasion. 

Rommel in North Africa 

The legendary Desert Fox arrives in February 1941.

The British, Italians and Germans, even Hitler,

expect the Afrika Korps will launch their first attack

on British forces sometime in May, giving Rommel

the needed time to acclimate himself to the realities

of desert warfare.

Italian POWs

What's there to acclimate to?  

Rommel begins planning his offensive the day

he arrives, catching a plane to scout the terrain.

His men haven't even begun to show up.  No problem.

He'll use the Italian forces still under Axis control.

They got shellacked by the British but Rommel

is confident they will perform for him.

There are no bad men, just bad leaders.

Charge of Italian M13 tanks 

The tanks don't arrive for weeks.

We don't need German tanks when we've got Italian

ones.  There are no excuses for delaying this attack.  

The British are in disarray.  Their new generals

are inexperienced and uncertain.  

Surprise them with a swift, hard kick.  

In the desert it is all about speed.

Tobruk becomes a famous last stand.

This fortified harbor is manned by a division 

of Aussies.  They're not much for spit-shined 

salutes but they behave with a nasty disposition

good enough to stop the Afrika Korps 

in its tracks.

* * * * * 

©  Tom Taylor

OVER  EASY

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good morning justin

  

R A G E

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