After Battle of Gazala Rommel commanded the following: Three Italian Alpini (non-motorized) divisions (two regiments each of three battalions plus 100mm and 75mm guns) Two Italian Bersaglieri (non-motorized) Regiment (two battalions each plus 100mm and 75mm guns) Two Italian motorized infantry divisions (two regiments each of three battalions plus 100mm and 75mm guns) One Italian Armored division (one armored regiment of three battalions, one motorized Bersaglieri infantry regiment, and light tank company and some guns of various calibers) Two Wehrmacht Panzer divisions (one panzer regiment each of 2 battalions (4 companies each) plus one mechanized infantry regiment (three battalions each mounted in halftracks) self-propelled 105mm and 150mm guns plus a recon battalion of light tanks and armored cars) One Wehrmacht motorized infantry division (two regiments infantry mounted in trucks plus a recon battalion armored cars plus 105mm towed howitzers with dedicated trucks) Two flak regiments (twelve towed 88mm Flak 18 guns plus Hanomag tractors and ready ammunition trucks) Army artillery (eight towed 105mm howitzers, six 210mm howitzers, three 170mm howitzers plus Hanomag tractors and ready ammunition trucks. The Eighth Army (about the same time) Four non-motorized infantry divisions of brigades (four battalions plus light AT guns)each (one division half strength Note: The Australians had been beaten down in previous battles and had been withdrawn to refit. One armored division (three brigades plus three recon companies (light tanks and armored cars) Three independent brigades (four battalions of non-motorized infantry and light AT guns) Army artillery (towed 25 pounders and heavy trucks as tractors) Miscellaneous company-sized units Given the crucial nature of the battle, one is struck by how few forces were committed. The small forces were due entirely to logistical limitations. The Axis had failed to fully neutralize Malta and the ability of the Italians to supply much more was questionable. The Italians had only three ports in North Africa the main port at Tripoli (ten ships at a time), Benghazi (one ship at a time) and Tobruk (four ships at a time). The Italians had a single-track railroad that ran from Tripoli to El Agheila (about a tenth of the distance from Tripoli to El Alamein. Despite the enormity of the British merchant fleet it is a long, long voyage from Britain to Alexandria. Alexandria is a splendid port capable of handling more ships than the British could send. But its the only capable port in Egypt. If it falls the next defensible spot is India. In June 1942, Rommel turned the indefensible position at the major airbase of Mersa Matruh and the British lost about a third of their forces. However Rommel was getting short of ammunition and fuel. His Italians ate pasta (Germans ate rye bread) and needed four times as much fresh water as his Germans. As he pursued the Eighth Army, he was running short while the British were falling back on their supply base and were lavishly supplied. Rommel thought that if he had one more panzer division and about 300 trucks he could take Alexandria. Given the weakness of the British after Gazala and Mersa Matruh, this estimate seems plausible. Limitations. Hitler could only scratch up three hundred trucks by completely immobilizing all the forces in France and the Low Countries. The war in the Soviet Union by May of 1942 had picked back up in tempo. The Wehrmacht had no panzers to spare, but the Hermann Goering Division sat in Germany uncommitted. The US bombing campaign had not yet begun and the British were only beginning to get area bombing right. Goering could have spared fifth Flak 18s. In order to move the Hermann Goering Division to the front and provide supply (even with 300 more trucks) Rommel would have had to march the non-motorized Italians back to Tobruk. Being generous, those Alpini infantry were maybe 10% of Rommels combat power. What if the Axis had gambled and shipped the Hermann Goering Division, fifty Flak 18s, and 300 trucks to Rommel? I say Rommel (barely) punches through at Ruweisat Ridge, turns El Alamein, and takes Alexandria (completely indefensible from the land side). Rommels logistics clear up and Egypt falls. The trucks, Hermann Goering Division and Flak 18s go back to the Reich. The Italians bring their Alpini in by ship to occupy Egypt. Rommel sets his sights on the British oil fields in Persia. It's a long way but the British will have a difficult time supporting any resistance.
It has been a long time since I have read about the North Africa campaign, but everything you put down seems to make sense- Rommel was remarkably successful with the forces he had, and as you pointed out, logistics were a major problem. Intriguing idea.
Never going to happen. Rommel was a logistical idiot. He always considered someone else should be taking care of it - he was too busy being a general and stuff
The Wehrmacht in general couldn't call logistics their forte. One of the main reasons they took such horrendous casualties the winter of 41-41 was they just couldn't get food & fuel to the front. Not enough railway repair troops. The US wrote the book in the Pacific.
Yeah a lot of people dont realize the whole container industry we have today was invented by the US military during the Pacific war. And the British where no slouches either
The time for the Axis to win in the Mediterranean was in late 1940 and early 1941. A refitted German parachute division and some Italian Alpini regiments could have taken Malta in the fall of 1940. Malta's garrison was woefully undermanned and under-supplied and this was not rectified until January 1941. With Malta out of the picture, the Italians had the central Med to themselves. By winter of 1941, the Wehrmacht could have refitted three panzer and three motorized infantry divisions, moved them to North Africa and supplied them. Six Wehrmacht divisions easily swat aside the Western desert Force and the Axis is sitting on the Suez Canal by March of 1941. At that point, the choice is Hitler's: Send the six divisions back for Barbarossa, or send three back and let the other three take all of the Levant, Mesopotamia and maybe even the Persian Gulf oil fields. The Italians can handle occupation and defensive duties. Turkish mercenaries (in German uniforms) could keep the locals down as they had for centuries.
