Nebula with 40% off annual subscription with my link: go.nebula.tv/realtimehistory Watch Rhineland 45 about Monty's last battle in WW2: nebula.tv/videos/real-time-history-1-come-hell-or-high-water-i-rhineland-45

@petercoleman2834

5 ай бұрын

I find it insulting to compare Tunisia to stalingrad, yes it was a bloody campaign, but not the meat grinder stalingrad was

Rommels genius was in maneuver, in situations where logistics and decisive planning were required he struggled compared with his contemporaries. Tunis represents the exact situation that played against all his strengths

@realtimehistory

5 ай бұрын

the losses from his bold actions beforehand also didn't help

@dr.victorvs

5 ай бұрын

I wouldn't say he struggled any more than the average German general. Which is not to say there weren't competent ones, just that those were above average. It's all about incentives, too. No one is getting a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Diamonds for managing those warehouses really well.

@obsidianjane4413

5 ай бұрын

The British (and now Americans) would always be able to outmatch and outlast German and Italian logistics. Rommel's only option was to aggressively outmaneuver and defeat them on the battlefield before that advantage could be brought to bear. Of course he failed, but it was a much closer run thing than it should have been.

@tannerdenny5430

5 ай бұрын

Yeah, he mostly deligated those tasks to underlings. Therin lies his problem he couldn't do it all. He's not Belisarius.

@adistepic7957

5 ай бұрын

I think the German logistics situation failed him. He would have probably won if he was supplied correctly.

Rommel describing the Americans as Britain's Italians. That must've stung!

@Patrick462

5 ай бұрын

As an American, I have no problem with that characterization. No sting for me! At that time for that theater it was essentially correct, due at least somewhat to inexperience. However, a month later, the Americans contributed to the victory in North Africa. Then Sicily, then a bunch of other stuff.

@eodyn7

5 ай бұрын

His statement on the US military aged like milk.

@Warmaker01

5 ай бұрын

It didn't sting as much compared to what the Germans were experiencing and where the US Army was in 1945.

@MechWomanWarrior15

5 ай бұрын

It did sting a little haha. But as was pointed out, it was pretty accurate at the time.

@tomhenry897

5 ай бұрын

Due to numbers Not skill

He really called us Italians. Even 80 years later that hurts

@amogusenjoyer

5 ай бұрын

But he then praises the Americans a bit later, so at least there's that 😅

@lastmanstanding-xp3ub

5 ай бұрын

I wasn't sure if I was the only one who felt that gut punch 😂

@obsidianjane4413

5 ай бұрын

I've read where it was Bri'sh officers that referred to Americans as "their Italians" instead.

@recoil53

5 ай бұрын

@@amogusenjoyer That was key - the Americans learned fast. What the British and some Germans didn't appreciate was that America had just entered the war. At the same point in their time line, British troops were getting kicked out of France, then Norway. Even further down the road, they get their @sses handed to them in Singapore and have Force Z wrecked. The US Army started the war with 200K soldiers and ended up with 16M. That is an expansion of 80x. The dilution of experience is unreal.

@murrayscott9546

5 ай бұрын

Hadda way with words, didn't he ?

My father was with the 21st NZ Battalion, 2nd NZ Division at both Tebaga Gap and Takrouna - he served 1 week short of 4 years in Nth Africa and Italy!

Channels like these have made me more passionate about history than any class 😊

@davidhoward4715

5 ай бұрын

You should have studied more.

@jacktattis

2 ай бұрын

Go and do your own research as well.

My father was part of the USAAF flying the P-40 and participated in the battle of North Africa supporting the British 8th Army and Tunisia and when I was young told me stories of old Cairo and Tunisia.

@BradleySmith-xv2ec

Ай бұрын

My father was there (Captain William Elmer Smith - at the time I believe) HE often spoke of the Kasserine Pass and later a speaker at the S.C. State Museum. Upon the unification of Germany - he yelled at the TV as the Berlin Wall was coming down. Later some months he lamented the unification with his final words on the subject, "They are a violent and warlike people. They should not be unified."

I have nowhere else to say this but my grandad and his brother were two of a three man squad who operated a vickers gun at Tunis. They are on record as being the first into the city along with another gentleman. They got medals for gallantry, as vickers gunners had to run in front of the front line, set up, then provide cover. They were cannon fodder. Yet both survived. The greatest generation bar none.

One word. Logistics. Granted Rommel wasn't a fantastic logistician. However even the best logistician cannot use supplies that don't exist. Having pulled Italian backsides out of the fire it might be reasonably expected that they would provide their allies with /promised/ levels of supply. However the Italian merchant navy never even came close to supplying half or even a quarter of what they had promised. Thus even when Rommel's supply lines /were/ short he lacked the supplies he needed.

@rhysthomas5811

5 ай бұрын

A lot of his logistics ended up at the bottom of the Mediterranean because the allies knew when they were being shipped across from reading the German Enigma messages. They were able to target the ships especially the fuel tankers that were vital for the German war effort,

@TheHypnogog

5 ай бұрын

@@rhysthomas5811 Agreed. Malta was so much a better strategic target than Crete. That little island with all its little planes- a real thorn for axis logistics.

@julianmhall

5 ай бұрын

@@rhysthomas5811 I would agree except the Italian shipping never even /tried/ to fulfil their obligation, so what the Allies sank simply worsened an already shabby situation.

@recoil53

5 ай бұрын

Germans were not known for their staff work. It was a real weakness they never addressed. They had small staffs and keeping track of the boring but necessary parts was messed up. The US dealt with the massive military expansion by having really big staffs. It let them use their civilian expertise effectively and just got stuff done. For example, take a manager from a shipping company, train him enough in military procedure to fit in, don't let him have command responsibility, and let him do what he does best.

@julianmhall

5 ай бұрын

@@recoil53 true, and Hitler was notorious for having more than one organisation doing the same job so there were endless turf wars.

As a New Zealand Defence Force vet', it was nice to see you reference N.Z Division participation in this campaign as an national unit rather than just another 'British Empire' group. Thank you.

@dovetonsturdee7033

2 ай бұрын

It was said at the time that 90th Light regarded 2nd New Zealand as their special opponent, and in their final hours asked to be allowed to surrender to them. In 2nd New Zealand's final confrontation with the 90th Light in May 1943, Freyberg had sent a message to the German Division stating "..your position is hopeless. We have fought you for two years and have no wish to annihilate you." The reply was "..We appreciate your message and we realise our position is hopeless; but we have our duty to perform."

"Britain's Italians". Damn, Rommel was throwing some serious shade at the US Army.

@ademarmarques42

5 ай бұрын

dude, i stop the video to laugh and see the comments, haha

@Warmaker01

5 ай бұрын

Keep trying to laugh the same way when you remember where the US Army was in 1945.

@Frank-pc2rs

5 ай бұрын

Rommel was bipolar. He praised the Italians on many occasions and also blamed them for everything that went wrong even when he was the one responsible. Their have been books written on it but this mainstream channel will never adress things like that. Just the same allied propaganda and talking points from 80 years ago.

@sungazerreg9239

5 ай бұрын

What the difference they all are colonizers

@benwilson6145

3 ай бұрын

@@Warmaker01 Just as slow! Patton , 10m miles in a month in the Ardennes!

It should be pointed out that the german surrendered on the 12 of may and the italian on the 13. Messe (the italian commander) received orders to surrender only if he received the "honor of arms". He asked the 12 but the british refused so he continued to fight untill a message arrived from Rome written by Mussolini. In this message Messe was nomineted Marshal of Italy (the highest rank at the time) and he was ordered to surrender (because it would be bad news for the population to know that the germans had abandoned their ally).

@Warmaker01

5 ай бұрын

Mussolini getting the Italian troops to surrender instead of fighting to the very end also stands in sharp contrast to Hitler's "stand or die" orders.

@Frank-pc2rs

5 ай бұрын

Yea this channel only spews allied propaganda. It's been said by even allied generals that the Italians fought harder in Tunisia but these clowns will never mention that.

@elemperadordemexico

5 ай бұрын

​@@Frank-pc2rskeep seething mario

@Frank-pc2rs

5 ай бұрын

@@elemperadordemexico Keep telling people to seeth over the internet tough guy.

@highpath4776

5 ай бұрын

@@Frank-pc2rs Was Tunisia French or Italian before WW1/2

On 19-20 April 1943 the New Zealand Division set off to clear the foothills between Enfidaville and Takrouna. While the 6th (NZ) Brigade, on the right, achieved its objectives without too much difficulty, the 5th (NZ) Brigade suffered heavy casualties as it pushed forward in an area dominated by Takrouna, an outcrop of rock rising steeply from the plain at the end of a ridge. Troops from 28th (Maori) Battalion managed to scale the heights and seized the summit after fierce fighting. Determined counter-attacks forced the New Zealanders off Takrouna but it was retaken on 21 April by a small group led by Sergeant Haane Manahi. Men from other units also joined the assault, including Sergeant Walter Smith (23 Battalion), who used telephone cables to pull himself up to Takrouna's main ridge. One senior British commander described this action as ‘the most gallant feat of arms’ he saw during the war. Smith received a DCM for his part in the battle. Manahi was recommended for a VC but was instead awarded a DCM.

The Axis lost the Tunisian campaign after El Alamein and Allied landings in northwest Africa. There was no way the Axis was going to ship enough men and supplies. They never could before and there's no reason they could improve on that now. Especially now with combined Allied air forces and navies. The Tunisian campaign is also where the Western Allied Air Forces start combining into a major juggernaut. The Luftwaffe airlift attempts to supply Tunisia were ravaged by Allied fighters. The Germans brought in a huge amount of their airlift capability to Tunisia. They even did a "Panzer Lehr" moment before Panzer Lehr existed by over a year: The Luftwaffe pulled instructors from Germany to fly these transport sorties, only for them to get massacred by fighters. From here on out, the true bleeding white of the Luftwaffe begins. It only gets worse for them starting this campaign as Luftwaffe losses spike ever higher. If their losses were already bad enough here for Tunisia, the Allied air forces' preparation for the invasion of Sicily would be an absolute nightmare for the Germans. US Army performance here wasn't surprising. This was the first real ground combat the US Army had against the German army. The Americans have had ample fighting prior to this, but that was over in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. But the greatly expanded US Army in Europe and the Mediterranean didn't have any of that combat experience. In contrast the Germans and British had already been fighting for years. The only thing that the US Army could do was to "get blooded" by real combat experience and improve itself. They already have the material superiority.

@colinhunt4057

4 ай бұрын

"There was no way the Axis was going to ship enough men and supplies." Exactly so, and excellent analysis. The problem for the Axis was that the Axis controlled port facilities were working at maximum cargo-landing capacity. The troops they had in North Africa were poorly supplied, and more troops and tanks would simply magnify the supply problem. There was no solution to the cargo landing capacity issue. Gaining some ports in Tunisia was offset by losing Tripoli, Tobruk and Benghazi. Logistics doomed the Axis efforts whatever they did or attempted.

An EXCELLENT presentation...please keep these excellent contributions coming...cannot wait for the next one

You make this familiar story come alive with great detail and analysis. Watching your presentations is a lot like reading a well written chapter with amazing, detailed illustrations and examples. I appreciate your seriousness of purpose and delivery.

@jessealexander2695

5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

Thank you for these videos RTH!

Estupendo trabajo de investigación, la edición del vídeo, de primera! Gracias por publicar. 🇲🇽

Great vid! Thank you!

Great video! Thanks a lot.

Another fantastic historical coverage episode was shared by an excellent ( RTH ) channel... it was a great historical coverage episode...thank you very much 👍🏻

Always wished to know more about Von Arnold. He seemed like a highly competent general.

Excellent, thank-you from Canberra.

Excellent video!

I'm very glad to see more coverage of 1943 campaigns on KZread. I consider this year to be the most underrated of the war. Hopeful in the future, could there be coverage of Operation Cartwheel in the Pacific?

@realtimehistory

5 ай бұрын

we have much more planned on 1943. Thanks for the suggestion on Operation Cartwheel, will see what we can do.

@Marex5341

5 ай бұрын

​@@realtimehistoryOperation bagration

@thelonewanderer3728

5 ай бұрын

@@realtimehistory👌

@markgarrett3647

5 күн бұрын

Since KZread's Susan Wojcicki is deleting my replies in another comment section where you questioned me I would just like to paste my reply here: How about the land reform/landlord purge, Vietnamese Trotskyist purge, Vietnamese Nationalist purge, Dak Son massacre, Hue massacres, Highway 1 artillery barrage massacres, rocket attacks against ARVN soldier dependents villages, and them sending troops to violate the neutrality of Laos and Cambodia. Honestly it's absolutely a lot for me to list. How about the land reform/landlord purge, Vietnamese Trotskyist purge, Vietnamese Nationalist purge, Dak Son massacre, Hue massacres, Highway 1 artillery barrage massacres, rocket attacks against ARVN soldier dependents villages, and them sending troops to violate the neutrality of Laos and Cambodia. Honestly it's absolutely a lot for me to list.

@markgarrett3647

5 күн бұрын

Since KZread's Susan Wojcicki is deleting my replies in another comment section where you questioned me I would just like to paste my reply here: How about the land reform/landlord purge, Vietnamese Trotskyist purge, Vietnamese Nationalist purge, Dak Son massacre, Hue massacres, Highway 1 artillery barrage massacres, rocket attacks against ARVN soldier dependents villages, and them sending troops to violate the neutrality of Laos and Cambodia. Honestly it's absolutely a lot for me to list. How about the land reform/landlord purge, Vietnamese Trotskyist purge, Vietnamese Nationalist purge, Dak Son massacre, Hue massacres, Highway 1 artillery barrage massacres, rocket attacks against ARVN soldier dependents villages, and them sending troops to violate the neutrality of Laos and Cambodia. Honestly it's absolutely a lot for me to list.

Love this channel ❤

Regardless of skill and wiles, the Tunisia campaign is a microcosm of the rest of the war: the Germans don't have enough men on the scene nor the ability to get more war materiel to them to put up a sufficient resistance.

@zoompt-lm5xw

5 ай бұрын

Or rational war aims

@californiadreamin8423

5 ай бұрын

…..and of course they weren’t invited to North Africa, or anywhere else for that matter.

well researched

The maps are really Beautiful! Shout out the map maker. Looks great in 4K as well! :)

Great pronunciation when you read Rommel's opinion on U.S battle performance! Nicely made as well.

I always learn! Thank you for such keen history documentaries.

Stonewall Jackson was never involved in any "last stand" during the Civil War. Jackson was famed, and most noted, for his ability to out-maneuver the Union forces that often outnumbered his own, culminating in his end run around the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville, which sealed a big victory for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, but also Jackson's death after he was wounded by friendly fire. I suspect Fredenhall was referring to a surprise maneuver a la Jackson.

excellent video

Great vid

At 12:45 Von Arnim did not lose "15 of his 19 Tigers" in the two battles at the end of February. He was in possession of only 18 Tigers at the time, and only 7 got completely destroyed. The rest, whether driven or towed back, did serve again later.

@Frank-pc2rs

5 ай бұрын

Von Arnim also said the San Marco Marines were the best soldiers he ever commanded.

@lyndoncmp5751

5 ай бұрын

Indeed. There were still 15 Tigers left at the turn of May I believe. The Tigers were only lost very sporadically in Tunisia. The 'Tiger graveyard' at Beja was an anomaly.

@williwass6837

5 ай бұрын

That shows the quality of this channels Docs!😂

My dad was a First Army sapper (North Africa Sicily Italy Germany), for the rest of his life he would use a lot of Indian and Italian words. For example, a rifle was always a Bundook.

Muy buenos los mapas y gráficos..enhorabuena

Have visited Tunisia and in and around Kaserine pass .. Very rocky with scrub ,was quite hot with the odd water fall making it in places look very green ,almost Europe looking in places ..

Thank you.

The Italian soldier was brave & hard fighting. Rommel's success depended on the base of Italians. If better lead they could have been more successful.

@antoniotommasini5501

2 ай бұрын

Today again, for anglo-american historians (not all) the campaign in North Africa was an exclusively affair of Rommel and Afrika Korp. The italian Army was only a group of tourists following them through the desert. Excerpt Winter 1940-41 with the defeat of the italians army, badly deploied and worse armed, especially in anti-tank, the Regio Esercito supported validly the Afrika Korp: Bir El Gobi, Tobruk, El Alamein, Tunis, and other, despite being inferior in armament.

Love every one of your videos! Just curious-- are there any plans to make more Napoleon episodes? Y'all need to set the record straight now that Ridley's mangled it!

@realtimehistory

5 ай бұрын

we might do some in the future. sadly the 1813 campaign was not very popular and we lost a lot of money on them. so need to think about which parts we cover.

@andrewsoboeiro6979

5 ай бұрын

@@realtimehistory oh no but the 1813 campaign was like your best video! Oh, that breaks my heart!!

Leaving a comment for the algorithm. Greetings from Chicagoland!

@realtimehistory

5 ай бұрын

greeting sfrom Berlin

08:47 not only costly and stubborn, but also one from the losing side, by a general who got himself killed, not long afterward. (behind the curtains? you've got curtains? are they green?)

One point I would like to raise. At a certain moment the main airfield the germans used to supply Stalingrad became untennable so they had to move it a substatial distance furter behind their lines. But, the rate of supply's delivered didn't noticably drop. That would indicate they didn't had a shortage of planes to deliver with, but a shortage of supply's to deliver. Taking away planes wasn't a strategic error, the supply situation remained the same, meaning, pretty bad. All else, very food video 👍🏻

@williwass6837

5 ай бұрын

It seems you dont know anything about the losses the german transport units had,right?????Another armchair general that has heard something that someone mentioned that he heard it!😂🤣

@MCT954

5 ай бұрын

At Stalingrad, the Germans were never able to adequately supply their trapped Armies. They had insufficient airlift capacity (ie not enough of the right sort of aircraft, they were having to resort to using bombers with relativly low payloads, to supplement their transports). It was winter, which restricted the number of flights due to weather conditions. The Russian Air Force, almost for the first time, was able to achieve some measure of control and also deploy sufficient AA guns to reduce the number of aircraft available. The airfields in the pocket were either overrun or subject to air attack or artillery fire. Perhaps most significantly, Goering promised the Army and Hitler, to do something his staff knew was impossible, mainly to save face.

My grandfather was a forward observer for the 9th Infantry, 26th field artillery division. He was part of the 800-mile forced march to Thala that saved the allied forces from defeat in that region. Random, just proud lol so I’m sharing

It is a matter of record that Rommel had the greatest respect for the Australian Light Horse

I read several German accounts from the time that they referred to the African surrender as second Stalingrad.

The American commander ordered his combat engineers to build him a hq bunker 30 miles back under a mountain..

Excellent video for the algorithm thank you.

"... pull a Stonewall Jackson." Did he mean lose the battle, then die to friendly fire?

@daviddechamplain5718

2 ай бұрын

Chancellorsville was a Confederate victory. It is a poor excuse for an order, though.

Interesting how von Armin's plan would most likely have worked and set the Allies back at least a couple weeks if not months. Kasserine might have been a victory but a wasted one, putting the whole force behind the Sbiba gap and force it would have been harder but overall more successful.

*14:38* on the map you can see Tatouine. It's the village the desert planet of Tatooine in Star wars was named after outdoor shoots happened there.

I think that the crucial aspect has been overlooked a bit - how did Allies get total aerial domination, if Germans started campaign with stronger air forces? What caused fuel shortages? Transports could get to ports? Or Ploesti was already depleted? Was P-51 Mustang already introduced in mass scale, and was he really that superior compare to german fighters? Episode was, as always, great, but I feel a bit unsatisfied id that one area.

@obsidianjane4413

5 ай бұрын

Fuel shortages and just pure attrition. IIRC only A-36s were in N. Africa. The heavy work was carried by P-40s , trop. Hurricanes and Spitfires.

@colinhunt4057

4 ай бұрын

Poznan, Germany was crippled by fuel shortages before and during the war. Rumanian oil supply filled only a very minor part of total Axis requirements. And all during this time, fuel was denied to the civilian sector which meant that the whole of Europe was starving to death quite rapidly. National Socialist mismanagement of the economy is perhaps the main reason why Germany's military defeat in the war was inevitable.

The New Zealanders did not have long to savour the victory in Tunisia. On 15 May the first units began their nearly 3000 km drive back to Egypt, reflecting on battles fought and comrades lost. The last of the New Zealand Division reached Cairo on 1 June, cramming into camps at Maadi and Helwan. For 6000 of the longest-serving men, there was the prospect of an early return to New Zealand: they learned that they would go home on a three-month furlough.

I was just wondering if and how much equipment is lying in the desert waiting to be found??

Thank goodness the British convinced the US to not invade France in 1943 with their inexperienced troops. Can you imagine what would have happened compared to their defeat in Tunisia. There were four attacks beaten back until the Afrika Corps ran out of ammunition and fuel. These battles in Kasserine were their birth in fire. Horrible to say but these made the GIs better for the European theatre.

For the rhythm of algo! It's easy for us to look back and criticise but I always felt Rommel was, not so much a one trick pony. but was limited in conceptual range. Of course there are many factors that played into it and we can armchair general all we like. We were not there.

Solid video but I wish you focused more on documentaries about less covered history.

My dad served in crusader mk3 in tumisia rommel was his favorite general

15:30 does that say Tatooine?! 😂 is that where the name comes from or is that where it was filmed?! I’m running to google immediately for info lmao

@davidrossi5096

2 ай бұрын

Tataouine, Tunisia!!! It’s real! And the town was the inspiration behind Tatooine and there was filming on location!!

Interesting bibliography, and definitely not making a balls of it 🙂. But I would note the figure of 250 000 captured in Tunisia apparently stemmed from an off-hand remark Ike made to a reporter. Liddle Hart reckoned it to be significantly less - some 170 - 180 000 before the last fighting, based on returns on ration strengths. Still, an impressive victory, and not just because my uncles were involved (on the Brit/South African side).

It'd b helpful if u didn't read the script so fast. Slow up and insert more details, and u'll produce a much better product.

The stats at the end are very dodgy, I don't see how the Luftwaffe losses in that one theatre could have been 41% of the entire airforce. 41% of the heavy transport fleet possibly, but I think there's been a mix up here

The Brits love to bring up Kasserine Pass as if it were the defining moment of the US Military, in a war they had just joined. Leaving out key details such as the British forces also defeated at Kasserine, British Commander Anderson's role in splitting US Army command components exacerbated the poor performance at Kasserine, or the US Army's artillery barage which actually halted the Germans advance. In the same manner, they leave out British failures at Dunkirk, Norway, Crete, Gazala, Tobruk, Dieppe, Op Goodwood, Hong Kong, Singapore, Market Garden, etc.

@chrisstaves1473

3 ай бұрын

Like the Americans at Kasserine pass the British in the early part of the war were 'caught with their pants down' and learned the hard way about facing a well motivated and experienced enemy. As for goodwood the British and Canadians faced the majority of the german mechanised forces. Also why not mention the debacle of the Hurtgen forest and Metz

@DirtyMikeandTheBoys69

3 ай бұрын

@chrisstaves1473 because neither Hurtgen or Metz (Metz being an actual US victory, by the way) are brought up in the same vigor as Kasserine. Operation Goodwood's success was not decided by the existence of German armor. After all, the British launched a massive bombardment of those tanks long before the assault began. Had Goodwood actually succeeded, Op Cobra would have been unnecessary. Despite having preponderant force and air superiority, British progress was slow and ultimately failed to break through. Montgomery chose an unusually narrow spearhead of just 2 km (1.2 mi), which created a congested line of advance. British infantry was lacking in suitable junior officers and non-commissioned officers, which inhibited small-unit tactics. In Biddle's analysis, "The British systematically failed to coordinate movement and suppressive fires after about mid-morning of the opening day.... The attack had by then moved beyond the reach of the British batteries on the northern side of the Orne River and the congestion in the march columns had kept the artillery from moving forward into supporting range.... The net result was thus an exposed, massed, nearly pure-tank assault pressing forward rapidly without supporting infantry or supporting suppressive fires." It's success hinged on the allies plan of attack, not the existence of German armor.

Faced 2 British armies and one American army and no maneuver room Wouldn’t reinforce Rommel in Libya yet reinforced in Tunisa where it was a lost cause

It's weird how both germany and a century earlier france also were seeking glory in africa against the British empire. After the adventure turned against them, they just simply left their forces there and couldn't be arsed anymore really. That 300.000 experienced troops could defend most of the axis held/occupied Mediterranean coastline with lot better chance. Italy also had some divisions in africe which were willing to fight not only eager to surrender.

@obsidianjane4413

5 ай бұрын

Its very likely that Barbarossa could have succeeded in capturing Moscow in 42 if not for the troop and lostistics lost in trying to save Mussolini's adventure in Africa.

@lyndoncmp5751

5 ай бұрын

@obsidianjane4413 Conversely, it's also possible that had the Axis suceeded in North Africa, taken the Suez Canal etc then Turkey may have joined the Axis with the removal of British presence in the eastern Mediterranean, and this could have had major consequences for the USSR.

20:27: Montgomery's "last battle" in "late 1945?" The war was over in Europe in May 1945.

Rommel’s biggest obstacle was the Med being an Allied Lake. Much of his equipment and reinforcements ebbed up at the bottom of the sea.

@Cailus3542

5 ай бұрын

The Allies only controlled Gibraltar, Malta and Egypt. The Axis controlled the northern coastline from France to Greece, and (fuel concerns aside) had naval parity with the British. The Italians really could've won that fight and gotten Rommel the supplies that he needed. The Royal Navy was stretched to limit in 1942, fighting the Germans, Italians and Japanese simultaneously, so it was certainly possible.

@lyndoncmp5751

5 ай бұрын

British forces and supplies had to come all the way from Britain (or Australia, India etc). It took a British division six weeks to get there, down the Atlantic, round Cape Town and up the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal. German U-boats were prevalent in the Atlantic. The west coast of Africa was a particularly deadly area.

@Cailus3542

5 ай бұрын

@@lyndoncmp5751 Awkward question: you do know that the Strait of Gibraltar exists, right? The British regularly sent convoys through that route, most notably to Malta. Sorry if that sounds rude.

@lyndoncmp5751

5 ай бұрын

@@Cailus3542 Men were sent the long route via Cape Town. I've just read a book on the 44th Royal Tank Regiment. It took six weeks to reach Egypt from England. They were sent via Freetown and Cape Town then Suez Canal. This was typical.

@colinhunt4057

4 ай бұрын

@@Cailus3542 "The Italians really could've won that fight and gotten Rommel the supplies that he needed. " No they couldn't. The Regia Marina had virtually no fuel with which to operate. Battleships cannot be moved except with lots of bunker oil. And the Regia Marina had had the stuffing taken out of it in November 1940 with the Taranto raid.

3:05 very true

Gettysburg and vicksburg please

The Aussies had pulled out and headed for New Guinea, the 6th and 9th divisions had served well at el alamein and Trobuk, the Kiwis stayed on.

This channel is mildly better than the History Channel.

@Bombaysapphire1978

5 ай бұрын

Are you kidding? It's way better than the History Channel. This channel discusses real historical events and combines them with clips of documentary footage, photographs, and even quotes from the people who were there. The History Channel has ancient aliens, lumberjacks, and semi-trucks driving across the ice. 😆

Germany Faced a Military Impossibility In Africa After The Battle of El Alamein Their Supply Situation and Lack of Air Cover and Artillery ammunition,fuel and even Troops,Pushed Tighter and Tighter in their cauldron facing the sea, the best thing they could've done was An evacuation while fighting a delaying action against the unexperienced americans while saving most of their men and equipment while they can that they would be needing them for the defence of italy and france

20:29: Montgomery's last battle in "late 1945"?

My dad 1st Army Royal Artillery . The Germans , mostly resented being captured. Upon coming across large amounts of Italiam POW`s , he and his mates were very concerned about their saftey, but not to worry. In the main the Italians were happy that they were out of the war, very few resisted. Then on to Italy and back in the fight with the Germans.

@Atlantisimo

4 ай бұрын

“Very few resisted”? The British 8th army was unable to break through the Italian 1st army at enfidaville. They surrendered only when they were encircled by USA and French troops who broke through the German 5th army.

@dovetonsturdee7033

2 ай бұрын

@@Atlantisimo The 'Italian 1st Army' was half comprised of German Units. You might read about Wadi Akarit for further information?

@Atlantisimo

2 ай бұрын

@@dovetonsturdee7033about 6-7 Italian divisions and 3-4 German. But the great unit was called “Italian 1st army”, commanded by general Giovanni Messe and blocked the British 8th army at enfidaville until they were completely encircled due to the breakthrough on the 5.Panzerarmee front. I know very well that war theatre.

@dovetonsturdee7033

2 ай бұрын

@@Atlantisimo The Order of Battle of 1st 'Italian' Army at Wadi Akarit, 6-7 April, 1943, consisted of four Italian Divisions and three German Divisions.

@Atlantisimo

2 ай бұрын

@@dovetonsturdee7033 you cannot define the composition of an army just looking at its order of battle on a 1 day fighting. As Gen. Messe wrote in his memories the 1st Italian army was originally composed by 4 Italian infantry divisions, 2 German light infantry divisions, the German Dak (15th panzer division), the Italian armored division Littorio, the saharian group (equivalent to another Italian division) and some support groups. At Enfidaville the saharian group was no more and all the divisions were really under strength. But the British 8th army was still unable to breakthrough, and the Italian 1st army (who still had 3 German divisions within, even if the 15th panzer had no more than 15 tanks, more or less the same than the Piscicelli armored group) had to surrender due to the encirclement.

Wasn't Fredenhall relieved by Patton, who led an attack against the AC?

@dovetonsturdee7033

2 ай бұрын

Patton did relieve Fredendall, but never encountered the Afrika Korps.

@user-uy8wx4pk4h

28 күн бұрын

He was relieved by Eisenhower and replaced with Patton

Clear voice and some easy speech.

Montgomery was constantly hammering Rommel's supply chain using "skirting" moves by the LRDG, SAS, and Popski's Pvt Army. A fellow from our town in Northern Ontario who was in the 8th Army said that he mainly wore his great coat and underwear durning the fighting. Select German POW's who were sent to prison camps here were given rifles so that could get meat for their camp. Many stayed here.

As a. brit myself, we were brought up with a narrative that the Americans didn't help very much in Africa and other areas for that matter. I don't really understand why that was because the Americans did an amazing job throughout the war and the more I learn about it the more I love them for their courage, great spirit and the great sacrifice that they made for all Europeans.

@terrysmith9362

2 ай бұрын

Isnt Hollywood wonderful

The 8th Army did 1,100 km in just 17 days from El Alamein to Benghazi. This was more than twice as fast as the 1st Army

The shortage of oil certainly didn't help...

From what I've learned about Rommel, I gather he wasn't the impeccable military genius he's often painted to be. Rommel was a competent and skilled but ultimately overrated figure in his field; the Zinedine Zidane of the German military.

@garretth8224

5 ай бұрын

His early success against the British was because they took too long to adapt to fighting him. That changed with Monty.

Every battle he tried was the same. Being a one trick pony is never a sign of greatness.

@lyndoncmp5751

5 ай бұрын

Same as Patton. When Patton couldn't manoeuvre (Lorraine) he had no plan b. Even his boss Bradley said that.

7:25 if he sends the plan to higher up, then Allies would have got a hold of it because they had broken the enigma code

Dad Said Rommel Visited The Americans In The German Hospital and Was Concerned With There Care . Kasserine Was A Learning Curve For American Troops First Time Up To Bat , Just Green Troops Takes Time Remember Germany and England Had 2 Year Head Start On American.

"Britain's Italians"-- I never heard that one 'til now 😆

Tunisgrad huh... so who is Tunis? Never heard of him

The German equipment was not suitable for muddy, forestry, rocky, and tight mountain passes of the Northwest. I was born in Le Kef.

Well when you don't get supplies like food, ammo, equipment its very hard to fight a war so the Afrika Korps was bound to loose especially when you are out numbered by 200 to one. Didn't monty have 2000 artilley units, 2000 tanks etc??????????? Afrika Korps had only 200 tanks and th;ey were low on all supplies

@k9pc1235

Ай бұрын

Well any General that attacks without superiority is an amateur and will fail. Unless you are Patton at Metz where you fail continually even with superior numbers and logistics.

@nickdanger3802

Ай бұрын

@@k9pc1235 And no fuel because that went to Montgomery.

@k9pc1235

Ай бұрын

Yes, it's called making sure you win. Something all military commanders are want to do. You can pine for the Germans glory days of Blitzkrieg all you want, the fact is the evil regime was defeated and that is that. The Africa Korps were low on everything because their commander over stretched his brief and tried to get the glory, he pushed his advances too far, relying on intelligence from broken American codes to win supposed amazing victories. He continually went to far too quickly, he then met Montgomery. Don't get bent out of shape because one General understood logistics, planning and how to use the best artillery piece of the war to its best advantage and the other was Rommel.

@johndawes9337

9 күн бұрын

@@nickdanger3802 hahahaha DRIVEL It’s myth that any petrol was taken from Patton for Montgomery. Patton was already at a standstill before planning for Market Garden even started. Patton finally began receiving adequate supplies on September 4, (two weeks before MG) after a week’s excruciating pause” - Harry Yeide Market Garden only had priority in extra supply transport laid on. It didn’t take away any actual supplies from any US army. Nor did Market Garden stop all operations on the western front. Patton’s 3rd Army was still trying to take Metz and US 1st Army began its Hurtgen Forest campaign on September 19th, 2 days after Market Garden began. Did you know that the twin pronged US 1st Army attack in the Hurtgen Forest and Aachen in October 1944 used FOUR TIMES as many men and supplies as the ground element of Market Garden, which wasn’t even a full 2nd British Army attack? “ It was commonly believed at Third Army H.Q. that Montgomery's advance through Belgium was largely maintained by supplies diverted from Patton. (See Butcher, op. cit., p. 667.) This is not true. The amount delivered by the ' air-lift ' was sufficient to maintain only one division. No road transport was diverted to aid Montgomery until September 16th. On the other hand, three British transport companies, lent to the Americans on August 6th " for eight days," were not returned until September 4th.' “ - CHESTER WILMOT THE STRUGGLE FOR EUROPE. 1954ty John Peate

What irks me about the British condescending attitude towards US troops, is how quickly the Birts forgot how badly Rommel slapped them around.

@lyndoncmp5751

5 ай бұрын

Actually Montgomery wasn't condescending and he said that the British suffered similar early failures against the Germans as the Americans did. By Sicily Montgomery wrote in his diary "the Americans are quite first rate and I have a great admiration for the way they fight".

@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-

3 ай бұрын

Slapped around? Apart from the fact Rommel only won one battle against the Eighth army.

@michellejean11

3 ай бұрын

@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- Montgomery was giving command because of the dismal performance of the British forces in Africa. Monty's big win was a product of Bletchley Park's superb intelligence and a massive material superiority. So I stand by my comment.

@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-

3 ай бұрын

@@michellejean11 Auchinleck stopped Rommel before Montgomery showed up.

@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-

3 ай бұрын

@@michellejean11 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crusader

Ir is Tunisia, as in Tunis NOT Two knees ia

Interesting that every successful Army today works with Auftragstaktik

Rommel was not present. The end was under Von Arnim.

@paulfoster3316

4 ай бұрын

The end was alreay written at El Alamein

Montgomery moved slowly. What a shock.😊

@davidhoward4715

5 ай бұрын

Only homefront heroes criticize a general for putting the lives of his soldiers and the success of his mission over glory in headlong dashes. War is not a video game.

@bookaufman9643

5 ай бұрын

@@davidhoward4715 I guess Montgomery was the only general who cared about his men. It seems impossible to criticize him without some Brit getting his back all askew. I cannot stand Bernard Montgomery.

@cpj93070

3 ай бұрын

@@bookaufman9643 At least the British general cared about there men, do you even know why they did it anyway?

@cpj93070

3 ай бұрын

*generals

@bookaufman9643

3 ай бұрын

@@cpj93070 do I know why they did what? Your question is a little to general. See what I did there? Lol.

Last battle ? What then were the D Day landings ?

Again Rommel showed disregard for logistics with disastrous consequences

@obsidianjane4413

5 ай бұрын

What logistics? You mean all those ships at the bottom of the Med?

Wasn’t it Montgomery that called us Britain’s Italians, which still harder…

@terrysmith9362

2 ай бұрын

No.

@dovetonsturdee7033

2 ай бұрын

Actually, no it wasn't.

Malta was the key

I’d have thought his last battle would have been in France, 1944?

Rommel war zur Zeit der Schlacht um El Alamein nicht in Afrika und hatte somit keinen großen Einfluss auf den Verlauf!