WW II Historical Thread, Discussion, Pics, Videos

[Jura The idiot]

Perhaps Turkey would have cooperated and the Vichy authorities in Syria would have cooperated, there were the Italian owned Greek islands. But the British wouldn't have been driven out of Cyprus as happened on Crete. And how would a Barbarossa-sized Wehrmacht in the area be supplied? Besides the purpose is the oil of Iraq and Iran. The forces needed would be larger and more complex than needed in the nearly one dimensional North African coastal theatre. With UK itself not attacked and Germany blockaded no German effort far away in the Middle East would make any sense. The insurrection in Iraq was spectacular but would only have been successful with that mythical German force already in Syria.

before even starting, it would've been crucial to "make more homogeneous" German/Italian forces so that a CINCMEDCOMAX (Commander in Chief, Mediterranean Command, Axis Forces if he had existed outside of this post) could've directly tasked for example Supermarina and Luftwaffe with performing a certain operation

(don't worry, I know it was a practical impossibility:
Sep 19, 2015

...
are you aware the relations between the Supermarina and the OKW were ... not the best? both sides got good reasons for the distrust; while trying to put ideology aside, I'll give just one example for each:

1. March 1941 and the OKW call to send Italian Cruisers into Eastern Med "under German air-cover" which turned out to be Operation Charlie Fox and resulted in the Battle of Matapan
   
2. August 1943 (of course, you may tell me most of Regia Marina was just loyal to the King)

EDIT
and with Japan, there were logistic issues, obviously

)

 

[Jura The idiot]

UK had immense interest in Middle East - Suez Canal ...

delft check your favorite source

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"Tons of explosives buried by the Nazis in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula are now in danger of being re-used as Islamic State and other jihadi groups are digging up the desert to uncover this massive cache, the NEWSWEEK reported."

giving Afrika Korps perhaps the biggest credit it has ever gotten, for making it to Sinai with supplies, undetected LOL!

 

[delft]

delft check your favorite source

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giving Afrika Korps perhaps the biggest credit it has ever gotten, for making it to Sinai with supplies, undetected LOL!

I found the Newsweek article:

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and cite from it:

It saw serious action in the early 1940s as the British sought to stymie the advance of Nazi Army General Erwin Rommel’s vaunted Afrika Korps, and the German, British and Italian armies buried millions of tons of explosives as they battled one another across North Africa.

 

[Jura The idiot]

I found the Newsweek article:

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and cite from it:

... armies buried millions of tons of explosives as they battled one another across North Africa.

I've read somewhere the Red Army spent about a half of a million tons of ammo in/around Berlin in 1945 (some two million soldiers shooting it)

 

[Jura The idiot]

I normally don't repost but now I will:

didn't know HMS Hood
Laid down: 1 September 1916
until now:

"... One of very few of its crew still alive, Alec Kellaway, 98, a stoker on the Hood, travelled from Hampshire for the event.

He was joined by 97-year-old Commander Keith Evans from Surrey, who served on the ship right up until Britain declared war on Germany exactly 77 years ago tomorrow. ..."
'The Mighty Hood': Clyde centenary celebration for the pride of the Royal Navy

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[Jura The idiot]

let me commemorate '75'

 

[Jura The idiot]

another very sad '75'

 

[Hendrik_2000]

This year mark the 80th anniversary of the end of long march. It is an epic march that define modern China .One cannot understand China today unless one read about long march.

It is not exaggeration to say that long march is the start of modern China even if you disagree with CCP.

As a kid I read the history of Chinese civil war and Japan-China war.CCTV is running and excellent serial on this war right now I will post selected episode for those of you who are history buff.Not much is known about the under appreciated war in Asia that tie down 2 million Japanese soldier.
This video is one of the better video on youtube about long march. So much suffering yet they persist and overcome the hardship to final victory. The triumph of human spirit over adversity

This is the turning point of long march.After suffering defeat after defeat in the hand of KMT due to strategy error by Otto Braun,they return to guerrilla tactic under Mao direction and change the fortune of the red army. Whether you hate or like Mao, there is no doubt he is great strategic thinker. This video should once and for all dismiss the human wave attack tactic that is attributed to volunteer army is Korea. PLA tactic always has been mobility and minimized casualty as to preserve the under staff army

 

[Janiz]

This video should once and for all dismiss the human wave attack tactic that is attributed to volunteer army is Korea.

Nope.

 

[Hendrik_2000]

Nope.

Janiz human wave tactic is an excuse created by the west to cover their own shame got beaten by peasant army with nothing but rifle and no air cover whatsoever.

The number of casualty and personnel on the ground is about the same on both sides
The PLA tactic in Korea has always been infiltration, concealment, envelopment and surprise attack.There is few cases where frontal attack is taken but that is not the norm

There no precedent in Chinese civil war of human wave tactic, true to their origin of guerrilla army that is under staff and under equipped against more numerous and better equipped opponent.
It would be crazy to sacrifice when they don't have enough soldier to begin with. It was always mobility and maneuverability that won them the Chinese civil war. See how with only 30000 army they won against 400000 army of KMT