The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [192]
For less than appropriate reasons, Churchill replaced Auchinleck with General Montgomery.[241] As fall arrived in the desert, Rommel grew seriously ill and left for hospitalization in Europe.[242] Meanwhile, Montgomery had assembled 220,000 troops, 1,351 tanks, 1,500 aircraft, and over 900 artillery pieces. In tanks and aircraft, the English had a 3 to 1 or better advantage.[243] Montgomery was finally ready, Rommel was hospitalized, and the Germans were unaware the assault was about to begin. Montgomery’s timing was perfect (The code breakers again? Absolutely). Montgomery timed his attack to coincide with Allied landings in French North Africa—far behind Rommel. No matter what occurred at El Alamein, the Germans were in a vise and retreat would be compulsory after the North African landings.[244] El Alamein was a total English victory and a debacle for the Afrika Korps. It’s back broken, it retreated across 1,500 miles of harsh desert with the British Desert Air Force pounding them every step of the way. North Africa fell to the Allies in May 1943. German and Italian prisoners of war exceeded 275,000, and over one-half were German. These veteran troops were irreplaceable.
General Kesselring knew the ultimate question of victory or defeat for Germany would not be answered in North Africa; however, total defeat in North Africa could unduly influence the true arena of decision—the USSR. Delay would equal success, but it required a well-thought-out defense in the rugged mountains of Tunis, Malta being in Axis hands, and more air power and sea support. An expensive undertaking, but such a strategy might have added a year to the Allied efforts in North Africa. It is entirely plausible that Kesselring, a master of defensive warfare, could have achieved this goal; nevertheless, he would not get the cooperation of the Fuehrer.
The USSR
June 1944 to August 1945
Barbarossa
Hitler invades the USSR on the same month and day Napoleon invaded Russia, June 22, 1812. This time it was 1941. The result was the same; the destruction of the invading army and its delusional leader, but how it came about was much different. The scale of conflict in the USSR was so immense that anything coming before it, or after, simply fades away in comparison. Millions of men were fighting across thousands of miles of terrain with every device of war available to them. Innumerable numbers of men, aircraft, tanks, trucks, horses, wagons, artillery, and a profusion of other equipment pushed the campaigns forward. Moreover, this war was personal. Hitler and Stalin despised one another and the governmental systems each man controlled. Murder and torture were commonplace. This was industrialized war set to the tune of uncompromising ideologies. Chaos was upon the world, and chaos had a name—Operation Barbarossa.
Hitler doomed his armies before his invasion was underway. Dread gripped the German generals upon Hitler’s announcement that an invasion of the USSR was set for launch in April or May of 1941. Britain remained unconquered, their navy and nation still intact, and her forces were trying to capture North Africa. How could Hitler even contemplate such a move since it would result in a two-front war?[245] Ever since Chancellor Bismarck’s time, Germany knew it was trapped between the power of Russia in the east, and France and England in the west. Because Germany was a central European land power, the generals understood war with the USSR and England would force expenditures of men and materials on two fronts simultaneously, thereby fatally diluting Germany’s combat power.
Orders being what they are, the German general staff dutifully drew up plans for the invasion and used war games to study them.[246] The plans were revised until they satisfied the general staff. In these initial plans, the German staff officers made Moscow the principal objective of the invasion. Taking Moscow would disrupt Russian command and