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[240] Kesselring knew of the supply problems all over the Axis theaters of war, and he knew logistics would be a key factor in victory or defeat everywhere.

[241] Montgomery had fought in WWI, and this is definitely a WWI attitude. Plus, such overwhelming force is difficult to come by since most nations cannot field that kind of army.

[242] The German general staff had sent General Von Paulus to Africa, and he recommend an immediate withdrawal. Rommel decided against this, but it was one of his worst decisions. Von Paulus would surrender the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad.

[243] Three hundred of these tanks were American Sherman’s with its new 75mm gun that outclassed most of the German tanks available to Rommel’s men and all the Italian tanks

[244] So why attack? Politics mostly. This was the last pure English victory of the war. Well . . . kind of pure. They used American equipment.

[245] Some argue there was no two-front war since Britain had no forces on the continent; however, Hitler had troops in France, the United Kingdom was bombing the continent, the war at sea required a large number of resources (submarines), and North Africa was an active front; thus, many resources were committed to the contest with Britain.

[246] This is an important process whereby the generals set up their cardboard units and the supposed enemy units to fight one another over the same terrain the battle (s) will be fought on. Generals take sides and then fight it out with referees watching the game. In this way, armies are able to discover flaws in their plans before implementation. Interestingly, German logistic experts predicted the limits of the invasion with good accuracy before it was launched.

[247] Hitler did not realize the code breakers read the German codes and warned the defenders of the impending attack; thus, surprise, a key element in any airborne assault, was totally lost. Was this the reason Hitler did not want to attack Malta? No one knows.

[248] Page 138, The Great Crusade, Willmott, 2008, Potomac Books

[249] “Lost” in the sense that the USSR would not be conquered. Many German generals thought the Soviets could still be fought to a standstill, and Germany could achieve a stalemate and a truce which would release German units to fight in the west.

[250] After the advance on Moscow failed, German generals wanted to retreat to better defensive positions and prepare for possible counterattacks; but Hitler refused to give up any ground even for tactical advantages.

[251] Japan’s War: the Great Pacific Conflict, Edwin Hoyt.

[252] Some think 260,000 civilians died in Nanking. Estimates at the time put the death toll at 50,000.

[253] Poor planning and thinking on Japan’s part. Japan signed the Tripartite Pact to keep the United States from interfering with Japan, but in fact it convinced the Americans that Japan had to be stopped. This was a major foreign policy blunder.

[254] Japan’s War: the Great Pacific Conflict, Edwin Hoyt

[255] Yamamoto was the commander of Japan’s Combined Fleet.

[256] The movie Tora, Tora, Tora does this, but the viewer must have enough knowledge to appreciate the magnitude of the Japanese errors.

[257] At Dawn We Slept: the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, Prange, Gordon., 1981, McGraw-Hill, The Pearl Harbor Papers: Inside the Japanese Plans, Prange, Gordon W. (1999), Brassey’s, ISBN 1574882228

[258] Some of the trouble stemmed from lack of preparation because of the impact of the peace movements, but poor leadership was the main cause of the Allied debacles.

[259] Note the Japanese landed on an undefended beach. They landed far from Singapore to avoid British resistance during the landing.

[260] Aircraft carriers. It should be noted the aircraft that sank the two British ships were land based. Since the 1600s battleships or ships of the line had ruled the waves. The attack off Singapore changed all that forever.

[261] Nations prepare for war against all other nations of any consequence by war gaming the conflict and then drafting plans based on those war games. These plans are updated