Eastern Mediterranean Sufficient?

So Germany really doesn't have enough trucks?

Well the combined German forces going into the SU for Barbarossa aparently only had 14,000 trucks between them.

To put it into some comparrisson, according to Bungay in his book Alamein, Between 1 August and 23 October 1942 alone, Eighth Army had an intake of 10,300 vehicles, more than twice as many as the DAK possessed in total.

It makes the Allied shortage of trucks in 1944 due to engine problems seem quite strange as the numbers having problems look to be quite small compared to what could have been available - there is an ongoing discussion on this on the Axis History webpage that i've been meaning to look.
 
The South African forces in East Africa, kicking out the Italians, were 100% motorised.

It was the first time in history that had happened, apparantly.

One of the things Smuts insisted on immediately was that there should be no more walking around. Probably because of his experiences in East Africa in 1914-18.

Ford in SA produced the trucks (steel) and a lot of soldiers did complain that the seats were rather hard to sit on for extended periods, giving them a very "un-mentionable" experince.

Ivan
 
No need to get worked up over this

I've not seen the figures below disputed.

Len Deighton ‘Blitzkreig’

The shortage of motor vehicles was not unconnected with the great variety of vehicles being manufactured during the 1930’. By 1938 there were 100 different types of commercial trucks in Army service, 52 types of cars, and 150 different types of motorcycles. A drastic scheme – the Schell-Programme- had reduced this chaos, but still the German motorised columns looked like a parade of used cars and the supply of new vehicles was no more than trickle.

At the outbreak of war in 1939 the German armed forces resorted to the desperate measure of commandeering civilian motors. They took some 16,000, but these were swallowed up immediately to replace worn out vehicles, bring Army units to their full allotments, equip new divisions, and for training. None of the civilian trucks could be kept as a form of reserve, so there was no reserve. Civilian vehicles were flimsy by military standards, with only two-wheel drive, a far cry from the six-wheel (4four-wheel drive) Krupp trucks that were the army’s preferred equipment.

By February 1940 the situation was getting worse by the day. The Polish campaign, with its fighting, dust, and very bad roads, had caused some units to write off 50 per cent of their trucks. Replacements from the factories (many of those with only two-wheel drive and unsuited to combat conditions) were pitifully inadequate.

The army’s normal peacetime loss of trucks through wear and tear was about 2,400 trucks each quarter year, but only 1,000 new vehicles were arriving each quarter. In other words, the army’s supply of trucks was dwindling at the rate of 1,400 trucks each quarter year without fighting.

Does it mention anywhere how he's going to get fuel and other supplies to a forward force of any size? IIRC Germany didn't have a huge lot of trucks at the time, and Italy hardly had enough for itself, never mind a colossal German force as well. Also, where is Germany actually getting its resources from (pretty much none of their equipment will be acclimatized to desert warfare, and their forces will need to be rebuilt somewhat after France)?

Probably in the short-term, but you've just handed your other big ally a whole load of grief, oh, and without the threat of invasion Britain can push through some much-needed weapons programs like the 6-pounder.

Overall, Germany gains another useless bit of territory that must be defended or given up later, while Britain remains relatively free to pursue its aims in Europe and the Far-East. Thus, you've probably hastened Germany's demise rather than delayed it.


You're clearly smart guys. I don't know why you feel compelled to keep posting without addressing the question of the thread.

The German army as a whole was short of trucks. Even as it was conducting Barbarossa. That's a long way from saying the entire Germany did not have the trucks and fuel to supply the Afrika Korps some months earlier than it did historically. Remember, Germany didn't have other major land operations during the last half of 1940 (though in this scenario they would likely end up offering support for the Italian invasion of Yugoslavia. Small potatoes in the scheme of things.) Asserting that level of truck destitution would require some pretty fancy defending.


The Afrika Korps in this timeline is approximately the same size, composition and level of acclimatization as OTL. It's not that daunting to reinforce two panzer divisions from 8 inactive ones after the fall of France. By and large it's simply a matter of getting the force where it needs to be at a time when it can do the most good.

I've been meaning to point out that although I don't recall the exact force levels, the British really didn't have that big of an effective army by the end of 1940. Sending 50 Matilda II's to Egypt was rightly in my view considered bold. Add that to the likelihood that Germany would probably go out of its way to look like it was working toward an invasion and I'm not sure how much assets Britain could move around during the six months to a year after Dunkirk. Or even how easily it can shift away from urgent rebuilding to a more normal wartime pace of research and development/rearmament.

However, if you think the net effect is a more robust Britain in mid to late war. It would be interesting to read the extent you think she would be stronger and where as well as in what timeframe you think she would exert that strength in active operations.
 
With enough motivation perhaps light military rail can be used to supplement truck traffic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_railways


The Germans built OTL an arial tramway across the Kerch Strait to supply the 17th army in 1943, perhaps this type of thing can be used where the grade is too steep.

Perhaps Siebel ferries and MFPs landing supplies at some beach point close to the front, a improvised cable tramway to move the stuff off the beach, then light rail for 20 miles to the front, The front moves forward and you pack the stuff up and move on.

Ju52s supplied the spearheads in the 1942 drive to the Caucasus so air supply in some situations can help.

Much of the Axis problem in Africa was just plain disinterest, the Italians focused on Greece, the Germans focus on Russia, the Germans with holding strategic supplies from the Italians etc...
 
Top