There is a book that talks about the capacity of the Italian ports in Libya in terms of how much they could load and unload per day during WW2. I believe it was a chapter in a larger book. Can anyone help with the title?
Michael
Van Creveld, but his numbers are flawed. He talks about what was unloaded, not potential to be unloaded. There is a large well sourced thread on port capacity in North Africa on the Axis History Forum.There is a book that talks about the capacity of the Italian ports in Libya in terms of how much they could load and unload per day during WW2. I believe it was a chapter in a larger book. Can anyone help with the title?
Michael
Van Creveld, but his numbers are flawed. He talks about what was unloaded, not potential to be unloaded. There is a large well sourced thread on port capacity in North Africa on the Axis History Forum.
This book has better numbers about the supply situation in North Africa: http://www.amazon.com/British-Strategic-1925-43-Military-History/dp/0415649862
It also critiques van Creveld a bit.
Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton
Martin Van Crefeld.
These appear to be the data I am looking for.
Tripoli: 45,000 Tonnes per Month maximum.
Benghasi: 24,000 Tonnes per Month maximum.
Tobruk: 18,000 Tonnes per Month maximum.
Bizerta = 2,500 tons/3,000 tons
Tunis = 2,000 tons/2,500 tons
Sousse = 800 tons/1,500 tons
Thanks!
Except those numbers are wrong. In June 1941 over 125k tons were imported into Libyan ports, which is more than all these numbers combined and Tunis, Bizerte, and Sousse were not in use in 1941.
For a paralle look John Ellis in his 'Brute Force' has a chapter on this. drawn from a variety of sources. In that chapter there is a very useful chart showing the difference between the quantities 'embarked' in Italian/European ports and the actual amounts delivered to North African ports.
Jeff Lesser who can be found on ConSimWorld did a lot of original research in Italian archives, specifically the Italian military records of material sent/sunk/arrived. I dont know if he published any of it but he might be willing to discuss the subject if asked nicely.
'Commando Supremo' is a Italian web site with mostly Facist era/WWII discussions. I recall some very knowledgable people there who had been to the same records Lesser referred to. Perhaps one of those might have some answers