Question, if Weygand does declare for the Allies, would the war in the east be enough reason to continue building the railroad from Egypt?
No, shipping is vastly cheaper per mile ton then trains if both are an option.
Question, if Weygand does declare for the Allies, would the war in the east be enough reason to continue building the railroad from Egypt?
Well I was thinking mostly because supplies sent by rail through Tunisia (thus avoiding Cape Bon) are less likely to run afoul of Italian submarines or air attack.Short answer, no! If the whole North African Littoral is Allied, then Why do you need to rail supplies etc from Alexandria to somewhere short of Tobruck when you already hold Benghazi, and Tripoli and Bizerte and Oran etc.?
Also having a redundancy/back up transport modus is a good thing in an active war zoneWell I was thinking mostly because supplies sent by rail through Tunisia (thus avoiding Cape Bon) are less likely to run afoul of Italian submarines or air attack.
Well for one if Weygand declares for the allies it means no Operation Tourch which means a lot more unblooded and unseasoned US Army, Navy personnel in Europe which probably means greater casualties.
Throwing this onto the pyre as well the Americans will probably have a harder time military wise throwing their clout around.
It's going to make inter allied cooperation much more difficult, the British (rightly) won't feel they need to be rescued and won't be willing to cede leadership to green Americans, especially if the British Far East holds well against the Japanese while the Americans still suffer 6 months of defeats. At a certain point sheer numbers of Americans are going to necessitate an American Supreme Commander, probably Eisenhower but it's not going to be August 1942 and it's not going to be in the Med.
Divine intervention?What would it take for the Americans ever to accept a non-American supreme commander in a major theater where they depoly major assets even if not a majority???
The question mentioned the rail from Egypt. As the best rail laying achieved on that stretch was a mile a day, getting the rail line to even Tripoli would take longer than the war lasted.Well I was thinking mostly because supplies sent by rail through Tunisia (thus avoiding Cape Bon) are less likely to run afoul of Italian submarines or air attack.
Fair. What about getting to Tripoli/Misrata from the existing Tunisian and/or Algerian network?The question mentioned the rail from Egypt. As the best rail laying achieved on that stretch was a mile a day, getting the rail line to even Tripoli would take longer than the war lasted.
All very true. Still doesn't get around the issue of Axis interdiction of the sea-lanes though.Not sure. I seem to recall the Tunisian network was a number of gauges and was not actually connected from Tunis to the border. I think Tunis went part of the way, then there was a considerable gap and then IIRC Sfax had a small network, but not the same Gauge? That was serious drawback for the Germans when they were pushing Darlan to allow them to land stores at Tunis or Bone. That is why they wanted a large number of French trucks, so they could handle the transhipment needed between the two networks.
And none of this was built for heavy running. My Railway modelling days are well behind me now but ISTC that they used lightweight rails and minimal ballast, so accidents waiting to happen. I would suggest if you measured the distance from Tunis to Tripoli and assumed about a third of it was existing ( but in need of serious upgrade to make it work) and then applied the mile a day rate, you could work it out.
also see the discussion here. https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=99035 very informative.
As someone else suggested, any heavy transport was cheaper and faster being sent by sea than by North African Rail.
What interdiction? After North Africa joins the Allies, convoys can hug the coast under air cover.All very true. Still doesn't get around the issue of Axis interdiction of the sea-lanes though.
Submarines and aircraft are going to be issues. Things will get safe once they have Pantelleria.What interdiction? After North Africa joins the Allies, convoys can hug the coast under air cover.
Isn't it easier for an aircraft to hit a railway which does not move and is over a long distance rather than a moving ship which if in convoy is covered by anti-aircraft fire and where the defending aircraft knows where the attack will be.Submarines and aircraft are going to be issues. Things will get safe once they have Pantelleria.
Fair comment. Mind you, a convoy is an obvious target, a train perhaps less so (is any particular train war materials, or is it purely civilian?). Trains are also not particularly susceptible to submarines IIRC.Isn't it easier for an aircraft to hit a railway which does not move and is over a long distance rather than a moving ship which if in convoy is covered by anti-aircraft fire and where the defending aircraft knows where the attack will be.