WI the Americans won the Battle of Kasserine Pass?

bard32

Banned
Here's one. IOTL, the green Americans lost the Battle of Kasserine Pass, February 19-24, 1943, because of incompetent leadership. Major General Lloyd
R. Fredendall, the commander of Second Corps, had been placed there by General George C. Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff, because he thought that
he showed superior command ability. He was wrong. Fredendall turned out to
be an incompetent boob. However, Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, was afraid to fire Fredendall, because he was Marshall's man.
He finally did so right after Kasserine Pass and replaced him with Major General George S. Patton, Jr. What if Fredendall had been fired on the eve of
the battle, and replaced by Patton? What would the results have been?
 
a drubbing somewhere else.... the Americans were just too green and rather arrogant... the Germans would likely set them up for a defeat somewhere else, either in N. Africa or Sicily....
 

bard32

Banned
What America won the Battle of Kasserine Pass?

After Kasserine Pass, we fought the Battle of El Guettar. That was a success.
But just barely because the 10th Panzer Division almost beat us. Patton
also had to work from Fredendall's battle plan. After Kasserine Pass, the Americans got their baptism of fire. El Guettar was an unqualified success.
By 1943, the Axis in North Africa was hard-pressed. Its supplies weren't getting through because the Allies were sinking their ships. Rommel was almost out of fuel. The British were kicking his can from El Alamein to the
Mareth Line. The Battle of Kasserine Pass was Rommel's last stand.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
In the greater scheme of things? No difference at all. At some point the Americans were going to be manhandled by the far more experieced Heer, that was a given.

As far as the war itself, however, the end result is unchanged. The Reich lost the war on the Russian steppes, with the Western Allies biggest contribution being the air campaign that pulled most of the Luftwaffe's fighter strength away from the East.
 
CalBear, I would not go quite as far as that, though the Soviets were the biggest contributors by a good margin, especially on the military front (most German soldiers got killed by the Soviets, the Soviets ground Germany's supplies and men down, etc.) - but they weren't the only big factor in the defeat. American industry, really industry in general, provided a very large role in the war as well, by providing a massive industrial base that could not be touched by German or Japanese bombing. Logistics is what doomed the Axis - the Allies, especially the United States (though this also applies to the Soviets and British), had an overwhelming advantage in industrial capacity and the means to send goods and men around the worl.

As for this particular battle? Not much. At most, North Africa may fall a few weeks sooner. I agree that it will make little difference in the overall outcome. In terms of "the big picture", Germany doomed itself in 1941, by declaring war on the Soviets and the Americans - the nations with the population and industrial capacity to pose a direct threat - while still fighting the British, who were fairly powerful as well.
 
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