Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Raimo, that's what happened at Stalingrad too - the logistics just didn't work - G?ring promised Hitler 1700 tons of supplies per day when he knew full well he could only deliver 72 tons a day by air. Douglas Raimo K wrote: > The biggest shortage that the Germans faced was lack of fuel - IIRC > for the Battle of the Bulge the German tanks and aircraft had fuel for > 5 days. Later aircraft and tanks were abandoned in perfect working > order because there was no fuel. > All the best! > Raimo K > Personal photography homepage at: > http://www.uusikaupunki.fi/~raikorho > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "GREG LORENZO" <gregj.lorenzo@shaw.ca> > To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> > Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 6:08 PM > Subject: Re: [Leica] There's something about German design ... > > >> Marc James Small writes in part: >> >>> >>> The M4 Sherman has received a lot of hostility >>> from the Disdain and Hysteria Channels in recent >>> years but this is undeserved. It was a solid >>> vehicle capable of solid work. Sure, it had >>> limitations but one part of doctrine is to teach >>> soldiers how to make the best of their gear and, >>> in the end, the Sherman turned into a real >>> workhorse which effectively crushed German armor by early 1945. >> >> This is not corrrect, most German armor on the Western Front was put >> out of action by air power (i.e. rocket firing Typhoons, etc.) and to >> a lesser degree by anti-tank guns. A significant amount of German >> equipment, including tanks was abandoned in perfect working condition >> when the Germans retreated east after the battle of Falaise. Germany >> had no effective airforce left to provide battlefield cover at this >> point in the war and could only move effectively at night. >> >>> To put it a different way, if the Panther and the >>> Tiger were so great, and the Sherman so lousy, >>> how then did we win the War? If the >>> Messerschmidt and the Focke-Wulf were so >>> superior, and the P-47 and P-51 so bad, why did >>> the Germans have no air cover left by the time of >>> OVERLORD? The true answer, of course, is that >>> our gear worked better, all in all, than did >>> theirs, and our doctrine was superior, so that we >>> were able to grind them into little bitty pieces by early 1945. >>> >> >> This is also incorrect (except for the fact that Germany had no air >> force to speak of at this point). German prop fighter aircraft were >> just as good as allied aircraft. Their jet aircraft clearly superior. >> They lacked trained pilots after 1942. >> >> World War II was won primarily on the Eastern Front by the **Soviet >> Union**. This is summed up nicely by the author Charles B. MacDonald >> in his book "World War II: The War Against Germany and Italy". >> >> MacDonald wrote the following paragraph: >> >> * "The German armed forces and the nation were prostrate, beaten to a >> degree never before seen in modern times. Hardly any organized units >> of the German Army remained except in Norway, Czechoslovakia, and the >> Balkans, and these would soon capitulate. What remained of the air >> arm was too demoralized even for a final suicidal effort, and the >> residue of the German Navy lay helpless in captured northern ports. >> Through five years of war, the German armed forces had lost over 3 >> million men killed, 263,000 of them in the west, since D-day. The >> United States lost 135,576 dead in Western Europe, while Britain, >> Canada, France, and other Allies incurred after D-day approximately >> 60,000 military deaths." >> >> * Source: Army Historical Series, Office of The Chief of Military >> History, US Army. >> >> On land, the Western Allies (primarily the USA) in WWII clearly won >> the Pacific War against Japan. North Africa, Italy and Western Europe >> were very much a side show in the fight against Germany. Strategic >> bombing of German plants and cities and German occupied Europe and >> naval actions excepted. >> >> >> Greg J. Lorenzo >> Calgary, Alberta >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >