Re: Is anyone watching Ken Burns' "The War"?

On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:58:26 -0400, George Z. Bush wrote:

Lawrence Akutagawa wrote:
<emily2@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:picuf39km53i6dp3mrdr4qcuejs57n5uuu@xxxxxxxxxx
We've watched the first two programs so far. I have a couple of
questions --

What did the Germans want with North Africa?

hmmm...if memory serves, the Germans became involved in North Africa to
bail
out the Italians, who were being pushed back by the Brits.

http://www.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~lugert/wwii.htm
http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/africa.htm

That may be true in the sense that it was what promted their initial entry
into the area, but I believe that what the Germans really wanted was
tactical and strategic control of the Mediterranean Sea, which they could
have had had they been able to gain control over North Africa. That would
have secured their southern flank and freed them of concern about pursuing
their European strategic goals. For a time, it looked achievable and that
they were going to be able to take Cairo before turning their attention
back towards the west; however, el Alamein proved to be their "best shot"
at achieving their strategic goal, and they were unable to penetrate
beyond there. As the saying goes, it all went downhill from there and
their defeat in that theater became inevitable, which ultimately
contributed to their downfall.


Who was the commander of the American forces there before Patton took
over?

The person who commanded II Corps before Patton took it over was Maj.
Gen. Lloyd Fredendall

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/wwiiafrsicitaly_2.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3723/is_200303/ai_n9222724

In addition: Taking Egypt would provide a path to the Mideast oilfields.
With Suez in German hands, the British couldn't put up much of a defense.

--
Glenn

.

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