|
Please, what we are talking about here is the air war in Tunisia in January 1943.
SixNifty tells us that the Luftwaffe had problems with fuel shortage in Egypt on 1 August 1942 - not only 1,350 miles from northern Tunisia, not only half a year before the situation which we are discussing, but in a completely different situation. . .
It is common knowledge that the Afrikakorps was completely starved on fuel in the summer and autumn of 1942.
That has nothing to do with the supply situation in northern Tunisia in January 1943.
Then Six Nifty tells us that German tanks had problems with fuel shortage in eastern Libya (“area Agheila - El Mugtaa “) on 12 December 1942. Yes, we all knew that too. But that is 850 miles from the place we are talking about. . .
That doesn't either have anything to do with the supply situation in northern Tunisia in January 1943.
Why did the Axis troops in Libya and Egypt encounter such severe supply problems? Because the British were sinking the supply ships which went the long way from Italy to Libya.
The Axis used another, and a much shorter and better protected, supply route to northern Tunisia. That too is kind of basic knowledge. I can't see why SixNifty brings up those things here. I can give hom dozens of other quotations on the bad supply situation in eastern Libya and Egypt in 1942.
But, again what we are talking about here is the air war in Tunisia in January 1943.
Andrew Arthy, who made a very detailed study of the Luftwaffe air activities on Tunisia in January 1943, concludes:
“As for lack of fuel preventing ground-attack operations, no, that was not a problem in January 1943.” (See Arthy's post above!)
I think Arthy should know. As far as I know, the most recent book on precisely Luftwaffe operations in Tunisia in January 1943 was written by Arthy (in cooperation with Morten Jessen): “Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa” (Chevron, 2004). It is based on a wealth of original documents, and I doubt there is any other book which is better researched regarding the Luftwaffe’s operations in Tunisia.
So if an expert as Andrew Arthy tells us that the Luftwaffe was not held down by a lack of fuel, I think we have reason to believe that. So far, we have seen nothing which would imply that a researcher like Arthy has completely missed such a vital fact as an alleged fuel shortage which curtailed Luftwaffe operations from Tunisia in January 1943. But, yes - Rommel sure had some bad supply problems in Egypt and eastern Libya in 1942. . . Don't you think Arthy knew that?
|