Reply With QuoteThose parts belonged to Vichy France. Germany wasn't at war with Vichy France.
Why did the German Army never advanced any further in Africa
After landing in North Africa ..
Kinda bizarre that the German Invasion force never proceeded to venture further south ,.... was this on the orders of Hitler ?? Or was control of North Africa more of a priority due to logistic reasons
Those parts belonged to Vichy France. Germany wasn't at war with Vichy France.
Small force, over extended supply lines, no reason to go south ...
Because it is a f.... desert?
There was simply no way for any large army formation to cross the deep Sahara.
No one ventured into the deep Sahara until about ten years later when the oil thing started in Libya.
And the egyptian desert between Kairo and Siwa and the area around it is still simply a wasteland.
The french posessions south of the Sahara were free french allready at the time, but it was physically impossible to get there.
There was a single raid by a single He 111 on Fort Lamy in Chad which was successful, but the plane had to crash land on return and the crew was barely saved from the desert.
Crossing the Sahara with the supply lines threatened as they were would be useless...
There is nothing for hundreds of miles south of the North African coast but the Sahara.
Just read it up on Wiki, the Heinkel didn't crash, it landed normally in the desert and was refuelled and flown out after they were found by search crews.
The raid destroyed a large fuel dump and ten aircraft on the ground, which isn't bad for a single bomber.
Fort Lamy (present day N'Dajema in Chad) was an important target as it was a waystation for lend-lease supplies on their way across Africa from Sierra Leone.
But there was no way for a ground assault on this and other important targets to be successful.
Even this air raid was a venture on the absolute maximum range of the He 111 which nearly met disaster.
The Afrika Korps were there ostensibly to save the Italians from themselves. There was no need for them to go driving off into a land not even suitable for Tuaregs.
Not bizarre at all.Originally Posted by timetraveller
What is Bizarre is thinking the Afrika Korps as small as it was would be able to drive south to no objective to no purpose.
just as it wasnt equipped to run east and meet the Japanese or sieze Oil, meet up with the southern flank of Barbarossa either....
It was sent with the brief to help out Commando Supremo and drive the British out of Italian territory. That Rommel immediately went for the throat was something the Italians and British didnt see coming.
Not to mention they ultimately got their asses handed to them.
A large number ended up cutting timber in central Illinois.
Last edited by ferguson; 01-01-2012 at 03:38 PM. Reason: sp
And building several buildings at Ft. Leonard Wood...
only to be torn down and recycledAnd building several buildings at Ft. Leonard Wood...
Did they tear down the Natural Resources building? I was there quite a while ago for a job and you could still see the Afrika Corps insignia carved into the keystone....
well....there may be an endangered....something there that would keep the building from being torn down if that's the case....
Hahaha I went there to do a job for them about 15 years ago and the guy who was showing us around pointed it out to us. At that time it was used for Natural Resources offices. Little tiny building but it was definitely built by the Afrika Corps. Have no idea if it's still there or not....
The British
/thread
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