November 23rd, 2006, 07:49 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Detroit, Mi. USA
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Ahhhhh.....
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Originally posted by T. A. Gardner:
I doubt that Franco would have just willingly given in to Hitler which means Spain resists invasion and the inevidable occupation that would follow. This puts Hitler off on any Battle of Britain at a serious level as the Luftwaffe will be needed to support operations in Spain and the Med.
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The Germans helped Franco come to power in the Spanish civil war, why would he wish to be a conquered nation rather than an ally? And even if he did, would his poeple stand for it? Were this an isolated change (and Franco decided to commit national suicide) from historical fact, you would be right. If #1 were also going on, no BoB would be needed.
Quote:
Originally posted by T. A. Gardner:
[QB]But, if we assume that Hitler does invade Spain (and Portugal) he gets for his trouble a greatly increased coastline to defend and two more countries requiring occupation forces.
Also, the fall of Gibralter does not necessarily mean that Malta will fall. Short of an invasion it is likely to remain a pain in the German backside to operations in North Africa.
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Malta was a pain in the German backside not because of the troops on the ground, but because of the planes based there raiding the Axis supply lines. Take away the supplies to malta based aircraft (as the German airforce did suscessfully until operation barbarosa), and you remove or greatly reduce that thorn.
Quote:
Originally posted by T. A. Gardner:
[QB]As to the later, the biggest problem for the Germans in North Africa was their abomidable supply system. At the Alamein position they were using 4 gallons of gasoline to deliver one to the front. And, this does not account for wastage which in itself was substancial. Basically, there really is little likelihood of Rommel succeeding in taking all of Egypt.
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Where and how were the British getting their supplys? Some were coming from India, but the rest were coming from england, right? with the western med closed to British ships, no supplies could reach montgomery from there.
Quote:
Originally posted by T. A. Gardner:
[QB]As for dominating the Atlantic using the Italian fleet. Ain't gonna happen. The Italians have no at sea refueling capacity (although the Germans do) and their ships are realtively short legged. What was left of the Italian fleet after Matapan and Taranto was mainly smaller units; almost all of their battleships were out of action.
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Again, if #1 were also happening, the Italian fleet would just be icing on the cake.
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