Quote:
Originally posted by T. A. Gardner:
If no Battle of Britain occurs following the fall of France then the British are in a far stronger position right off both at sea and in the Mediterranean. They could afford to reinforce Malta much sooner and with more material.
Even without major interdiction from Malta when the Germans were receiving as much as 80%+ of the supplies shipped they were having severe shortages at the Libyan - Egyptian border as the major supply port was still Tunis with Benghazi being a minor player due to damage to the port that the Germans proved incapable of repairing.
The major supply bottleneck in North Africa is not at sea for the Germans; it is on land. Malta was not the crux of the problem for the Germans. It was moving the supplies overland in trucks along a vulnerable and very long single highway.
Most of the Commonwealth's supplies were coming up the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal to Alexandria. The supplies from Europe came around the Cape of Good Hope South Africa. Yes, it was longer but a much safer route. While this required more hulls than transiting the Med, the British / Allies had them to do it.
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I didn't know that the British raiders out of Malta were not the sole cause of Rommel's supply troubles (not counting bombing of supplies on the road, of course). I guess having Spain as an ally would have been problematic at best, and wouldn't have solved the problem anyway.
I know it's difficult managing 3 threads simultaneously! I tend to take along time to make my posts, my spelling is surpassed only by my bad typing, lol. Because of this, i tend to abbreviate my posts, often to the point of making it almost indecipherable. I'll keep trying, though.
Thanks. [img]smile.gif[/img]
P.S. I was referring to "Shadow Masters what if #1". If #1 succeeded, then no BoB would be needed, as Briton would already be defeated.