A tidbit from Steve Zaloga (speaking about armored "Doctrine" (on another thread), and how it actually panned out in real life)

The Charge of 2/1ST Armored at Sidi Bou Zid, 02/16/43

The tank charge by the 2nd Batallion, 1st Armored Regiment of the 1st Armored Division at Sidi bou Zid on February 15, 1943 was a case study in military failure. Two inexperienced battalions were sent across open desert against two experienced German Panzer divisions already well emplaced in defensive positions, with predictable consequences. There were no tactics worthy of the term: Alger's battalion simply headed forward in a calvary charge intending to collide with the Germans somewhere near Sidi bou Zid. The 2/1st Armored had never seen combat, and like the rest of 1st Armored Division, had not participated in tanl-vs-tank tactical training at the Desert Training Center in the Mojave Desert due to the rush to deploy it into the combat theatre. Instead of following the German tactics of slow movement in the desert to minimize dust, the battalion advanced towards the German positions at moderate speed. As a result, the American tanks were clearly visible to the German anti-tank gunners, while at the same time the cloud of dust kicked up by neighboring tanks blinded the US tankers from seeing the threats around them. The tanks attacked in a rough "V" formation in alphabetical order:Co.D on the left, Co.E in the center, and Co.F on the right. The outlying tank companies did spot the Germans outflanking maneuver. However, by the time they recognized the threat, the lead tanks had already moved within range of the camouflaged German anti-tank gun emplacements in the olive grove around them, and came under fire. The Germans were able to move two tank battalions on either side of Alger's battalion and mercilessly blast his trapped tanks from three sides. Alger claimed to have knocked out 19 German tanks. Only four of his tanks survived, those near the rear of the advancing column that retreated back to Kern's Crossroad with the 1/6th Armored Infantry when Alger's battalion was trapped.
The 10th Panzer Division had a Tiger battalion at Sidi bou Zid, but it did not take part in the fighting on February 15th. The Tigers had participated in the annihilation of Hightower's battalion on February 14th, claiming the destruction of 20 Sherman tanks that day. The M4 was clearly no equal to the Tiger, but there were very few Tigers in action in Tunisia.

__________________
There's one way to find out if a man is honest-ask him. If he says "Yes", you know he's a crook. Groucho Marx

Seems like the Americans could have learned something from the seasoned British troops but I guess they were too arrogant to listen. What a waste of good men !

__________________
Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

James Francis Edwards - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Francis "Stocky" Edwards CM, DFC & Bar, DFM, CD (born June 5, 1921 - ) was a Canadian fighter pilot during World War II. Edwards is Canada's highest scoring ace in the Western Desert Campaign.

One of Edward's victim during the North African campaign was famous Luftwaffe experten Otto Schulz, 51 kills, who was shot down by the Canadian ace on June 17, 1942.

__________________

"The great heat in the desert also had an effect on take-offs and landings. The density of the air was so reduced that the lengths of take-offs and lengths of landing strips had to be increased by up to 50 percent. landing operations could also be affected by strong air reflections in the heated ground layer, thus causing errors in the estimation of altitude."

Hitler´s stuka squadrons by John Ward

__________________

The only officially recognized non-pilot ace of Regia Auronatica was Pietro Bonnani, who served as a gunner Aboard Z.1007 and RS. 14 reconnaissance floatplanes with 170 Squadriglia, 83 Gruppo. Bonnani was credited with eight aircraft shot down and two probables.

Italian Aces of World War 2 - Google-teoshaku

__________________

Ernesto ‘Gamba di Ferro’ Botto

Botto became an Italian national hero because apart from winning one of the very few Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Militare not posthumous, he didn’t accept to leave active service and stop flying activity. Back at his base without the leg, he discovered that the VI Gruppo, which until then unofficially had been called Gruppo “Lionello” after the nickname of the CO Eugenio Leotta, had been officially christened “Gamba di Ferro” (“Iron Leg”) in his honour. A new insignia had been created by Sergente Maggiore Bruno Benassi and adopted by the whole VI Gruppo depicting an iron leg over an axe.

Italian biplane fighter aces - Ernesto Botto

__________________

Interesting Info guys thanks!

__________________
"I was born in '49, A cold war kid in McCarthy time
Stop 'em at the 38th Parallel,Blast those yellow reds to hell, And cold war kids were hard to kill
Under their desk in an air raid drill,Haven't they heard we won the war, What do they keep on fighting for?"

Wavell

"When General Wavell rightly decided to evacuate Somaliland, and carried out a brillant retreat, Churchill complained that his casualties had been too light. Wavell sent him a telegram, 'Butchery is not the mark of a good tactician,' and that was the end of him."

Anecdotage.Com - Thousands of true funny stories about famous people. Anecdotes from Gates to Yeats

__________________

The Italian Front

Incl interesting stuff like General George S. Patton's operational map for the invasion of Sicily, Pen used by King Victor Emmanuel to sign Italy's armistice with the Allies.

__________________

Pantelleria

Tiny Pantelleria, about half-way between Tunisia and Sicily, the Italians referred to as their Gibraltar. While this was arather grand conception of the island, it did lay in the path of any invader bound for Sicily. The very nature of Pantelleria--hilly, eroded, few beaches a soil with heavy volcanic ash content--made it a poor objective fo amphibious troops. It's single airfield could put up aircraft that would spot any invasion forcefar out at sea. Besides being heavily fortified, Pantelleria was garrisoned by ten thousand troops. While the Allies attempted to "neutralize" them, German & Italian forces in Italy could have time to prepare for their coming on the mainland.
After weighing the possibilities it was decided to bomb Pantelleria into submission from the air: Operation Corkscrew, beginning May 18th, 1943.Some fifty medium bombers and the same number of fighter bombers opened the campaign by striking the main harbor area and the airfield. British and American aircraft dropped six thousand tons of bombs on Pantelleria. German and Italian fighters attempted ti interfere with the assult, but with little succes because of escorting Allied fighters
In the evening before D-Day Mussolini had been informed by Vice-Admiral Gino Pavesi that "The Allied bombing could be endured no longer."; the Italian dictator himself authorized the surrender of Pantelleria.
When the assult troops began landing on the island the next morning a white flag appeared on the hill. The invasion proceeded with minimal resistance. -- the single Allied casualty being an infantryman who was bitten by a jackass.
For the first time in the history of warfare a sozeable military objective had been taken by air power alone. (not entirely true as the RN lobbed more than a few rounds in as well) True it was a small objective (about forty two square miles), but the significance of the fact was great and parlous.

from Air War ** Edward Jablonski

Pantelleria, 1943

__________________
There's one way to find out if a man is honest-ask him. If he says "Yes", you know he's a crook. Groucho Marx

Thats great, damn stubburn Jackass

__________________
"Like so many of our people, we have now had a personal experience of German barbarity which only strengthens the resolution of all of us to fight through to final victory."-King George VI
"Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning."-Colonel David M. Shoup-Saipan

War and Game: Italian Air Force Tactics

On Italian Air Force:

Between June 1940 and June 1942 the air force trained only 1920 pilots while losing perhaps a thousand. (?)

Two-way voice radio was slow to arrive even for bombers, and not until early 1943 did it become standard equipment on Italy's front-line fighters. Up to that point virtually all fighter pilots communicated by hand signals, with at best a receiving set for ground-controlled interception.

No other air force clung so stubbornly to its biplanes; even the Japanese naval fighter pilots, who prized maneuverability as much as their Italian air force counterparts, opted for the monoplane in 1934 -37. Ultimately the total inadequacy of the FIAT CR42 biplane against Hurricanes and Spitfires forced change; brilliance in aerobatic single combat was largely useless against high-speed formation attacks out of the sun, coordinated with two-way radio, by RAF fighters that possessed enormous advantages in speed, high-altitude performance, and firepower even over the Regia Aeronautica's first monoplanes. The MC202, although undergunned, improved the fighter force's situation upon its arrival in the second half of 1941. But it was not until the first MC205s reached units in early 1943 that the Regia Aeronautica's pilots had a machine capable of executing the tactics long practiced by their enemies and ally.

__________________

I confirm: there were a few remarkable prototypes in the late 1939s, but due to lack of interest from Itlaian authorities these were tested by the French in 1940s. After the invasion of France and the fall of Bricy where most tests took place, several prototypes fell into German hands. Instead of returning these to the Italians, they let the airplanes rot or used them for targets.... A lack of will ,money and coordination.

__________________

The total number of C.202´s in Africa peaked at 93 on 15 July 1942. In all, the RA had 25 bombers, 90 ground attack aircraft and the 93 C202´s, 46 C.200´s and 43 G.50´s, a total of 297 aircraft ready for the decisive battle at El Alamein.

Macchi C.202 in action by Gentilli&Gorena

__________________

In 1943 the Italians tested 20 mm Mauser gun pods on C.202 similar to those used on Luftwaffe´s Bf109s. The Italians, however, weren´t willing to accept the degradation of performance as the Germans were, and the gun pods never were used operationally.

By late 1942, the C.202 was facing far superior opposition and the search for improved performance became critical. The DB601, from which its engine was derived, was already out of production in Germany. Plans for the Germans to overhaul worn Italian engines fell through. Production of the R.A. 1000 ( license built DB601 )never exceeded 50 units per month which had to be shared with Reggiane. This meant that the airframes often had to wait for engines, forcing macchi to keep the C.200 in production well into 1943.

From Macchi C.202 in action by Gentilli&Gorena

__________________

Swamp

An allied sub-hunting tactic in the Mediterranean known as Swamp. This tactic simply called for the area of a known or suspected U-boat to be packed with surface escorts and patrol aircraft. They would then systematically and continually search the area and force the U-boat to remain submerged until its batteries ran out or try to escape at night on the surface. Either was almost hopeless.

http://www.uboat.net/boats/u371.htm

__________________

Interesting Kai. Both were as you said hopeless

__________________
"I was born in '49, A cold war kid in McCarthy time
Stop 'em at the 38th Parallel,Blast those yellow reds to hell, And cold war kids were hard to kill
Under their desk in an air raid drill,Haven't they heard we won the war, What do they keep on fighting for?"

The last German senior commander to be killed in the African campaign did not actually die in Africa at all. Over the Mediterranean, General Kurt Thomas, commander of the newly formed 999th Light Africa Division was shot down enroute to Tunis April 1, 1943 by British fighters.

From Quiet flows the Rhine by Maclean

__________________