We had a friend of the family that fought at El Alamein with the british. He was a really old man by the time I got to know him and didn't want to talk about that battle very much. But what he did say was that the Germans even in retreat were very formidable and nothing to be played with. He also had nothing good to say about Montgomery. They all thought that he was a prima donna and was out for headlines more than he was saving his troops. History reflects the opposite but that was this gentleman's perspective being that he was one of the boots on the ground.
Instead of repeatedly saying the "British" forces you should have said the "Allied forces" remembering that besides British there were Indians, Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders, Canadians, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, Fijians, Rhodesians etc. The British couldn't have won without the Allies.
That's what they are called allies, they are called on when needed . And the 8th Army was facing well over 300K Germans and Italians. + Vichy French so both sides used allies. Take that chip off your shoulder and relax !
My Grandfather fought at El-Alamein and he was a Sergeant Major in the South African Army. You forgot to mention that there were a significant number of African troops there from the likes of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and others that contributed in the North African campaign against the Italians and Nazi's.
It is very difficult to find info about the role that South Africa played in WW2 which is very frustrating. My maternal grandfather was part of the 31st Squadron (not a pilot though) and I would so love to learn more about them. I know he was also in Italy in 1944 but have no idea why. Sadly I never had an opportunity to talk to him nor to my paternal grandfather about their specific roles. My paternal grandfather was a boilermaker who I think worked on warships in Cape Town Harbour. Just Nuisance (Google search this famous dog) visited their home as many sailors would spend their shore leave at my grandparents home. Poor as they were and with a large family of their own and one or 2 neighbourhood children added to the mix, they would share what they had with the sailors and the sailors would add some of their rations to thd meals. The sailors would sleep on the big wrap-around verandah. We have a spoon stamped with "USN" on it from that time.
@@wendykretschmann5280 Lovely bit of history, thanks for sharing that. I remember Just Nuisance, there was actually a documentary/show on him some time back. Pity about not getting to speak to your Grandfather, I too wasn't able to speak to mine, he died when I was 2.
The battle of El Alamein is one of the proofs that good logistics trumps creativity, tactics or courage of your opponent. Rommel should have waited for the (cancelled) Operation Herkules to take the Island of Malta. But he improvised so much that he lost his strategic sense. And Italy is the ultimate proof that its soldiers can be brave, but: if their logistics are bad, if your technology lags behind your enemies, if your leaders do not know how to recognize your limitations in the war effort = your nation will be an eternal joke in military historiography.
Monty lured the Afrika Corp into quick sand. Getting his panzers stuck and unable to maneuver led to there defeat. Rommel lost nearly half his panzer force at El Alamien
This program opens with an observation that the guns on British tanks (usually 2 pounders) couldn't penetrate Panzers; quite the contrary: the 2 pounder gun on the Matilda tank could defeat the armor of any German tank while it was nearly impervious to the German 37mm. anti-tank gun.
I agree with what you said. This channel is good enough for acquainting people who do not know much about the subject with the general facts of the subject but they are not good at all of keeping the time line straight. They keep mixing up things and making conclusions that are simply wrong.
This doc, while good in and of itself, could have gone much further as there was no mention of the Pzkw IV, 25 pounder gun, M4 Sherman, 6 pounder AT gun or the aircraft of either side. But like everyone else, you have to work within a budget and deadline.
A wonderful video with excellent historical explained about effectiveness Armor vehicles which participated in victory harvesting by British efforts ( Maltida tanks, diggous Armor vehicles)..in first phase of challenging were Italian side had bad designed Caffeine metals tanks & bad designed-short barrel designed anti tank guns that supported by huge numbers of non discipline infantry units..Italian navy failed to guaranteed security supported lines for Africa Corp efforts ...that was main military reason 🤔 of Rommel defeat in North Africa beside Africa Corp campaign suffered from fighting in both sides ( eastern & western frontiers)
Berlin rats .....the talk of town........... ohh that cat............ always fond of national seminars and national conferences waiting to relish free food served ...... how the crowd at the sathyabama university ........ enjoying their tea break cakes and how they hate the Christians .......... Christmas cakes and gifts has reached 4 corners as well the inner wear has reached every corner replacing with tattered inner wears and ....... how Mrs cat cleverly replaced every single paper without the CCTV ever catching up with rats which can steal tonnes of cakes and tonnes of biryanis and sell them at higher market price .... tricks of trading .......use a small bait to catch big vessels of .......fish....... bulk sale ............. uma ........the fishy principal....... of Indian Bank.......
SomeGuy Right on! Montgomery was a gloryhound and had a high opinion of himself! He took credit for beating the germans in Africa! The Ameicans and others gave him a lot of tanks etc and the Germans had very little left to fight back! A corporal replacimg montgomery would have had the same results! montgomey formulated the plan Market Garden in Holland and it was a disaster! Yet he claimed it was a success! Aug! He made many mistakes and actually prolonged the war!
As a former soldier it makes me cringe to see civilian historians wearing out unearned military rank (13:50). The fact the historian in question is himself a former Defense official makes this even worse! It begs the question why does he want to be a SSG in the Wartime US ARMY when he grows up and not a Yeomen Warder or a Yeoman of the Guard? Why should I have any confidence in what this pretender is saying no matter his supposed qualifications?
Basicly during this time there were 2 giant German pincers one coming through Russia and one through Africa aiming for the oil fields of baku and iraq. One was stopped at el alemein the other at stalingrad.
I wonder what if Germany has all of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Pskov Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Saint Petersburg, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Southern Federal District and North Caucasian District Germany West Germany area: 1,122,430 sq miles East Germany area: 65,800 sq miles Reunited Germany area: 1,188,230 sq miles 1949 West Germany has it's own youngster organization like the Free German Youth called the German Warriors. German Warriors Flag a light gray background with a heart shape of the German flag. A eagle's head with the stripes of the German flag with dark gray background. A iron cross with the German flag black top red middle and yellow bottom. A triangle shield with a cross in the middle. In the middle of the cross the words German Warriors are on the middle with a heart shape of the German flag. Ideology capitalism, democracy, patriotism, Judeo-Christian values, armed pacifism Activities camping outdoors, hiking, marching drive or fly toy size military vehicles, life skills values, civilian education and language translation Sections of the German Warriors Explorers Flag a heart shape of the German flag with wings on the side of the heart 6-10: sports, martial arts, pistol training, rifle training, driving flying toy size military vehicles camping and learning new languages mainly other German dialects. Explorers live in cabins castles hostels hotels or tents for three months. Wild Ones Flag wolf paw print 10-14: longer military training, survivalist training, paramilitary training and longer public gatherings. Members of the Wild Ones live in cabins, castles, hostels, hotels or tents for months for three months and one week. Wild Ones trains Explorer members and recruit new members by doing interviews. Fighters 14-18/19 work training with real guns and military vehicles. Fighters live in cabins, castles, hostels hotels or tents for four months. May 23 900,000 uniform wearing children and teens are marching or attending a public gathering celebrating the creation of West Germany. These youngsters are doing a two finger salute marching with musical instruments. These youngsters are wearing charcoal gray shirts and medium gray shirts with black pants or skirts they have a heart shape of the German flag on their triceps. Germany area: 1,128,300 sq miles
???In addition to having control over Libya, Italy invaded other countries before starting its push towards egypt. Ethiopia, Somaliland, Albania.Then unsuccessfully Greece.
Missing from this narrative is Churchill's meddling with Wavell, O'Conner and Auchinlek and then reassigning them. Could one say snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Churchill was an impatient alcoholic. Wavell, one of Britain's best Generals, would later go on to put an end to the famine in Bengal. Ironically Churchill, the late victorian dinosaur that he was, lost the empire he tried to protect.
The 88s proved deadly as an antitank gun. However the American and British bombing campaigns were so destructive that 80% of the 88s were tied down with 1 million men in the anti-aircraft battalions where they weren't on the front shooting holes in Soviet and allied tanks!
Question: General Patton got to became famous also at the African campaign right? I may be mistaken but I really thought that he came to save the British men. I am going to find this information, if one of you knows something about it, I would appreciate if you share this info here with us. Thank you! And Happy Thanksgiving!
General Patton entered the North African Theater of operations as part of the Anglo-American Operation Torch landings in Morocco and Algeria in November 1942 a few weeks after the British 8th Army finally dislodged Axis defensive dispositions at El Alamein putting the enemy in flight towards Tunisia. I don't know that I would characterize Patton's involvement in North Africa as "saving" the British, rather it was very much an Allied effort involving British, American, and eventually French forces which ultimately expelled the Axis from North Africa by May 1943. The Torch Landings in November 1942 ensured that the Italo-German Panzer Armee Afrika wouldn't be able to recover from defeat suffered at El Alamein like it had done the previous year during Operation Crusader when the British eventually defeated the Axis at the Libyan-Egyptian border following a 2-week long confused back and forth battle enabling them to lift the seige of Tobruk which had been ongoing for about 8 months. Rommel was able to recover from this reversal of fortune by early 1942 and within a month had the British Commonwealth forces on the run again. He was able to do this knowing there was no threats to his rear. This was a luxury he didn't have once the Torch Landings occurred 2,000 miles to the west. Defeated at El Alamein over late October-early November and with the Allies landing in Morrocco and Algeria his only option was to arrive in Tunisia before the Allies in order to fight another day.
@@RobbyHouseIV All right. Thank you my brother Robby House, I knew there were something connecting General Patton with North Africa near Al Alamein. Also it was when Rommel and Montgomery got their spot light during that war, although Rommel had already commanded “The Ghost Army” during the France Campaign but earn the nickname “Desert Fox” during north Lybia-Greece campaign (or North Afrika). But you gave lots of details about it that made me understand better what happened there. To my knowledge, I think that all 3 Generals (Patton, Rommel and Montgomery) got to be well known by their counterparts and the public in general in all those North Africa complete campaign. And it all began because of the stupidity of Mussolini trying to show the power he didn’t have and the conquer spirit he didn’t possess, using all the intelligent strategy that he didn’t have, and thanks to it he helped indirectly for the ultimate allied victory. Japan dragging the Americans into the war was ultimately another way that indirectly directed to the final allied victory. Also the totally untrustworthy Stalin, the son of bi**h comunist, attacking the nazis from the west front also helped the final allied victory. I It seems to me that a series of coincidence (I mean, God’s interference) made the good win over the evil at that time in history, and so I hope it happens again today as the dark evil forces of the New Mundial Order wants to interfere and dominate the planet, we again need all the coincidences we can get (better yet, God coming to the rescue as always) to maintain our world a good place to live for all of us. 🙏 Thank you bro. 👍👍👍👏👏👏
Yes u r mistaken. PATTON never met Rommel. Montgomery defeated Rommel at El Alamein. As Rommel headed west for Tunis, the Allies landed an army in algeria & morroco west of Tunis at 3 major points to cut off their escape to Italy. Operation Torch , Eisenhower commanding general, as he had no prior Field experience and was being prepared for D Day
The outcome of WW2 was inevitable. The industrial power of the USSR, UK, and wester hemisphere pitted against the tiny industries of Germany and Japan. If we lost three Midway battles, we'd still have way more carriers than Japan. If we lost D-Day and the Battle of Kursk, we'd just show up a year later with more forces. Meanwhile we were bombing German and Japanese industries flat.
At the time of Midway we had 3 operational carriers. By Okinawa we had over 200. Yamamoto himself felt Japan's only chance was to beat us before our industrial might made a difference
The German defeat at Moscow December 1941 was the turning point in the war against the nazis.Before Moscow the German army conducted offensive operations with all three army groups in Russia..After only enough logistics for offensive operations with one army group.North Africa was a sideshow.
Don't forget the New Zealanders...Breakthrough at El Alamein El Alamein campaign map, 1942 The New Zealand Division played a key role in the second Battle of El Alamein, which began on 23 October 1942. Its task, along with South African, Australian and British divisions, was to 'break in' through the enemy defences, which were now covered by deep minefields. At 9.40 p.m. the skies around El Alamein lit up as around 900 guns opened fire on known Axis positions. Twenty minutes later the infantry began their assault, advancing forward under a First World War-style creeping barrage. While the New Zealanders seized their objectives, the overall battle did not develop as Montgomery expected. Congestion, poor coordination and cautious leadership prevented Allied armoured units from taking advantage of gains made by the infantry. Montgomery planned a new attack - Operation Supercharge - further to the south, which would essentially repeat the process of the initial attack. He looked to the New Zealand Division's experienced headquarters to plan the ‘break in’ component of Supercharge, although the division itself was too weak to provide the necessary punch. Two British brigades, with New Zealand support, would carry out the attack while New Zealand infantry battalions protected their flanks. Following the breakthrough at El Alamein the New Zealand Division reached the Libyan border by 10 November 1942. It seized Halfaya Pass, taking 600 prisoners in the process, before being pulled out of the line. After recuperating near Bardia, it moved forward to the front at El Agheila in December. The New Zealanders made a series of attacks inland in an to attempt to cut off the Afrika Korps but Rommel’s forces managed to slip away on each occasion.
