The long road to Moscow

Tür:

Kitap Bölümü

Yayın yılı:

2015

Yayıncı:

Cambridge University Press

While the German armies in the Soviet Union were over-extended, under-resourced and fighting their own exhaustion as much as the Red Army, Rommel’s small force in North Africa was about to suffer its most serious reversal to date. With an active strength of less than 40,000 men, (in addition to his Italian allies) Rommel’s Afrikakorps was taken by surprise when General Claude Auchinleck launched his ‘Crusader’ offensive on 18 November. Rommel was already at a distinct disadvantage with just 249 tanks (seventy of which were the obsolete Mark iis) in his two panzer divisions (15th and 21st) against some 770 British and American tanks. Moreover, the British enjoyed vastly better logistical and aerial support (some 550 serviceable aircraft to the Luftwaffe’s seventy-six), giving Auchinleck a formidable advantage. As one of Rommel’s staff officers wrote on 23 November: ‘The question is: “to be or not to be” for the Deutsches Afrika Korps.’

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