Hitler: Why move into Africa
FutureRANGER
Active member
Oil?
Just a guess, I have no real idea.
Just a guess, I have no real idea.
IrishWizard
Active member
haha thats funny redneck. Just as pollux said that is the main reason Hitler 'invaded' Africa. He only sent men, Rommel, there because Italy needed help. Mussolini believed that the old roman empire should be put back together, just as Hitler thought all German speaking nations should be 'united' once again. Hitler truly never invaded Africa because he only sent Rommel with his men to help Italy conquer it, then left them there cause he knew Mussolini could not hold it without his help. Hitler did want world domination but Africa was last on his list because it would be very simple for him to conquer.
Doppleganger
Active member
IrishWizard said:
This is correct.
I'm not gonna go into how bad the Italian armed forces were in WW2 in case there are any Italians reading this board. :lol:
I will say this though. It's just as well that the Italian bomber crews were so inaccurate otherwise they would have sank half the Italian navy. 8)
"Aryan" is just a symbol stolen by Hitler to settle the Germans as the "master race", just like he stole the swastika.Redneck said:
http://archaeology.about.com/library/weekly/aa012901a.htm
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_swastika_forum.htm
Young Winston
Banned
British offensive action in 1941 and 1942 had very little effect on Germany. It was mainly concentrated against the Italians in Africa. The Italian soldiers had little stomach for this war. Their tanks were obsolete, commanders were poor and sanitation was bad.
Hitler, in the spring of 1941, sent Rommel with two weak panzer divisions and a light infantry division. Rommel was quite brilliant 1941 to 1942 and the British were hopeless for various reasons.
Hitler was not very interested in the desert war despite what the British thought. He kept Rommel on a logistical shoestring. Rommel was only there because Hitler wished to keep Italy in the war. However, after Rommel’s successes in 1941 and 1942 gave Hitler the idea that a great sweep could be made from the Suez Canal, through the Middle East (with the Vichy French collaboration from their possession in Syria) towards Iraq, where there was plenty of anti-British feeling, and Iran, which would turn pro-German if the Germans approached it. This would all come together with a similar vast sweep through southern Russia and the Caucasus.
Rommel eventually failed because the Germans failed to subdue Malta so the Allies were able to disrupt his supply routes from the air and sea. Hitler would not give the Desert War a higher priority because his eyes were glued on Russia (particularly Stalingrad) running up to the time of El Alamein.
Hitler, in the spring of 1941, sent Rommel with two weak panzer divisions and a light infantry division. Rommel was quite brilliant 1941 to 1942 and the British were hopeless for various reasons.
Hitler was not very interested in the desert war despite what the British thought. He kept Rommel on a logistical shoestring. Rommel was only there because Hitler wished to keep Italy in the war. However, after Rommel’s successes in 1941 and 1942 gave Hitler the idea that a great sweep could be made from the Suez Canal, through the Middle East (with the Vichy French collaboration from their possession in Syria) towards Iraq, where there was plenty of anti-British feeling, and Iran, which would turn pro-German if the Germans approached it. This would all come together with a similar vast sweep through southern Russia and the Caucasus.
Rommel eventually failed because the Germans failed to subdue Malta so the Allies were able to disrupt his supply routes from the air and sea. Hitler would not give the Desert War a higher priority because his eyes were glued on Russia (particularly Stalingrad) running up to the time of El Alamein.
Shadowalker
Active member
I believe the main reason that they were there was because the italians needed help in libya and if they had troops in north africa they could drive the british out of crete and stop them threatening the oil fields in romania!
Young Winston
Banned
skywalker said:
The Italians attacked Greece. Suprisingly for the Italians the Greeks gave them a hiding! The Italians were nearly forced into sueing for an armistice with the Greeks. The Greeks didn't want to make any deals and wished to keep on fighting.
The British entered the fray to help the Greeks. The Germans fearing that the British involvement would threaten their oil supplies in Rumania, swiftly came into Greece and belted the British (and Australians). They retreated to Crete where Churchill wished to use it for a major airforce base. The Germans had other ideas and invaded with paratroopers. We got another belting.
Crete was not directly related to the formation of the Africa Corp. Skywalker you are correct in saying that it was formed due to problems the Italians were having in Libya.
