Hello KYT, A very good observation concerning the Italian 10th army in Africa. True enough, with the constant urging of Mussolini, Graziani hesitantly marched on Bardia. One of the reasons for Graziani's failure to be more aggresive on the offense was the the utter lack of mobility. If one looks at the British counter offensive, and the huge numbers of Italian soldiers taken prisoners by the British, one will note that the Italians were simply overrun because they were walking. Very little transport was avaliable. Moreover, it is interesting to note, that with the arrival of two German panzer divisions, one of which was under strength, only Italian infantry, The British were hurled back in little time. Hence Churchill sacking one Commander after another. We see this similar situation on the Eastern Front. The Germans, highly outnumbered managed to route far superior Soviet forces due to excellent logistics, tactics and mobility(blitzKreig). So, in the larger scope of things I think one needs to keep perspective on the absolute necessity of logistics and mobility jlemma
Welcome jlemma, glad you could join us after the initial hiccup. Good points. What I noticed in my original post was that doctrine is not the same as reality. Like the Italian's development work of their aircraft, the Italian Army came up with some fantastic ideas but were let down by resources and leadership.
Hello from the colonies and thank you for the warm welcome! apologize for not reading closer to your statement. Point taken. Best regards, Joe
No worries Joe, more an afterthought on my part. The irony is that Churchill blamed his generals for the very same reasons that Mussolini blamed his, and yet they both withhedlf vital supplies!!
