History of the Second World War (127 page)

Read History of the Second World War Online

Authors: Basil Henry Liddell Hart

Tags: #History, #Military, #General, #Other

Supplies: Rommel misses British dumps, 191; British loss of, in North Africa, 268, 277, 279; to Rommel, lost in Mediterranean, 299; minimal, to Axis forces in Tunisia, 425-6; Russians depend on capture of, 482; Russian ability to survive on less than other armies, 486-7; restricted, for Patton’s Army, 562-3; deficiencies in, hampering Allied advance to Rhine, 563-4; lavish scale of Allied compared to German, 564; Russian advance checked only by problems of, 569; problem of, in recapturing Burma, 632-3, 637; Russian build-up of, before offensive, 664

Supply columns, road-bound, of Germans in Russia, 162, 164; bombing of German, at Alamein, 283

Support groups for convoy protection, 387

Tactics, Japanese errors in, at Midway, 353; Russian improvement in tactical ability, 487; Martel on tank, 489

Tank(s), Ardennes regarded as barrier to, 38, 707; landing of, for ‘Torch’, 321, 324; divisional strength in, German and Allied, 403n., 647n
. See also
Armoured divisions and under tank names in General Index

Tank destroyers, 403, 416

Tank landing craft.
See
L.S.T.

Tank warfare, high-speed, 20, 22, 160-1; Poland and France defeated by, 20-2, 27-30, 65-6, 69-72; Guderian fired by idea of, 22, 66, 706; Rommel’s improvisations in, 118-19, 177, 179, 181; cross-country movement essential to, 158; ‘battle of theories’ on, in Russia, 159-61; by encirclement, 161-2; British piecemeal methods, 185, 267, 272-4; Rommel’s high-speed, 189-90, 192-193, 279; U.S. piecemeal methods, in Tunisia, 403, 405; Martel on tactics for, 489; costly German success in, near Jassy, 575

Tanks, British: decisive part played by, against Italians in N. Africa, 113-15; lost in Greece, 118; in Crete, 135, 138; sent to Egypt via Mediterranean, 175-6, 178; cruiser and infantry falsely regarded as un-combinable in action, 178, 181, 184-5; caught in Rommel’s tank-traps, 179, 180-1, 185; disproportionate loss of, at ‘Battle- axe’, 180-1; used piecemeal, 185, 267, 272-274; not qualitatively inferior to German, 270-1; distrust of infantry for, 286; faulty tactical combination between infantry and, 287; fail to move in dark, 287, 306; in Tunisia, 335/7.; divisional strength in, as compared to German, 403n.; advance by night, 419, 421; knocked out in river crossings in N. Italy, 541; massive attack by, near Caen, 552-6; flame-throwing, 671, 673; amphibious, 671, 678

Types and models:

A. 10, 181

Churchill, 671

cruiser, in N. Africa, 115-17, 175-9, 181, 276; arms and armour of, 270; old type, 176.
See
A. 10, Crusader

Crusader, 183; 111, 335n.

infantry (‘I’).
See
Churchill; Matilda; Valentine

light, 176, 194

Matilda, in N. Africa, 113-14, 176-9, 181, 183-5, 194; armour of, 271

Valentines, in N. Africa, 183, 185, 194, 287, 298, 335/7.; arms and armour of, 270-1, 335/7.

See also
Tanks, United States

Tanks, French: in 1939, 21; piecemeal use of, 21, 707; at Algiers, 325

Tanks, German: fail on road to Austria, 9; in 1939, 19, 66; break through Western front, 65-6, 69-72; Hitler fearful for safety of, 80-2; in planned invasion of Britain, 89; Rommel’s use of dummy, 118-19; used in Balkan campaign, 132-4; reduction in scale of, in invasion of Russia, 157-8; encirclement pattern of use of, 161-2; used by Rommel in combination with anti-tank guns, 181, 188, 195; use of, in Stalingrad, 260; Rommel reinforced with, 267, 270-1, 288, 291; more strongly armoured, 267; used piecemeal, 302; in Tunisia, 337, 403; divisional strength as compared with Allied, 403n.,
647n.;
heavy losses of, in Arnim’s offensive, 411; rendered useless by lack of fuel, 425-6, 429-31, 655, 658; at Salerno landings, 459n., 462; given as reward to Manteuffel by Hitler, 495-6; remote controlled, explosive-filled miniature, 530-1; scarcity of, on Western Front (1944), 559; in Ardennes offensive, 652

Goliaths, 530-1

King Tigers, 665

Mark III, 157

Mark IV, 157, 459n.

Mark VI, 652

Panthers, 459n., 486

Panzer II, 279, 298

Panzer III, 267, 339n.

Panzer III(J) Special, 271, 291

Panzer IV, 292, 298, 337, 339/7.

Tigers, 339, 403, 411, 442, 486, 652, 665

Tanks, Italian: defeated at Beda Fomm, 116-117; captured, used by British 2nd Armoured Division, 172; pulverised at Alamein, 304; in Tunisia, 403; in Sicily, 443

M.13, 172

Tanks, Japanese: in Philippines, 223; in Malaya, 224, 227; on Biak Island, 616

Tanks, Russian: total strength, compared with German, 158-9; ineffectiveness of, 162; increased production of, 245, 665; improved quality of (1943), 486

Josef Stalin, 575, 665

Tanks, United States: used in Eighth Army, 183, 271-2, 279, 298; in N.W. Africa, 337; establishment of, in Armored Division, 337n.; division strength of, as compared to German, 403n., 647n.

Grant, 271-2, 279, 298

Sherman, 298, 657, 671

Stuart, 183, 337, 403

Tank-dozers, 671

Tank-traps, Rommel’s, in Desert, 177, 179, 185; British discount reports of 88-mms being used in, 180-1

Target identification, aids to, ‘Gee’, 596; flares, 597; Pathfinder force, 606; low-flying Mosquitoes in, 607

Torpedo-boats, German motor, 391

Torpedo-bombers, British, at Taranto, 212; Japanese, 216, 226, 351; United States, lost at Midway, 351-2; British, attack
Bismarck
, 379; U.S., at Leyte Gulf, 624

Torpedoes, aerial, used in shallow water, 212; Japanese ‘long lance’, 359; German ‘homing’, 390

Troop carriers in airborne conquest of Crete, 136

U-boat(s), Raeder suggests Norwegian bases for, 53; sink U.S. transport near Algiers, 325; in Atlantic before war starts, 370; attack merchant ships, 370-7, 380-91, 393; coastal type, 370, 376, 393; increased strength of, 375, 381-2, 384-6, 393; destruction of, 375, 381-2, 386, 389-90, 393; ‘wolf-pack’ tactics of, 376-7, 385, 389; night surface attacks by, 376; welded pressure hulls of, 381; sent to Mediterranean, 381-2; withdrawn from S. Atlantic, 382; attack American shipping, 383-4; sent to Norway, 384, 392; hindered by mines in Baltic, 384, 393; new and improved, 385, 393; refuelled on oceans, 385; new British devices and weapons against, 383, 389; Horder’s co-ordinated counteroffensive against, 387-8; defeat of, 388-9; withdrawn from N. Atlantic, 390, 393; air support for, 390-1; ‘Walter’ type, 390; new devices improving, 390-1; concentrated against cross-Channel invasion, 391; 1944 inshore campaign of, 392; new types of, 393; in 1945, 393-4; surrender or are scuttled, 394; attack ‘Husky’ convoys, 441; Schnorkel, 609

Types XXI and XXIII, 393

‘Walter’ type, 390

U.29,
370

U.39,
370

U.47
, 371

U-cruisers, 385

‘Unequal leg’ attack, 213

U-tankers, 385

Vehicles, uselessness of roadbound, in tank warfare, 158, 164; amphibious, 439, 511-512; tracked landing (Fantails), 671-3

V-weapons, 551, 677

War: objectives of Western Powers, 3; declaration of, 16; strength of opposing forces (1939), 17-19; economics in control of, 22-4; basic products essential for, 23, 682

War correspondents precede advance of Eighth Army, 465

‘War is won’ attitude nullifies chance of early victory, 567

Warning system, British, 94-5

Weather: difficulties of Luftwaffe in Battle of Britain, 95-6, 99; causing delay of Russian campaign, 131, 134; winter, German armies in Russia caught by, 160, 167, 710; wet, stays German advance, 163-4, 167; rain helps Rommel’s escape, 306; prevents Allied offensive in Tunisia, 341; storm and wind affect Sicily landings, 441-2; rainy, in Italy, 469, 471-2, 531, 541; thaw hampers Russians, 481, 668; foggy, at Ardennes offensive, 647, 651; foggy, at opening of Russian last offensive, 665

Western Desert Force, 178

Western Naval Task Force, at Sicily landings, 441

Western Task Force, U.S., at Casablanca, 316, 321-3

Window radar-distracting device, 601

GENERAL INDEX

A6M.
See
Zero

Aa, River, 80

Aachen, 561, 646, 655; entanglement of U.S. First Army around, 560, 564-5, 649; air raids on, 600

Aalborg, 100

Aandalsnes, 62

A.B.D.A. Command, 227-8

Abbeville, 75

Abuyog, Philippines, 628

Abyssinia,
see
Ethiopia ‘Acrobat, Operation’, 267

Acroma, 196, 275

Adachi. Lieut.-General H., 615, 687

Adak Island, 500

Addis Ababa, 125

Addu Atoll, 237

Adige, River, 674

Adler tag
(Eagle Day), 99

Admiral Graf Spee,
the, 371

Admiral Hipper,
the, 374, 384, 387

Admiral Scheer,
the, 374, 377, 384

Admiralty Islands, 509, 613

Adriatic, Allied failure to use amphibious power in, 474-5

Agedabia, 198, 267

Agheila, bottleneck, 116-17; Rommel’s advance to, 119, 172

‘A-Go, Operation’, 618

Agordat, 126

Agra, Central Command H.Q. at, 364

Aire-St Omer-Graveline canal, 75, 80

Aisne, River, 72, 80-1, 84

Aitape, New Guinea, 615, 687

Akagi,
the, 351

Akyab Island, 365-6, 515-16, 634

Alagir, 255

Alam Haifa, Battle of, 291-7, 335

Alam Nayil Ridge, 293

Alamein, Eighth Army driven back to, 266; Auchinlek decides to stand at, 278; Rommel pauses near, 281, 296; defensive position at, 281; ‘First’ battle of, 281-3, 296; July battle of, 284-90; final battle of, 297-304; comparative strength of armies at, 298-9; Martel on reasons for success at, 489

Alaska, 500

Alban Hills, 528-9, 536

Albania, 135; oil of, 24

Albert Canal, German capture of bridges over, 68-9; scratch German forces to line, 559-60; British secure crossing over, 559; British failure to secure bridges over, 565-7

Aleutian Islands, Japanese attack, 345, 349-350, 352; American expedition to regain, 500-1

Alexander, General (later Field-Marshal) Sir Harold, in Burma, 235-6; appointed C.-in-C. Middle East, 266, 290; acts on Auchinleck’s plan, 291-2; fixes date for Alamein attack, 297-8; Deputy C.-in-C. to Eisenhower, 402; commands 18th Army Group in Tunisia, 402, 415, 420; on rout of Allied forces, 405; lucky placing of forces by, 406; plans for ‘final’ Tunisian offensive, 423-4; fresh plan of, 426-8; completes conquest of Tunisia, 430-1, 435; on number of prisoners taken, 431; commands 15th Army Group in invasion of Sicily, 439; reports on Sicilian campaign, 442, 445; in Italy, 450; gives object for Calabrian landings, 457, 467; optimism of, about landings in Italy, 458; visits Salerno bridgehead, 464; four-phase directive of, 471; on slow advance, 473; plans Anzio landing, 527; endorses destruction of Cassino monastery, 530; calls off Cassino offensive, 532; and 1944 spring offensive in Italy, 532-3, 535; opposes ‘Anvil’ operation, 537-8; loses divisions and air support to ‘Dragoon’, 538; follow-up plan of, 539-40, 542; Supreme Commander, Mediterranean, 541; mentioned, 295, 463, 528

Alexandria, tank convoy arrives at, 176; Rommel fails to reach, 266; British Fleet leaves, 283

Alexandropolis, 133

Algeria, project for landing in, 310, 313-17; landings in, 323-6; French forces in, 332; advance on Tunisia through, 334.
See also ‘
Torch, Operation’; North-West Africa

Algiers, Allied landing at, 313-16, 320, 325-6; assault forces for, 317; secret meeting with French near, 318-19; French resistance at, 320, 323, 325-6; cease-fire at, 323, 327-8; confusion among French in, 327-30; planning of ‘Husky’ in, 439; convoys embark from, 441, 460