Desert War

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The war in the desert that took place in WWII, defined the entire world war within a 3 year long fight for the desert in Northern Africa. Superiority in the desert often changed between sides and the conditions were harsh. Mussolini always longed for an empire in the northern deserts of Africa and began his quest in June 1940 while the rest of the world was occupied with WWII. After being defeated by the British just months after beginning his quest, Hitler came in and reinforced the Italians pinning 2 powerful armies against one another. The War in the desert began when Mussolini sent his troops to the surrounding countries of Egypt which the British were occupying. Mussolini began his charge on September 13 1940. Within four days he was only 60 miles into Egypt. The British however who had been on the retreat the entire time had planned a counter attack organized by General O’Conner, which obliterated the spread thin Italian troops. This events lead to Hitler sending his German troops to Northern Africa, with the mission to ravage the British Forces. Hitler put one of his best Generals in charge, Rommel, who stayed in charge throughout the entire fight for the desert. Rommel knew a counter attack was needed to push the British back, and he did just that. With his fast moving panzer division, and deadly Luftwaffe, he successfully drove the British 500 miles back to where they started. Like the rest of the war fronts were often changing due to different attacks coordinated by the Generals, we see in often situations the front being like a tug of war with the line moving back and forwards. The British however had control of the Mediterranean Sea allowing British supplies to pass, but German supply ships were often sunk by Dau... ... middle of paper ... ...f the story because without equal evidence the evidence would more than likely be incorrect and not worth hearing or reading. The arguments this documentary mainly focused on was that WWII was not only a war of tactics and being better than one another, it also was a war of attrition. As seen in the desert war the German did not have enough supplies to power the army it had in Africa resulting in low morale, and not having the ability to fight the war at full strength. The British understood that they needed to cut off German supply lines and did so. Also this documentary argues that countering an enemy, with better tactics is crucial to win the war. Even if you have the supplies without prober tactics any army can be over run. The correct balance between the two is what won the war in the desert for the British, and the entire World War II for the allied powers.

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