WW2 Historical Question

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WW2 Historical Question - 7/29/2003 3:12:47 AM

Paratrooper

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Is the North African Campaign (1940-1943) considered part of ETO or is it a seperate theater of operations?

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- 7/29/2003 3:49:46 AM

Belisarius

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My un-scholaristic guess would be; not ETO, although the strategic goals for NA must have been with ETO in mind.

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Of North Africa - 7/29/2003 3:52:15 AM

ShermanM4

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To the best of my knowledge, it was part of the ETO. North Africa seems wierd in repsect to the rest of the war. The Americans arrived there in late '42 and actually spent about as much time fighting the French as they did the Germans. After the Kasserine debacle in which the Americans were almost sent willy nilly home, the rest of the fighting in North Africa was not large in scale at all. The Afrika Korps was only Four Divisions total. They were supplemented with Italians and I am not knocking the Italians, but that was not enough to tip the scales in any major favor for the Axis war effort. Paul Carrell, author of "Dessert Fox," concluded that the dessert was no place for a defensive war and the dessert was like a sea. Large miles of open terrain which could be easily traversed by armies and their vehicles. Naturally there were problems like heat, sandstorms, and a total lack of natural way points to orient ones bearing. In the end an Army could move through the dessert like a ship that cuts through the sea.

After North Africa the fighting was fought on European soil, Sicily, Italy, France et al... After you think of those places and the battles waged there, the scales of squad and divisional actions, and the materials spent there, North Africa seems really strange looking back on it.

There was a book written really recently about the over all significance of the North African Campaing for American Soldiers and Citizens. It is called "An Army at Dawn." I cannot remember the authors name, but i'd still like to get my hands on it.

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- 7/29/2003 5:33:28 AM

Belisarius

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Differences in the nature of the locations apart, the scope and goals of the NA campaign was on TO level, wasn't it? Sure, it was in support of ETO but then again so was the whole war, except Pacific.

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- 7/29/2003 5:38:07 AM

Marc von Martial

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From what I know, as for the simply meaning of words, it was part of the "ETO".

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- 7/29/2003 6:02:40 AM

Les_the_Sarge_9_1

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I have always been accustomed to calling the war as either Pacific theatre or European Theatre.

To be sure, the war was fought in some far flung locations. The Battle of the River Plate was certainly remote.

But every wargame I have ever played assumed that Africa was part and parcel of a grand strategic scope action involving the European conflict.

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- 7/29/2003 3:08:52 PM

Resisti

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I've seen talking many times about Mediterranean(Sea) TO ,
where all those fighting areas of WWII, having part(or all) of their borders on this sea, are included.

So under this we could include North Africa, Greece, Aegean Islands, Creta, but Italy Campaign and South of France, too.

Having all these battles under this denomination, rather than a generic "ETO" shouldn�t be so surprising, as the Mediterranean Sea has played a major role in all these battles (a bit less in Greek Campaign, but for the route of escape it provided to the Brits ;) )

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- 7/29/2003 4:51:08 PM

Belisarius

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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Resisti
[B](a bit less in Greek Campaign, but for the route of escape it provided to the Brits ;) ) [/B][/QUOTE]

Also indirectly since it tied up German forces scheduled for Tunisia.

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- 7/29/2003 5:29:20 PM

Resisti

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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Belisarius
[B]Also indirectly since it tied up German forces scheduled for Tunisia. [/B][/QUOTE]

I was referring to the more or less big influence of the Mediterranean Sea on the fighting taking place in these areas, rather than the influence of Greek campaign on other operations.

Trying to demonstrate that calling the Mediterranean as a specific, per se, Theatre of Operations, separated by the bigger ETO, makes some sense.

Oh, in my previous list, I forgot Malta�

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- 7/29/2003 8:41:38 PM

Jim1954

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This link describes it as:

European Theater

Eastern Front
Southern Front
Western Front

with North Africa being part of the Southern Front.

http://baby.indstate.edu/gga/gga_cart/gecar131.htm

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