![]() It is doubtful whether an advance against Russia from the north (Poland and Romania) will be necessary.”Īn advance on the southern frontier of Turkey would place the Turks in an impossible position. “The Russian problem will then appear in a different light. ![]() “If we reach that point, Turkey will be in our power,” Raeder emphasized. Raeder argued that the Axis should capture the Suez Canal and then advance through Palestine and Syria as far as Turkey. Kriegsmarine Grand Admiral Erich Raeder weighed in on the Mediterranean strategy during September 1940 as he showed Hitler, step by step, how Germany could defeat Britain without crossing the English Channel and maintained that doing so would put Germany in a commanding position against the Soviet Union as well. (Get an in-depth look at WWII on all fronts, from the European Theater to the fighting in the South Pacific, inside WWII History magazine.) To Nazi Germany, Winning the North African Campaign Was the Key to Defeating Britain The only thing in the Mediterranean that interested him was the possibility of capturing Gibraltar and thereby closing its western access to the British. But Hitler wouldn’t agree to commit a panzer corps. Hitler, in a July 31, 1940, meeting with his generals, did not wholly oppose a possible Mediterranean strategy as Generals Walther von Brauchitsch, commander in chief of the Army, and Franz Halder, chief of staff in the Army high command (OKH) proposed sending panzer forces and aircraft to Libya to help the Italians, who were planning an offensive into Egypt. With Italy’s entry into the war a new front was opened that Britain hardly seemed able to defend. British forces in the Mediterranean and the Middle East faced a bleak and uncertain future. With the fall of France in June 1940, Britain was the last active enemy of Nazi Germany. While Rommel was winning the war of desert armor tactics during 1941-1942 in the North African Campaign, he was losing the war of logistics. Bradley could have been referring to German General Erwin Rommel.
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