Heinz Guderian

[4th wilts]

because a what do you think of guderian question was asked.i was trying to point out that logistics imo was not guderians greatest asset in russia,nor rommels in africa.montgomery however,in a huge area,like russia was a huge area as well,did understand logistics.lee.

[4th wilts]

i am still only able to post small posts.i am trying tomaster my p.c am sorry i cant rite gert long posts.o.k.lee.

[Zoya]

Originally Posted by 4th wilts

because a what do you think of guderian question was asked.i was trying to point out that logistics imo was not guderians greatest asset in russia,nor rommels in africa.montgomery however,in a huge area,like russia was a huge area as well,did understand logistics.lee.

In response to this, I think that one of the reasons why the Germans were eventually defeated on the Esatern Front was due to the sheer scale of operation, so I get what you mean, 4th wilts. I have read that the size of the Steppe, and the seeming never-ending landscape was enough to drive soldiers mad. I guess at the same time, it was probably enough to scramble even the best military brains, who weren't used to planning wholescale attack or defense on such a vast scale. One of the most effective weapons of the Motherland was the Motherland!

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Originally Posted by 4th wilts

i thought zoyas origional 1st post was pointing rather more to the eastern front.lee.

which makes your point about Montgomery totally irrelevant. North Africa and the Eastern Front are not comparable at all. In terms of Army's size the North African Campaign was a sideshow compared to the Eastern Front Lee.

[4th wilts]

the north african theatre,from the torch landings in the west,casablanca,to alamain in the east,covers a huge geographical area does it not.lee.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

It covers a huge area but in terms of armies fighting there well it doesnt really compare with Russia now does it?? And by the way, since when did Montgomery command the forces in the Western Desert? In fact he was only in Command of 8th army and was under the Command of Harold Alexander. We can keep this up but this is a discussion about Guderian and as you have already said Zoya's post was about the East so our continued discussion about North Africa is a bit of an irrelevance is it not?

Zoya, if Guderian had won the argument to redeploy 6th SS Panzer Army to the Seelow area, I would imagine that the only result would have been Zhukov would not have reached Berlin, the prize would have been taken by Koniev.

[Zoya]

Originally Posted by Gotthard Heinrici

Zoya, if Guderian had won the argument to redeploy 6th SS Panzer Army to the Seelow area, I would imagine that the only result would have been Zhukov would not have reached Berlin, the prize would have been taken by Koniev.

Yes, good point

[4th wilts]

but,do you think stalin would have allowed that.i know he played his generals against each other,but surely everybody in ussr knew zhukov was perhaps their greatest general,i dont think stalin had any choice but to let zhukovs armies take berlin.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

In Fact Koniev's Units reached the south of the city Lee and were fighting in some of the suburbs by the end of the battle. But Zhukov got the Centre to himself.

[Zoya]

Am I right in thinking Koniev was deliberately sent to the south of Berlin to ensure the capture of Heisenberg and von Weizsäcker's atomic research and supplies of uranium before the Allies got their hands on it? Stalin needed both the materials and the scientific knowledge for nuclear research. That's one of the reasons why an encirclement of Berlin was so important, rather than a simple Eastern approach.