North Africa Campaign: A Logistics Assessment
()
About this ebook
The logistical efforts of the campaign are studied against the framework of modern Airland Battle doctrine. The functional areas of manning, fueling, arming, fixing, and transporting are assessed by the doctrinal imperatives of anticipation, integration, continuity, responsiveness, and improvisation.
Major Mark D. Kitchen
See Book Description
Related to North Africa Campaign
Related ebooks
The 101st Airborne in Normandy, June 1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFailure Of German Logistics During The German Ardennes Offensive Of 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arracourt - September 1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnited States Army in WWII - the Pacific - CARTWHEEL: the Reduction of Rabaul: [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's Defeat on the Western Front, 1944–1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dieppe 1942: Reconnaissance In Force With Strategic Overtones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marines In World War II - The Seizure Of Tinian [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwenty-Nine, Let’s Go: A History of the 29th Infantry Division in World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSinews of War: The Logistical Battle to Keep the 53rd Welsh Division on the Move During Operation Overlord Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Airborne in World War II: An Illustrated History of America's Paratroopers in Action Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Airborne Warfare Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Old Hickory: The 30th Division: The Top-Rated American Infantry Division in Europe in World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Panzer Rollen: The Logistics of a Panzer Division From Primary Sources Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Tank Driver: With the 11th Armored from the Battle of the Bulge to VE Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gasoline To Patton: A Different War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Battle Of The Huertgen Forest [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5U.S. Army Signal Corps Vehicles 1941–45 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Nordwind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllied Armor in Normandy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Combined Special Operations In World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVictory in Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5United States Army in WWII - Europe - the Siegfried Line Campaign: [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of the Bulge: The Losheim Gap/Holding the Line Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarine Raiders: The True Story of the Legendary WWII Battalions Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Wars & Military For You
God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doctors From Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for North Africa Campaign
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
North Africa Campaign - Major Mark D. Kitchen
This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com
To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com
Or on Facebook
Text originally published in 1991 under the same title.
© Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publisher’s Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
THE NORTH AFRICA CAMPAIGN: A LOGISTICS ASSESSMENT
by
MARK D. KITCHEN, MAJ, USA
B.A.A.S., East Texas State University, Texarkana, Texas, 1983
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
ABSTRACT 5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5
CHAPTER ONE—INTRODUCTION 6
THE BRITISH IN NORTH AFRICA 7
THE GENESIS OF OPERATION TORCH 11
OPERATION TORCH AND THE NORTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN 14
DEFINITION OF TERMS 21
CHAPTER TWO — METHODOLOGY AND LITERATURE 23
LIMITATIONS AND DELIMITATIONS 23
SIGNIFICANCE 23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 23
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 24
CHAPTER THREE — THE SUSTAINMENT STRUCTURE 25
THE ARMY SERVICE FORCES AND THE SERVICES OF SUPPLY-1942 25
BASE SECTIONS 28
CORPS AND DIVISION SUPPORT 33
CHAPTER FOUR — SUSTAINMENT ACTIVITIES 35
MANNING-MEDICAL SUPPORT 35
MEDICAL EVACUATION 38
MANNING-GRAVES REGISTRATION 40
MANNING-OTHER AREAS OF INTEREST 40
ARMING 41
FIXING 44
FUELING 47
TRANSPORTING 50
CHAPTER FIVE — CONCLUSION 54
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 59
BIBLIOGRAPHY 60
BOOKS 60
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS 60
GOVERNMENT REPORTS 61
ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the logistics operations of the North Africa Campaign. The thesis covers wholesale and retail level preparedness and execution of the U.S. ground force sustainment following the Allied landings in northwest Africa in November 1942. The analysis concludes with the German surrender in Tunisia in May 1943.
The logistical efforts of the campaign are studied against the framework of modern Airland Battle doctrine. The functional areas of manning, fueling, arming, fixing, and transporting are assessed by the doctrinal imperatives of anticipation, integration, continuity, responsiveness, and improvisation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my appreciation to Major George J. Mordica, Major David T. Weaver, and Colonel Floyd H. Duncan for their expert guidance and inexhaustable patience. I would like to thank my wife and children for the encouragement and confidence to continue. Lastly, I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to my sister, Kay Miller. Completion of this effort would have been impossible without her eager assistance.
CHAPTER ONE—INTRODUCTION
In James Huston’s definitive history of Army logistics, The Sinews of War, he wrote that War frequently is likened to a game of chess, but chess is no strategic game, for there is no logistics.
{1} Strategic logistics dictated the when and where of America’s earliest combat involvement in World War II—Operation TORCH and the subsequent North Africa Campaign.
From this campaign emerged some of the most notable military leaders in the history of American modern warfare. Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley are names synonymous with the United States’ most important World War II successes. Much of the credit for these accomplishments must be attributed to the hard work and creativity of the military’s service and support branches. Logisticians faced the monumental task of supporting highly mechanical warfare against a formidable enemy. War would be fought in two hemispheres across vast oceans. In North Africa, Americans would encounter harsh terrain and climate coupled with a poor industrial and transportation infrastructure. The North Africa Campaign of 1942-1943 presented innumerable challenges to the U.S. logistics structure.
Logistically, the 1930’s was a critical period for the American Army. This was an Army armed and trained on the heels of the Great Depression. Research and development of new and improved weapon systems and other military equipment before June 1940 was restricted because of lack of funds. From 1925-1940, the average annual expenditure in this area was only 2.5 million dollars, the preponderance of which was given to the Ordnance Department, limiting the Medical Department and Quartermaster Corps to less than $20,000 per year. In 1937, Congress appropriated only $2,000 for the development of clothing, equipment, and motor vehicles.{2}
The fall of Poland in 1939 and France in 1940 to the Germans, coupled with the potential of war with Japan forced planners to consider potential U.S. involvement. Two years was a short time to build a highly mobile fighting force. Our first campaign—North Africa—would be a demanding first test.
The primary research question for the following study is: How effective was the logistical support of the North Africa Campaign (8 November 1942-13 May 1943)? Further, was the United States Army prepared to logistically support desert combat following the invasion of North Africa in November 1942? How could logistical shortcomings have been prevented, eased, or eliminated? How does the support provided during the campaign stand up to the scrutiny of today’s Airland Battle doctrine sustainment imperatives (by functional area)? What were the key sustainment lessons learned concerning support of intensive desert combat operations?
In order to pursue and answer the research questions, a general understanding of the strategic and tactical operations is required. What follows is a background summary which puts this study into its proper context and provides a framework for this logistics assessment.
THE BRITISH IN NORTH AFRICA
1939 saw the beginning of war in Europe. Adolph Hitler’s Wehrmacht marched almost at will throughout the continent. Poland crumbled under