Comments by "Cary Black" (@caryblack5985) on "OIL, Stalingrad, The Italians and More! Answering 10 uncommon questions about WW2" video.

  1. . They felt the bombing would destroy defensive installations, supplies and equipment and greatly reduce Soviet morale. They did not realize it would greatly hamper them later.
    4
  2. There was almost no chance of the Germans reaching Baku. They captured Maikop but never reached Grozny which was 354 miles (not Kilometers) further.. From Miakop to Baku is another 676 miles or over 1000 kilometers. Not only would the Soviets stop fighting but the Germans would have to have a new logistics system.
    2
  3. No FDR wanted the US in the war against the Nazis. He did what he could but could not get entirely involved because of the strong group of isolationists. Hitler declaring war on the US freed the US to go all out.
    2
  4. That is true. You need instructors for US equipment . Also there were US observers.
    2
  5. As to one of your questions it was the Soviets who were doing the attacking at Rzhev and since the attacks were heavy Army Group Center needed reinforcement. Hitler did not use Army Group Center to keep the Soviets busy he wanted to conquer the USSR and the plan was on 3 axis, North, Center and South in1941.
    2
  6. He would get nothing from the US.
    2
  7. Yes it was good for it's time but is now sadly outdated.
    2
  8. Plays for me.
    2
  9. There was almost no chance of the Germans reaching Baku. They captured Maikop but never reached Grozny which was 354 miles (not Kilometers) further.. From Miakop to Baku is another 676 miles or over 1000 kilometers. Not only would the Soviets stop fighting but the Germans would have to have a new logistics system.
    2
  10.  @michaelconnors7668  I don't think they planned to get the oil in Baku in 1941. They made the assumption that the USSR would collapse and that the fighting would be over in 8 to 12 weeks. That means that at the beginning of October the war with the USSR would end. Therefore no worries about logistics, no worries about what the winter would mean. It seems ludicrous now but they did think so. They also did not have to worry about oil since they had enough. The Germans were realistic enough to realize that they could not reach Baku in one campaign since they got as far as Rostov but could not hold it and Baku was 800 miles (1200+ kilometers) further but why worry since if the USSR collapsed they will get the oil in 1942.
    2
  11. The Germans invaded the USSR with 3,800,00 me. Would 45,00 men be much of a difference. The Germans had many more panzer divisions and tanks in the USSR. Would the panzers from N Africa make a difference not in any significant way.
    2
  12. There were several plans and they were impractical. By March 1941 the German army had reached an agreement with the Einsatzgruppen (murder squads) to give them logistical and other assistance and this was 3 months before a German soldier set foot in the USSR.
    2
  13. Yes but no efforts were made and the lag time for getting oil for Italy would take many many years.
    1
  14.  @jimsackmanbusinesscoaching1344  Well you should ask Mussolini. Why they did nothing is something that is probably due to politics in Italy in the20s and 30s. Where you could find out is something I have no information on.
    1
  15. This is what I found. Maybe there is more info In 1935 a professor from Milan University who was in charge of a water well drilling program made it a point to watch for petroleum. This was probably more out of academic interest than a serious concern for finding a significant economic resource. A couple of year later petroleum was detected in a water well drilled near Tripoli. This find was enough to prompt a geological survey in Tripolitania. One well was drilled searching for petroleum but none was found. Nevertheless in 1940 a program of exploration was initiated but the available equipment was inadequate to deal with the severe conditions of the Saharan Desert. Shortly thereafter war came to Libya and all exploration stopped. Immediately after World War II the political status of Libya, which had been controlled by Italy, was uncertain. There was no state which could guarantee petroleum exploring companies the rights to what they might find. Therefore no exploration was carried out until after Libya became an independent kingdom in 1951. The new kingdom developed mineral rights law through consultation with the international petroleum companies. In 1953 Libya granted prospecting permits to eleven petroleum companies. Geologic surveys were undertaken by those companies. In 1955 a petroleum well was successfully drilled under desert conditions just across the border in Algeria.
    1
  16. No that muc. The USSR had their own sorces and the US had enough at home and also supplied the UK.
    1
  17. No
    1
  18. It was pretty good although it was not a good substitute being very inefficient compared to having oil resources. But when the US bombers went after the synthetic oil plants it went from bad to a disaster.
    1
  19. World At war is still valuable. It is important to realize it is many years old and we have learned much more about WWII since then.
    1
  20. See this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_participation_in_the_Eastern_Front
    1
  21. They did of course and also had the Hungarian, Romanian and Italian armies to help in the south. However there were strong Soviet attacks in both the south and the center and they had to reinforce the those armies.
    1
  22.  @juliantheapostate8295  Not in 1942. In fact Hitler was with Halder in Vinnitsa and when Paulus asked for 3 fresh divisions he said I have none. Hitler certainly could have overruled Halder. And it was Hitler who sent Manstein and the 11th Army from the South up to Leningrad to capture the city.
    1
  23. Sure and the whole series has value. It is just important to know that it is outdated and new info is available which changes some of the way we look at WWII.
    1
  24. The US was supplying a lot of oil to the UK and could continue to.
    1
  25. True. Heris some further info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tizard_Mission
    1
  26. They all wanted to destroy the Soviet Union. They considered it a war of annihilation.
    1
  27. Yes but they did not and Hitler wanted to invade the USSR.
    1
  28. Your idea is a possible one but Hitler already had the OKH planning for an invasion of the USSR in December 1940. Since Hitler was determined to conquer the USSR both for resources and ideological reasons and since the Germans did not have naval power a middle east strategy was unlikely. They could have used the Italian Navy but it was not nearly a match for the British Navy. The problem with what if scenarios is that they are unverifiable and require for this alternative to go as exactly as imagined. There are so many alternative possibilities that can be imagined it becomes an exercise that can go on almost without end.
    1
  29. It would take years to search for discover, drill and get the oil out of the ground.
    1
  30. Maybe but by this time they were committed and thought Rommel would win until he didn't.
    1
  31. Well that is a what if question and we can never know since it did not happen and Turkey stayed neutral.
    1
  32. That was part of the deal but it was later expanded into we send you war materials you pay us later.
    1
  33. You need to go back and watch TIK's earlier videos. He spent a lot of time discussing that point.
    1
  34. Yes it was a disaster and coming only a few months after Stalingrad was was as catastrophic.
    1
  35. Perhaps because they did not have enough arms or perhaps they did not care.
    1
  36. It could have been a possibility but the Germans did not have enough time. It all depended if they could hold this territory for almost another year and the Soviets also had bombers and could attack this source of oil.
    1
  37. He took troops from North and Center to strengthen Army Groups A and B to launch Blau. When the Soviets launched strong attacks at Rzhev he sent troops to Center. He also sent Manstein and the 11th Army from the Crimea to Leningrad. There was no emphasis to capture Moscow in 1942
    1
  38. The Germans invaded with 3,800,000. They were confident and did not feel they needed more men in 1941.
    1
  39.  @terrylawler2083  That I don't know. You would have to research it country by country. They certainly ran out of supplies in the USSR but not men though casualties certainly ran up by October and November but by that time it was too late to send troops to assure taking Moscow. In addition the Panzer units and tanks available for combat were very depleted.
    1
  40. Since Hitler was angry that too many troops were in Voronezh in early July he fired von Bock. After that he troops quickly were divided. Army Group A to the Caucasus and Army Group B to Stalingrad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Voronezh_(1942)
    1
  41. The Germans expected to capture a great deal of Soviet locomotives and railcars. It did not happen therefore they had to rely on German railroads. It would not make sense and would not be practical to manufacture locomotives and railcars in the Soviet rail configrations.
    1
  42.  @koiosdamocles1090  I also think but don't have any evidence that much of the railroad stock was heading East because the Soviets were relocating their factories to the east which meant a lot of railroad equipment was leaving western USSR.
    1
  43. The Army group only captured one port. Most of the troops were in the mountains or far from the seacoast so it would still be very difficult to get supplies to them.
    1
  44. They were actively fighting the Germans and of course the Germans did not want to lose Warsaw sine it was an important transportation hub among other things
    1
  45. Please cite your scource for this.
    1
  46. They certainly did compromise training late in the war 1944-45. Also had to greatly reduce pilot training due to fuel crisis.
    1
  47. A lot of US aid came from the Southern route through Iran and the Caucasus. Cutting off Murmansk would hurt but not stop aid.
    1
  48. Hitler was in firm control and although people could argue against the invasion what Hitler wanted was final. Anybody who did not want to go along would be replaced by someone who did. Finally the whole leadership hated the communists and was glad invade the USSR. As TIK said they considered it a war of annihilation and wanted to destroy the USSR.
    1
  49.  @yukikaze3436  Well your entitled to your opinion but 45,000 is only one and a half percent of the troops that invaded and there were many more panzer divisions and tanks fighting for the Germans in the USSR.
    1
  50.  @yukikaze3436  Yes but they would not have taken Moscow.
    1
  51. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhhsMuCPCbo
    1
  52. No they did not. They felt the bombing would destroy defensive installations, supplies and equipment and greatly reduce Soviet morale.
    1
  53. They did bomb Grozny.
    1
  54. The USSR was invaded by Germany not the other way around. Also Germany and the USSR were allies until the Germans invaded.
    1
  55. There werevery good reasons for sending troops to the center and south. Both were under very heavy Soviet attacks.
    1
  56. Halder believed this and so did Hitler. However at the same meeting Paulus did not support this and asked for three fresh divisions.
    1
  57. There was no doubt that Roosevelt wanted the US in the war against Hitler. But public opinion was considerably divided and the America First group was quite strong.
    1
  58. I would like to see a citation that shows that the Germans had knowledge of the makeup, the sail dates and the routes of convoys through insurance policies. It seems very doubtful.
    1