Comments by "John Burns" (@johnburns4017) on "Nobody expected Rommel's Second North African Offensive! BATTLESTORM" video.

  1.  @sean640307  That is correct. However the key was the USSR falling, which the Japanese though would happen. It never happened. If the Japanese thought the USSR would successfully counter-attack at Moscow they would not have attacked the British, Americans and Dutch. It is quite simple. If Britain did not have to take and divert vital material and human resources from North Africa and the Middle East to face the Japanese, Rommel would not have succeeded. The round trip to supply the armies in the Middle East and North Africa was a sailing of the equivalent of circumnavigating the Earth - the only nation that could have done that at the time. The British Middle Eastern armies were preparing for a German breakthrough into the Middle East from the USSR, or invading Turkey, and them getting at the magic oil. In late 1941 the British and USSR invaded Iran to secure the vital oil refinery at Aberdan and supplies directly into the USSR.
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  2.  @sean640307  In December 1941: 1) The Soviets counter attacked at Moscow (40% of the tanks used were provided by the British). 2) Operation Crusader pushed Rommel right back into Libya, with running the Axis out of Africa a foregone conclusion. The British and Soviets assessed they would beat the Germans. Then the Japanese attacked.
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  3.  @sean640307  Very sad. Ignorance is bliss to many.
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  4. Rommel was being pushed right back with the end in sight - then the Japanese attacked the British, Dutch and Americans. The British had to send troops and supplies which used vital shipping, to the Far East. Then the Germans pushed back against depleted British forces.
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  5. @Nick Danger Rambo, a quiz. Name the British general who defeated Rommel in every battle they met? 20 points for the correct answer.
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  6.  @nickdanger3802  BZZZZZT! Wrong answer. Rambo, the name the British general who defeated Rommel in every battle they met, was... 🎊🎈🍾 General Montgomery 🎊🎈🍾 Zero points Rambo, zero. better luck next time.
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  7.  @bigwoody4704  Rambo a quiz. Name the German general who suffered a quarter of a million POWs when Monty rammed him into the Med? 20 points for the correct answer.
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  8.  @bigwoody4704  BZZZZZT! Wrong answer. Rambo, the name of the German general who suffered a quarter of a million POWs when Monty rammed him into the Med, was...... 🎊🎈🍾 General Rommel 🎊🎈🍾 Zero points Rambo, zero. Better luck next time.
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  9. The impact of the Japanese entering war was a great gift for Rommel. The British supplied armies in North Africa and the Middle East via the Cape, the equivalent of sailing half way around the world. Many of the essential supply ships were removed from the North African theatre, as were essential troops. Also the British were sending convoys of tanks to the USSR at the time. So Rommel had it easy ...again. From near being wiped out of Africa, Rommel had a second wind. The Germans attempted to get the Japanese to attack the British in the Far East to divert the British away from Europe and North Africa. The UK was amassing a large air fleet and also had the world's largest navy. They would not sit by for long only fighting in the desert. The reason Germany attacked the USSR was to get their resources to fight the coming air war with the British. The Japanese repeatedly refused to declare war. Only when the Japanese thought the USSR was about to fall they joined in. Japan received assurances from Germany in the Spring of 1941, that they would declare war on the USA. The real nightmare of German strategy pre the Barbarossa attack was the possibility that Japan might come to terms with the USA, leaving Germany to fight Britain and maybe the USA alone. To forestall this possibility, Hitler had offered to declare war on the USA in conjunction with Japan already in the Spring of 1941. Germany had offered to declare war on the US before their June 1941 attack on the USSR, but the Japanese had refused to commit themselves then instead entered into a last round of negotiations with the USA. It was not until October 1941 and the fall of the Konoe government that Berlin could feel sure that the Japanese-USA talks were going nowhere. When in November 1941 Tokyo began to signal that Japan was about to commit itself against the West, it was the cause of relief in Berlin. Without prior knowledge of the Japanese timetable for a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler pledged himself to following Japan in a declaration of war on the USA. The Germans were informed by the Japanese in November 1941 that they were to declare war. If the Soviet counter attack at Moscow, pushing the Germans right back, had been one month earlier the Japanese would not have attacked the British and the USA - and almost a probable certainty signed a pact with the USA which was in ongoing talks virtually to the attack on the British, Dutch and Americans. Then no German tanks would have been sent to North Africa. Then Rommel would not have been so successful and most probably been wiped out. The Japanese attack gave the Germans hope, as they saw the British would pull and divert men and materials from the region. That hope meant they sent vital tanks, which arguably would better used against the Soviets, to secure vital oil in the Middle East, attacking the depleted British, who only weeks previously had given them a hiding.
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  10.  @bigwoody4704  Rambo, a quiz. Name the British general who took a quarter of a million Axis prisoners in Tunisia? 20 points for the correct answer.
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