Tuesday, June 4, 2013
THE EMPLOYMENT IF AIR - NORTH AFRICA 1941
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THE EMPLOYMENT IF AIR - NORTH AFRICA
1941
INTRODUCTION
1. Since time immemorial, man's obsession with flight had brought
about many a thinker to ponder a means of conquering the skies.
Physicists,
poets and captains of war alike thought up strange and off, unworkable, deals
of aerial transport. Yet it was not until the combustion engine and couple it
to their ingenuity in the form of a fragile machine, which took a flight from a
hill into the greatest of man's fantasies.
2. The days of aerial transport had finally arrived and it was not
long after their arrival that the use of aircraft as a ne mand of waging war,
came under the intense scrutiny of the world at large.
3. It is in those exciting days of new inventions and
indoctrination, that the second world war erupted, leaving billions affected in
its wake. And ironically, it was during World War II (WWII), that all these new
inventions (notably air craft, tanks, munitions, guns and submarines), were put
to their true test.
4. Within WWII, the North African
theater holds a special niche of
interest for students of military history, in the fact that it was one of the
proving grounds for what is now, accepted to be a major battle winning assets
Air.
EMPLOYMENT OF AIR IN NORTH AFRICA
1941
Background of the campaign
7. Hitler's much touted concept of Lebensraum, began to assume
farcical proportions as the war started spreading to hitherto uninvolved areas
of the glob. Basically, in a war where half the military might of the world was
potted against the other half, a bizarre notion of honour amongst thieves
became predominant Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini, was involved in
a bid to ensure its stranglehold on the
Mediterranean by annexing most of the surrounding areas. This situation was
unacceptable t Britain as it had its own vested interests in ensuring a safe
passage for its trade to the East Indies. Hire it is worth mentioning that the
Mediterranean constituted a huge 'shortcut' for any maritime shipping to the
East, via the Suez Canal. The alternate option would have been the dreaded
'journey round the Cape (of Good Hope)'. In such a scenario, it was economics
rather than war for the sake of it, which drew Britain into the fray.
8. On the other hand, Germany and Hitler, had their hands
full. After his sweep through France and the Law Countries, the German dictator
was facing prospects of invading a number of countries individually (later
choosing all, simultaneously), including his nemesis, Great Britain But Hitler
too, forever the cautious military economist, was also looking to expand his
resources. North Africa presented him with not only an opportunity to do so,
but also to inflict losses on Britain, by coming to Mussolini's assistance.
Hence the phrase 'honour amongst thieves'.
9. It was thus, that North Africa found itself awash with a stange
t5riumvirate of Germinate, Britain and Italy. Hitler dispatched his most feared
and revered general, Erwin Rommel to raise the Deutsche Afrika Korps (DAK), to
enjoin battle with Britain, thouse and of miles away from both hi8s own , and
her home base.
Comparison of Force
10. With such a campaign of attrition and swaying fortunes as the
North African theater , it becomes difficult to correctly assess the opposing
forces. More so once the powers involved, were countries with vast amounts of
men and materiel. Thus the most accurate description of the balance of forces in the campaign can be drawn from
an analysis to those at the outset :-
a. Air
(1) Britain-
The Desert Air Force (DAF)
Serial
No Type of Aircraft Number
Nomenclature
(a) Fighter 63 Gladiator
(b) Bomber 72 Blenheim
(c) Bomber 21 Lysander
(d) Flying-boat 10 Sunderland
(e) TOTAL 166
(2) Italy - The Regia Aeronautica
Serial
No Type of Aircraft Number
Nomenclature
(a) Fighter 54 Breda 65
(b) Fighter 32 R 30
(c) Fighter 53 Ghibli
(d) Bomber 28 RO 37
(e) Bomber 37 Junkers Ju 86
(f) Recce 45 Haartebeests
(g) TOTAL 239
Note:
An ability to move 400 bombers Naples, Taranto and Catania was a fact
established by both British intelligence and the office of the Deputy Director
of War Organization.
(3) Germany - The Luftwaffe
Serial
No Type of Aircraft Number
(a) Bombers 150
(b) Dive-bombers 90
(c) Single engine 40
Fighters
(d) Twin engine 10
Fighter
(e) Recce 30
(f) TOTAL 390
b. Land Forces As
the North African campaign was actually in progress much before the start of
1941, the quantum of forces of both sides varied considerably from the later
figures. In addition to this fact, obviously, as the battle progressed,
proportionally, the sizes of both sides swelled. Thus , to ensure uniformity,
and for ease of assimilation, the Orders of Battle of both sides are
(intentionally), those before the actual enjoining of battle (prior to
Operation Battleaxe). Refer to Annex A.
11. Qualitative
Comparison of Air associated facilities. Over and above the fact that the
Axis forces enjoyed an overwhelming numeric superiority, the equipment on their
inventory was far superior to that of the Allies. In terms of Air only, the
German Messerschmidt Me 109s and junkets JU 86s, were at any , rate, far
superior to the obsolescent Lysanders, Sunderlands and Gauntlets Possessed by
the British Add to this the fact that the Axis were better established in the
fields of maintenance in these areas are as under :-
a. Technolobical edge of German and Italian
aircraft.
b. More established ground facilities of Acis
forces.
c. Greater ordnance carrying capacity of
Acis aircraft.
d. Higher flight ceiling.
e. Over extended Line of Communication of
British, whilst Axis could rely on
Greece, Crete, Cyrenaica adnd Sicily.
f. Axis aircraft, especially those of the
Regia Aeronautica were more suited to
operation in the desert, being more or less designed
for them, as opposed to the British and German aircraft
which were standardised for operations ranging from the Ardennes to Archangel.
Employment of Air
12. Axis
a. Pattern of Operations. In the Desert theatre, by and largee, the emerging paitern lof operations
conducted by the Axis forces (more
notably the Luftwaffe) ncompassed a board sphers of actions (efer to Anner B, Employment of Air by Aixs Forces).
The
board perimeters of theuswe of Air are as under :--
(1) Combat Air Patrolling.
(2) Aerial reconnaissance.
(3) Tectical Land - Air warfare.
(4) Strategic bombing.
(5) Maritime Air Operations
(a) Against naval targets.
(b) Against merchant ships.
(c) Marine interdiction.
(d) Martime convoy escort.
(6) Ground Interdiction.
b. Conceptual strengths.
(1) Concentration.
(2) Aggression.
(3) Diversity of roles.
(4) Techonlogical superiority.
(5) Destruction ofenemy Air resources, focus on
Centre of Gravity.
(6) Boldness of Planning.
(7) Deception.
c. Weaknesses
(1) Over extended Line of Communications.
(2) Lack of clarity of purpose.
(3) Resources not commensurate to task "Kesselring
shickt mir kein shprit".
(4) Progressive qualitative and quantitative
decline.
(5) Over provision lofAir to land forces, not
enough Air to defeat enemy Air arm lefty.
13. Allied
a. Patteern of Operations. Here, the phrase "Allied" is
somewhat misleading, as an overwhelming number of the Air resources used were Britis. However there was a
verylow percentage of American
aeroplanes which augmented the resources of the Desert Air Force. The Allied
employment ofall available resources
(referto Annex B, Employment of Air by Allied Dorces)
can be notaarised as under :-
(1) Anti air operations.
(2) Limited close support.
(3) Small unit action dogfights.
(4) Air cargo transportation and aerial supply
of fground forces.
(5) Deep raids in conjunction with ground
forces (notably LRDGs).
b. Conceptual Strengths
(1) Unconventional tactics.
(2) Economy of effort.
(3) Progressive qualitative and auantitative
enhancement of resources.
c. Weaknesses
(1) Numeric inferiority in initial phases of
the campaign.
(2) Poor standard of equipment in comparison to
Axis.
(3) Logistic plans not commensurate to tactical
plans.
PRESENT DAY SCENARIO
Threat Perception
14. The
Indian Air Force (IAF). After a sequential
analysis of the
employment of Air in 1941, it is pertinent that before
we study the effects of
Air in any future conflict ofour own we perceive the
threat to us from our
adversary. The
Cold war years allowed India to build up an Air Force
comparable to
many modern air fleets of the world. In terms of numbers as
well as technology, the Indian Air Force (IAF)is
indeed , a highly advanced
body of men and machines.
This post was written by: Franklin Manuel
Franklin Manuel is a professional blogger, web designer and front end web developer. Follow him on Twitter
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