Was the Wehrmacht’s High Command aware of their logistical limitations while they planned Operation Barbarossa?

Was the Wehrmacht’s High Command aware of their logistical limitations while they planned Operation Barbarossa?

Originally Answered: Was the Wehrmacht’s High Command aware of their logistical limitations while they planned Operation Barbarossa ?

According to my father, who was an officer in the Transportation Corps, the High Command did not understand logistics for mechanized warfare.

They had simple calculators for how many miles tanks and trucks might travel per day, and did not realize the limits to how far tanks (especially) can travel before breaking down and needing serious repair and repair parts.

By the Fall of 1942, much of the original equipment (pictured) was worn out, and parts were being cannibalized. Spare parts were a nightmare, he said, because much of the truck fleet was captured equipment of many types.

He really admired the Ford trucks the Soviets had, which had a spare engine pack behind the driver’s cabin. When something went wrong with the engine or transmission, they were quickly unbolted and a new pack was thrown in.

Although he came up with many Field Repair Expedients (he was an automotive engineer), he said there was a limit to how much you could use wires and duct tape to repair vehicles.

The motorized forces had no tank transporters other than rail. The many kilometers chewed up the tanks, one by one. The cold added to the problem, as lubricants froze, and the mud of spring and autumn chewed up more fuel and repair parts.

He had pretty wide experience, having operated with his battalion from Moscow to Leningrad to Stalingrad (up to 20 November, 1942), and said that lack of understanding and providing for logistics was a critical weakness of the Axis (not just the German) forces.

Being constantly on the watch for partisans slowed him down, too. Although the locals were relatively cooperative while the Axis moved forward, even pulling down statues of Stalin (pictured), they were of course less so as the Axis retreated, and travel at night became so dangerous it was slow or impossible.

He evaded attack by the Soviets several times, he said, only because his vehicles were so variable and coated with mud they were not recognizable as German.

He loved his personal car, a Tatra (pictured), which got him great traction—even the middle light in front helped light the way, especially around curves (it was open, whereas the other two lights were either slits or had blue filters by wartime regulations).

His boss in France, Rommel, liked it so much he also got one after he saw dad’s at a dinner meeting in Paris. It was the forerunner of the Porsche, a great design with an air cooled engine.

At times his command vehicle (pictured) was down, and he had to ride around on horses (pictured). Occasionally, he was able to get around on a Fieseler Storch (“Stork”) airplane, which had incredibly short takeoff and landing capability (pictured with my mom in the front of the.

I had the privilege of speaking with George Patton’s son, who was also an Army general, and even commanded his dad’s 2nd Armored Division.

He told me his dad studied the Civil War extensively—not just for the combat actions that were the sole focus at West Point, but for the logistics involved, such as the standardization of railroad gauges by the North and the failure to do so by the South.

He also told me his dad (like general Rommel) would initially ask his tank commanders what their fuel requirements were, and would then double that for his planning.

Later on, both generals learned that tank unit commanders would start to “fluff” their requirements to get extra—the kind of thing they learned by being on the front lines instead of behind a desk.

Patton was a major backer of the Red Ball Express in WW2, the convoy system with 6,000 trucks that supplied 12,500 tons of supplies a day.

The trucks, marked with red balls, had priority at all times, including some routes reserved only for them (to the annoyance of many generals).

Named after a railroad code (red balls signified a train segment had priority), the Red Ball Express and the (primarily) African-American soldiers that drove its trucks were a major contributor to victory in the West. Patton’s understanding of the tricks and challenges of logistics was one more indicator of what a great general he was.

It’s great to see a number of Quora members understand the importance of this, because, in my experience, most generals do not.