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The second battle of El Alamein

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blitzkrieg
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07 Mar 2022, 12:19 am

People don't talk much about the Northern African front of world war two, as part of world war two history.

But, it was just as important as any other front in the grand scheme of things.

Desert warfare is extremely taxing for even the most hardened soldiers. Intolerably high heat coupled with army gear that might kill you due to a lack of energy to carry these things. It requires a certain strength. Almost an inhuman strength.


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kitesandtrainsandcats
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07 Mar 2022, 12:30 am

Declining health a little over a decade ago forced a giving up of being in to military history, models, and historical miniatures games.

North Africa was an interest. Had quite a number of 1/72, 1/76, 20mm, scale miniatures suitable for the Tunisian campaign & some bit earlier.

Some of the battle of Kasserine Pass was fought in sleet, which is probably not the first type of precipitation people generally connect with Africa!

That brings to mind that as well as having that intolerably high heat during daylight the open desert could at times fall to freezing at night since there wasn't much out there to retain that daytime heat.


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blitzkrieg
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07 Mar 2022, 12:35 am

kitesandtrainsandcats wrote:
Declining health a little over a decade ago forced a giving up of being in to military history, models, and historical miniatures games.

North Africa was an interest. Had quite a number of 1/72, 1/76, 20mm, scale miniatures suitable for the Tunisian campaign & some bit earlier.

Some of the battle of Kasserine Pass was fought in sleet, which is probably not the first type of precipitation people generally connect with Africa!

That brings to mind that as well as having that intolerably high heat during daylight the open desert could at times fall to freezing at night since there wasn't much out there to retain that daytime heat.


Yep.

The desert is a tale of two extremes. The night of biting, nuclear winter temperatures (hyperbole), and boiling hot sun.

I live this reality.


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kitesandtrainsandcats
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07 Mar 2022, 1:06 am

I was born in the southern California desert and lived the first several years of life there but it has been half a century since leaving.
Deserts remain a sort of intermittent low-key interest but there is no desire to return to that specific one or go to any other desert.
And now my messy health can't handle those particular environmental extremes anyway.


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blitzkrieg
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07 Mar 2022, 1:15 am

kitesandtrainsandcats wrote:
I was born in the southern California desert and lived the first several years of life there but it has been half a century since leaving.
Deserts remain a sort of intermittent low-key interest but there is no desire to return to that specific one or go to any other desert.
And now my messy health can't handle those particular environmental extremes anyway.


Perhaps your health can be restored by the deathly high heat of the desert sun. It might just restore your environmental resistance attributes (if you don't die, meanwhile).

*Dr Hibbert's laugh from the The Simpsons plays in your mind*


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kitesandtrainsandcats
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07 Mar 2022, 1:35 am

blitzkrieg wrote:
Perhaps your health can be restored by the deathly high heat of the desert sun.


A bit of a tangent from the topic, there is a sci-fi story I sometimes play at writing and the main characters' race can get a thankfully rare illness where the only cure is to get back to the solar system where they were born and get exposed to natural sunlight.


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Pepe
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07 Mar 2022, 1:42 am

Image



blitzkrieg
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07 Mar 2022, 1:46 am

kitesandtrainsandcats wrote:
blitzkrieg wrote:
Perhaps your health can be restored by the deathly high heat of the desert sun.


A bit of a tangent from the topic, there is a sci-fi story I sometimes play at writing and the main characters' race can get a thankfully rare illness where the only cure is to get back to the solar system where they were born and get exposed to natural sunlight.


Yeah. Western medicine in the current age is good, but there is so much more to medicine than the small slice of technology that is available to mainstream society.

If you go to private doctors in the United Kingdom, they can give you medicines based on your genetic profile now, whereas the ol' NHS just hands out whatever is cheapest.

God bless the NHS.


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blitzkrieg
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07 Mar 2022, 1:49 am

Pepe wrote:
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Montgomery kicked his ugly, German ass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery


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Last edited by blitzkrieg on 07 Mar 2022, 1:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

Pepe
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07 Mar 2022, 1:51 am

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blitzkrieg
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07 Mar 2022, 1:52 am

Pepe wrote:
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The Germans are a nightmare.


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07 Mar 2022, 1:53 am

blitzkrieg wrote:
Pepe wrote:
Image


Montgomery kicked his ugly, German ass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery


It took him 4 times the attacking force. 8)



blitzkrieg
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07 Mar 2022, 1:54 am

Pepe wrote:
blitzkrieg wrote:
Pepe wrote:
Image


Montgomery kicked his ugly, German ass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery


It took him 4 times the attacking force. 8)


Source?


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07 Mar 2022, 1:55 am

You need to do more research.
Rommel wasn't a Nazi and refused to hand over Jewish people.
He was a shining light in a dark NAZI regime.
He was forced to commit suicide because of his probable involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler. 8)



kitesandtrainsandcats
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07 Mar 2022, 3:02 am

blitzkrieg wrote:
Pepe wrote:
blitzkrieg wrote:
Pepe wrote:
Image


Montgomery kicked his ugly, German ass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery


It took him 4 times the attacking force. 8)


Source?


I can give you a different number with a source, my Vietnam and Cold War veteran Dad said in the 1970s and 80s that in order to successfully attack a defended position with typical Army forces the attacker needs 6 times the defender's unit size.


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07 Mar 2022, 3:42 am

What made you think of El Alamein out of the blue?

Right now the Eastern Front seems more relevant since Putin is duplicating (but in the opposite direction) the invasion routes of Napoleon and Hitler, and is marching westward.

Also tensions with China make the US led war in the Pacific against Japan relevant to study in order understand the strategies involved in the near future containment of China.