150 - Fall Blau - A Victim of Its Own Success? - WW2 - July 10, 1942

by Panzer
Phone call- what do you mean you’re not sending any more ships? What? There’s too
many hours in the day. There’s always the same number of hours in a day. What? Not counting
night? I do not understand.
July 10, 1942
Surely achieving all of your operational goals is the best result of an offensive, right?
And that’s what the Axis have done in the Soviet Union this week. But in German High
Command all it has led to is confusion and uncertainty.
I’m Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week, the big news was the Axis Powers launching a summer offensive against the Soviet
Union. Straight off the bat, this was wildly successful. They also completed their conquest
of the Crimea, as Sevastopol finally was fully occupied. They had less success in North Africa,
though, as Erwin Rommel’s forces are finally halted at El Alamein, and there was serious
foreboding as two large Allied shipping convoys in northern waters were spotted by the Germans.
And those convoys are in big trouble this week.
On the 4th, Britain’s First Sea Lord Admiral Dudley Pound orders convoy PQ-17 to scatter.
He thinks that the German heavy naval units that set sail last week will attack, but beyond
that- the convoy is now within range of German land based air units so the home fleet cannot
protect it without great danger to themselves.
On the 5th, 13 ships of the convoy are sunk. The heavy units do make a sortie, but return
home without striking because the planes and U-Boats are successful enough to make surface
units unnecessary. Convoy QP-13 by this time is in the Straits of Denmark between Greenland
and Iceland, and runs into a “friendly” minefield, losing five merchant ships, a minesweeper,
and a Soviet ship carrying the wives and families of Soviet diplomats stationed in London.
On the 7th, PQ-17 loses eight more ships, and it’s now being picked off ship by ship.
Starting already the 9th and continuing into next week, stragglers will arrive in Russian
ports. The 11 merchant ships of the convoy that make it through to Archangel bring 164
tanks, 896 other vehicles, 87 planes, and 57,000 tons of other cargo. The 24 merchant
ships that are lost (Somerville numbers) send 430 tanks, 3,350 other vehicles, 210 planes,
and 96,000 tons of other stuff to the floor of the sea. Germany loses five planes. There
will be no more Arctic convoys until there are far fewer hours of daylight, the midnight
sun has given the Luftwaffe great opportunity, and the convoy is a total disaster.
Donald Somerville makes an interesting point about the blame game, “Although Admiral
Pound could not know of the restrictive conditions placed by Hitler on the operation of the German
heavy ships, his decision to order the convoy to scatter has probably been premature. The
system of control from the Admiralty has not been to blame. Pound has had all the information
and the necessary authority to make such a decision because he has access to the latest
intelligence.”
But you know, having intelligence doesn’t really matter if you don’t use it or believe
it.