172 - One Year Since Pearl Harbor - WW2 - December 11, 1942

Hermann said there would be enough transports to supply you guys, even

surrounded and everything.

What? Hermann's an idiot?

Well, yeah, but you want to keep that under

your hat, José. Loose lips and all.

Okay. Good luck.

December 11, 1942

One year ago this week, the Japanese declared war on Britain, the Netherlands, the United

States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, attacking Malaya, the Philippines,

Wake Island, Guam, Hong Kong, the Dutch East Indies, and Hawaii. Within days, a whole lot

of other countries were at war with Japan as well, and Japan has not gotten much help

from her own allies this past year as she constantly fought for empire, and in spite

of a great many victories, even as recently as last week, for some Japanese troops the

present is grim indeed as they face starvation.

I'm Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.

Last week the Japanese defeated the Americans at sea, but Allied attacks on Papua New Guinea

might be getting somewhere. However, advances in Tunisia, the Rzhev Salient, Velikie Luki,

and the Stalingrad all slowed down in places that, especially North Africa and Stalingrad,

great gains had just recently been made.

Well, in Libya, at least, the Allies are advancing again.

The 8th Army begins moving on the 11th, heading west. In Tunisia, however, on the 6th, the

Allies are pushed back toward Medjez el bab by German attacks that continue for several

days. On the 8th, the Germans occupy Bizerta, taking 4 French destroyers and 9 submarines.

By then, the Allies hold a defensive line just east of Medjez el bab, but Walther Nehring's

forces attack again the 9th, though he cannot break the Allied defenses, so it is here,

then, that the Allies will build up for another offensive of their own, to be launched within

a week or two. They really need to take Tunis before the rains come to maintain momentum.

But how has it come to this? I mean, they took 200 km of coast line to the west and

shattered the Axis lines to the east just a month ago. Robert Citino talks about the

reasons for the failure to win the race to Tunis in "The Wehrmacht Retreats". For starters,

the Axis have the major aerial advantage; they have 850 planes flying from all weather

fields near Tunis and Bizerta. The Allies have a dirt strip at Bone. It shuts down when

it rains and can only handle a few planes at a time. This means that the Allied troops,

who are pretty beat as well after racing all that way west across North Africa, are now

under constant bombardment.

"In a more general sense, however, early December was the moment that Clausewitz had called

the Kulminationspunkt, the culmination point of a campaign, when the attacker's initial

strength has carried him as far as he can go and he is now ripe for the counterstroke."

We'll see soon enough if and when any big counterstrokes come.