DAK Captured Italian Tank (1 Viewer)

Why "captured"? Italians and germans were allied till september 43 {sm2}
 
Poppo said:
Why "captured"? Italians and germans were allied till september 43 {sm2}
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The Brits captured a bunch of them during Opreration Compass. The tanks were supposed to be incorporated into the 2nd Armoured Division, but few proved reliable enough to survive the retreat from Mersa Brega. In fact, I don't believe any made it as far as Mechili and the unit's demise. As the AK advanced, they did a.lot of scavenging. Because of that, characterizing the vehicles as "recaptured" might be more accurate.

-Moe
 
ivanmoe said:
The Brits captured a bunch of them during Opreration Compass. The tanks were supposed to be incorporated into the 2nd Armoured Division, but few proved reliable enough to survive the retreat from Mersa Brega. In fact, I don't believe any made it as far as Mechili and the unit's demise. As the AK advanced, they did a.lot of scavenging. Because of that, characterizing the vehicles as "recaptured" might be more accurate.

-Moe
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In this case ok. But it was a bad idea to use italian tanks, they were a kind of travelling coffins..The best way to suicide. Their armour was so thin that it was pierced even by an heavy machine gun...{sm4}
 
Poppo said:
In this case ok. But it was a bad idea to use italian tanks, they were a kind of travelling coffins..The best way to suicide. Their armour was so thin that it was pierced even by an heavy machine gun...{sm4}
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I have no doubt that the Germans would rather have used their own equipment. In a pinch, however, they'd no doubt have used whatever was on hand. For a cobbled-together force like the 90th Lt Division, this would have been essential, having scant organic support elements of its own. I find it in no way implausible that the firepower hungry infantry of the Afrika Division would have employed captured equipment, regardless of its heritage.

Looking over the OOB for Operation Venezia, I found the Axis operating so-called "beute" formations as formal units. These units consisted of booty, or captured equipment, organized into platoons or companies. Examples included two 25-pound artillery batteries (4 and 6 guns), a Crusader II platoon (3 vehicles) a Stuart company (12 vehicles), and a 2-pounder battery (12 vehicles).

Following the fall of Tobruk and the resultant windfall of captured stores and equipment, I strongly doubt that Rommel and his subordinates would have been in any way less inclined to employ whatever was on hand, particularly as their situation grew increasingly desperate in the summer and fall of 1942. The comments above considered, I wonder if Andy/KC would go for a 25-pounder with a German crew? ;)

-Moe
 
ivanmoe said:
I have no doubt that the Germans would rather have used their own equipment. In a pinch, however, they'd no doubt have used whatever was on hand.

-Moe
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Sure. We can even say that the DAK and the italian army arrived in El Alamein thanks to the british supplies, because the axes lacked of everything!
The axes forces took many british storages on the way and thanks to those ones they could attack and carry materials and men. They took: british food ( ex tin cans, jam, chocolate), cigarettes, clothes ( most Dak men were dressed in british shorts, t shirts, and caoutchouc boots in buckskin, very appreciated), they used british trucks( most of the DAK trucks were british); and of course british gasoline, the item Rommel lacked the most. Without the british warehouses ( especially the very well-stocked Tobruk warehouses) for sure Rommel would have never done what he did.
 
This time I prefer the coloured pictures ,they have a dramatic atmosphere
guy:)
 
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