North Africa Early World War II June 1940 - June 1941

TO MAKE THE VIDEO AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE DO THE FOLLOWING BEFORE VIEWING: TYPE IN: &fmt=18 at the end of the address bar for the video, CLICK IT, and when it restarts it will be very clear with all the pixelation and smudging being removed.

SPECIAL THANKS TO CONTRIBUTOR for this pearl. "freetutorials" - excellent work
____________________________________________ An understanding of the geopolitics of national interests, energy needs, and balance of power may help the public see why some conflicts are necessary. Diplomacy, however civil and ideal in principle, should be weighed against the perceived threat of a hostile opponent and the failings of appeasement that history repeatedly has shown. There is an annoying lack of scholarly study of what aftermath is produced when armed conflict is chosen over diplomacy. Regional experts in politics and world history should be given a greater voice in these matters.
____________________________________________ This is a brief overview of World War II in the early Battles for Libyan North Africa (June 1940-July 1941), as the British clashed with Italian forces after Mussolini declared war on Great Britain. The distinct operating advantages held by the British would prove initially quite successful as they almost drove the Italians off the African continent by the end of February 1941. This first all-mechanized battleground would change the way tank battles were being fought as Rommel and his Afrika Korp arrive at Tripoli and force the British back to Egypt reversing all their gains against the Italians. I am an amateur modeler of military armor and have included in this video "8" personally-assembled tanks and vehicles used by British and Italian forces. These are photographed from a wall-mount instructional multi-vehicle diorama I created. I prefer wall-mount vehicle displays and field scenes that are labelled, They make great historical wall art that one might see in a gallery. I must give credit for this recent interest in military history to my son-in-law, a 3-tour Marine Corp Veteran of Iraq, who returned safely to my daughter and our family November 2006. I initially completed a Diorama depicting selected Marine armored vehicles as they might have looked in Fallujah in honor of James, while he was deployed in 2004-2007. My interest just flourished afterward. The technology is overwhelming. The next chapter in the North Africa series will include "El Alamein" and some modeling created for that conflict. My craftsmanship is early in development for modeling but the delicate aspects of assembly and painting have caught my interest as a Surgeon. The video reflects my pedestrian experience with multimedia composition as well. It was a work of labor to compact a years worth of military historical information in a 10 minute production. I stretched the slide clips as much as possible to permit the viewer to read the historical information before the next slide appeared. Special credit and acknowledgment is paid to the many authors both novice and professional who have provided considerable information on the internet. This goes as well to the publishers of numerous texts I have drawn information from in order to prepare this work. In some cases, posting and pasting of information with paraphrasing here and there was done to save time such as with the vehicle specifications from Wikipedia. This would have been painfully boring to re-write all the vehicle data.

ERRATA: THE ITALIAN ASSAULT TANK M41 (SEMOVENTE 75/18) SELF PROPELLED GUN WAS ACTUALLY DEPLOYED JANUARY 1942 AFTER THE SUCCESS SEEN WITH GERMAN SELF-PROPELLED GUNS, AND WAS HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL AGAINST MOST ALL BRITISH TANKS AVAILABLE AT THAT TIME

Category:

Education

Tags:

• North
• Africa
• Tobruk
• Tripoli
• British
• Italian
• Benghazi
• Ft.Capuzzo
• Mersa
• Brega
• Libya
• WWII
• TANKS
• ARMORED
• VEHICLES

[RailfanDownunder]

Crusader 11 did not enter the campaign until after Operation Compass and the initial defeat of the Italian Army at Beda Fomm - it arrived with the Tiger convoy and was deployed for Operation Brevity - you may be confusing the Crusader with the A13 Cruiser....

[dmhmd]

@RailfanDownunder I have planned to redo this video since there are a few glaring important vehicle issues. I have modeled the A9, and 3 versions of the A13. As I learn and probe more sometimes old photos are quite helpful. Thanks for your keen observations.

[wapartinfo]

Hi. Enjoyed you video...Nice models; is the Vickers LT Mk:VI, 1/76 scale ? Best regards. Pete.

[dmhmd]

@wapartinfo Thanks for watching. The Mk VI C is a 1/35th scale resin model from Gordon Brown of Cromwell Models in the UK.

[itsbillc]

&fmt=18

[RailfanDownunder]

No problems...There are photographs and film footage of the pre-war Vickers Medium tank (there were at least three - ie. troop strength) in use as a training tool and later dug in a pill boxes in and around Mersa Matruh...1th Hussars used Morris and Rolls Royce armoured cars - after Bardia and Tobruk, the 6th Div AIF used M13/40 and M11/39 Italian tanks with their Universal carriers and Vickers Light tanks in te Divisional cavalry regiment and the Bofors 37mm antitank gun was used by 106 RHA

[mjeshaw]

@dmhmd You're very welcome. It's great to see a video on this neglected period. BTW, unlike the L3/CV35, I can't find any record of Fiat 3000s still in action in Libya by 1940. A few similarly obsolete Vickers Medium Mk IIs were used at Tobruk though. Valentines didn't see action until after June 41. Some A13 Mk I Cruiser Mk IIIs served in this theatre but all appear to have had their armour upgraded so resembled the A13 Mk II Cruiser Mk IV. Perhaps you could find a more representative photo.

[dmhmd]

@mjeshaw thanks for the update. and correction.

[BlueCloneTrooper521]

@dmhmd you know your armored vehicles

[mjeshaw]

@BlueCloneTrooper521 To be precise, it's actually not a Universal or Bren carrier but an Australian LP1, a local production version of the early British Vickers machine gun carrier.