Also, I never interpreted OpOrd Omega as being "Achtung raus!", either. I mean nobody in any situation real or imagined ever thinks another nation's government are your nation's bestest buddies in the whole world, but I just don't see the Germans as wanting to be borderline belligerent with the US over this or that this verges on them throwing us out, or them really really not wanting us to leave but preferring us as cannon fodder. If that were the case, they might well have just kept the oil discovery quiet and used it for civilian purposes or used a remaining refinery to convert it to Avgas as an incentive to keep us there: Oh hey guess what Amerikaner pals! We can get some of our planes flying air support and transportation again for a bit, isn't that wunderbar?
Honestly I think the prevailing issue with vehicles has little to do with the US & Germany being at loggerheads and more a happy circumstance of the US wanting fuel to get home (check), but also enough space to get everyone home (check - only if we don't take all the vehicles).
Finally there's an issue of the ships themselves: are any really suited to carrying large numbers of armored vehicles? How many are low-draft tramp steamers? Pleasure/cruise ships? etc.? I doubt there's much in the way of RO-RO transports among them. Even if you have a ship that has the gross carrying capacity to haul four Abrams tanks, or even a dozen, does Bremerhaven have the equipment to load them on board? Even if it does, does Norfolk have the equipment to unload them, by which I mean incredibly heavy-duty cranes, still in operation?
Now, in my admittedly very very non-canon own campaign ideas, I've got the US taking some armor home, and to the RDF, but the bulk of it is getting left behind - simply because it's better served there. There's armor already at home, plus some is being brought home too, and that's enough. Compared to the situation in Europe, the Middle East is practically pre-war; they've even got Tac Air for crying out loud. So yeah, different story there. But, again, it's just mine and decidedly non-canon and no better than what's official.
|