Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeo80
The opportunity placed at their feet by the West German Army was something the rest of NATO had no way to react to except by striking as fast and as far as they could with what they had on hand.
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Certainly, the situation in Germany is outside the scope of what was planned for. On the plus side, REFORGER can proceed at a leisurely pace without interference. In the seven weeks following the start of the war, stocks can be shipped to Europe and moved forward. From the standpoint of the American commanders, it’s almost ideal. However, as the war drags on the West Germans are going to require more and more support from the other allies. West German stocks of fuel and ammunition are going to run pretty low after a month of intensive operations. Fortunately, NATO ammunition is more-or-less standardized.
An interesting question is that of consumption by the West Germans versus the carrying capacity of trans-Atlantic convoys. With seven weeks between 07 OCT and 01 DEC, there is plenty of time to assemble shipping for the job. Still, I don’t have a good grasp of the numbers.
The pause between the unavoidable NATO triumph in East Germany and the action in Poland may have as much to do with logistics as politics. After four days of fighting in the Gulf, US forces were running low on some key items. Had the war gone on for another week, there could have been some real bottlenecks affecting the performance of American forces. I expect that the appropriate lessons would have been learned, resulting in somewhat greater stocks of these sensitive items. Still, no matter how you slice it the ability of modern combat units to consume ammunition and spare parts greatly outpaces the peacetime production of these commodities. After two months of fighting by the West Germans and several weeks of fighting with UK, US, and Canadian forces added in, the on-hand stocks in Europe might very well be depleted. It simply might not be possible to press on into Poland until April for reasons of supply, regardless of political considerations.