A great General against a not so good one...?

Question

Can anyone tell me how effective the battle of kesserine pass and the battle of Galaza was?

Answer 1

The Battle of Kesserine Pass ushered in massive reforms for the us military. Its best described as when the amateurs met the professionals. The Allied forces suffered heavy casualties and were pushed back over fifty miles from their original positions west of Faid Pass in a humiliating rout. After this event the US instituted sweeping changes from unit-level organization to the replacing of commanders. The Battle of Kesserine resulted in the loss of 10,000 (including 6,500 Americans), 183 tanks & 706 trucks as compared to German losses of 2,000 men and 34 tanks.

Battle of Gazala lead to the defeat of the allies at Gazala and Tobruk's surrender in turn this led to the dismissal of Ritchie with Auchinleck taking direct command of the Eighth Army. Despite this victory Axis armour losses were irreplaceable. The weakening of the Panzer Divisions after the battle had severely damaged the power of the Afrika Korps. As a result Rommel was not able to take advantage of this success. The substantial reinforcements of American-made armour ensured the British had numerical superiority for the rest of the North African CampaignRommel was now aware of the serious position of the Axis forces after the battle. Rommel noted in his diary on 4 July; "Our own forces are worn out". On 5 July Rommel describes the situation as critical, on 17 July he says, "The enemy, superior especially in infantry, is swallowing up one Italian unit after the other. The Germans are much too weak to hold themselves. I could weep!"[33]. In August Auchinleck was replaced as Eighth Army commander by XIII Corps commander Lieutenant-General William Gott and as C-in-C Middle East Command by General Sir Harold Alexander. Gott was killed in an air crash on the way to take up his command and Bernard Montgomery was appointed in his place. Despite Rommel's brilliant success in the battle he ultimately lost due the fact new supplies and man power was almost impossible to receive.