News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by Animats on Monday August 29, 2022 @12:14AM (#32634741)
Logistics has been a strength of the US since WWII. There are very few armies in the world prepared to Go Someplace and Do Something. Most can't sustain big units far from their home base for very long. The US does that routinely.

D-Day was postponed to 1945 to allow accumulating enough resources to overcome any opposition. The fiascoes of the Dieppe raid and Dunkirk made it clear this was necessary. In a way, those disasters helped. Otherwise, there would probably have been a failed invasion in 1944.

Eisenhower was a logistics officer by training and background. Which is exactly what was needed. He insisted on having solutions to all the potential logistics problems before attempting the invasion. These included some exotic schemes, such as prefabricated temporary ports and a temporary fuel pipeline across the English Channel, both of which were built and used. It included much special equipment, such as "flail tanks" that could thrash a minefield and get across a hostile beach. More than that, the backup was in place to sustain the follow-up behind the invasion. Very thorough backup, all the way down to prefabricated Coca-Cola bottling plants.

Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by jwhite on Monday August 29, 2022 @12:35AM (#32634837)
Postponed to 1944, in 1943 it would have failed.
Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by Animats on Monday August 29, 2022 @02:24AM (#32635285)
Right, sorry.
Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by Happos on Monday August 29, 2022 @03:26AM (#32635555)
The fiascoes of Dieppe and Dunkirk did not really make it clear. The later fiasco of the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942 not only made clear that logistics was paramount, but shoved it directly in Eisenhower's face. Then a Lieutenant General, his operation was supposed to overtake Tunisia within a month, but ended up taking almost six months due to poor logistics and coordination. Logistical challenges in Algeria and Morocco allowed Rommel's Africa Corps to consolidate and build force in Tunisia, leading to drawn out conflict. Interestingly, unexpected resistance from Vichy France also delayed the advance. Not many people know that in the early days of our involvement in the war many of our troops were killed by the French! For those interested, a great introductory read is An Army At Dawn, by Rick Atkinson.
Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by nicbou on Monday August 29, 2022 @04:57PM (#32643462)
I'm reading this book right now.

The Americans wanted to start with an invasion of France right in 1942. No messing about. The British had to convince them that it was ridiculous.

Then the Americans got an easy start in North Africa where they could learn from their mistakes and become the juggernaut they are known to be.

An Army At Dawn is a really good book filled with interesting anecdotes. It's perhaps a bit of a tough read because the good guys keep blundering. If you want a curbstomp battle, that's not it.

Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by Happos on Tuesday August 30, 2022 @11:58AM (#32651898)
Yes, it’s certainly one of those books that leaves you both frustrated and awe-inspired. If you like Ambrose’s writing I highly recommend Crazy Horse and Custer.
Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by lostlogin on Monday August 29, 2022 @03:35AM (#32635597)
Maybe not nitpick to your good comment: Flail tanks and the rest of Hobart’s Funny’s were pretty well accepted by the British, and favoured by Eisenhower but not so much by the likes of Bradley.

The Americans didn’t use them very much on D-Day, relative to the British.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobart%27s_Funnies

Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by unityByFreedom on Monday August 29, 2022 @12:31AM (#32634814)
What would be today's equivalent preparation for logistics?

It's hard to imagine fuel pipelines working again. Or would it?

Are batteries or solar power part of this, or is that inconsequential?

It seems like everything can be dual-use...

Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by Animats on Monday August 29, 2022 @02:38AM (#32635352)
> What would be today's equivalent preparation for logistics?

Read "Moving Mountains", by Gen. Patronis, who was in charge of logistics for the Gulf War.

Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by thatguy27 on Monday August 29, 2022 @11:10AM (#32639225)
Moving Mountains: Lessons in Leadership and Logistics from the Gulf War William G. Pagonis

https://www.amazon.com/Moving-Mountains-Lessons-Leadership-L...

Re:The Quest for Fuel in World War II (1993) by usrusr on Monday August 29, 2022 @07:43AM (#32637013)
Nuclear-powered e-fuels and old-fashioned stockpiles. Or just old-fashioned stockpiles.

Ground warfare might perhaps see some niches where the lower thermal and noise signature of battery power gets leveraged in one way or another, or the flexibility of motor-power wheel. But charging would still require are least a fallback to generator trucks (or to fuel cell trucks, if you think you can skip the fallback from mechanized logistics to jerry-cans)