As early as thousands of years ago, ancient Chinese people said that "before the troops and horses are moved, food and grass go first."
This sentence means that in war, logistics is more critical than combat.
This is a competition of comprehensive national strength, and the winner or loser is usually known before the battle begins.
This became even more obvious during World War II, which was fought to seize territory and capital.
In this regard, the best one is the United States. It has North America far away from the war as its logistics base, so it has no worries about food and clothing.
In comparison, Germany does not have such good logistical supplies. After all, Germany's land area is not large and its resources are very scarce. Coupled with the huge consumption of the war, this makes the German army's military supplies even more unavailable.
Assure.
Japan is in the worst situation. This island country has poor land resources and human resources, which are not as good as those of hostile countries such as Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.
If it were not for the fact that the training level of the Japanese army is higher than that of neighboring countries, I am afraid that the army of this island country would not be able to cross the Sea of Japan at all.
But even so, the Japanese army's increasingly poor logistics and food have begun to expose their weakness in follow-up.
As for the German army, on the surface, there seemed to be no logistical problems. The soldiers who fought bloody battles on the front line were even able to eat canned lunch meat and occasionally steak.
But in fact, the German army's logistics system has already encountered serious problems, and if it is not dealt with, it will get out of control.
........
Berlin, Germany, Logistics Department.
A young officer from the Logistics Department walked into the Logistics Department office, his face full of worry.
He said to his director: "Director, General Rommel notified our logistics department to prepare for him the military supplies and equipment that will be used on the African battlefield as soon as possible."
The logistics director sighed and said: "The equipment is good, and it has already been prepared for his African Corps. However, supplies are difficult to come by. Our logistics department is very careful in allocating supplies now. Many military foods are
Production has completely failed to keep up with usage.”
The director sighed again and continued to ask: "How much military supplies does General Rommel need?"
The young officer replied: "General Rommel's troops need 40,000 desert combat uniforms and 500,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as common parts for firearms and tanks. In addition, they also need half a month's supply for the 40,000 troops.
rations and an additional twenty tons of canned goods and steaks.”
"What? How many cans and steaks do you want? Twenty more tons!" The director was shocked. He said he couldn't satisfy Rommel's request: "General Rommel is really a big talker. He asked me for twenty tons more in one go.
Meat products. Many of our second-line troops usually don’t even see canned steaks, and can only occasionally receive canned luncheon meat. If he is good, he will take another 20 tons.”
"General Rommel is a close confidant of the Führer, and he is also the earliest famous general of our army in the Spanish Civil War. If we do not meet his demands, General Rommel told the Führer, what should we do if the superiors blame us?" the young officer asked.
He asked the director with a worried face.
"Hey, I didn't know this." The director was very helpless and had to ask the young officer to go to Rommel to plead and discuss: "But the logistics department really cannot meet General Rommel's requirements. How about you go to discuss it and ask him to lower the level?
Make a request so that both of us can talk easily."
"Director, I guess General Rommel will not give in." The young officer also said with a sad look on his face: "General Rommel handed this report to me personally. He said when he handed it to me, he must let it go."
I tried my best to do it for him, but even said that it would be impossible to do anything less."
This is Rommel, who goes his own way and never gives in to his goals. Whether on the battlefield or in interactions with domestic officials, he stubbornly insists on his own set of demands.
The director hammered the table and said angrily: "We don't just supply supplies to his army, why doesn't he consider our logistics?"
"What?" the young officer asked doubtfully: "Director, can't we even get out these cans?"
In his eyes, these cans were nothing to the powerful Third Reich. Although the quantity was a bit huge, it was not so much that it could not be taken out.
"This? Do you think these cans are still a small amount for today's logistics department? That's right. You haven't been in the logistics department for long, and you don't know the story yet." The director said slowly.
"There were no problems in the earliest Polish campaign, and there were no problems in the later Denmark and Norway campaigns because they were small in scale," the director said leisurely.
"But after the battle with the French, our logistics began to be tight. In the later stages of the battle, in order to satisfy the aggressiveness of the frontline soldiers, we only provided canned meat products to the frontline soldiers for a period of time, and many second-line troops were supplied.
are generally compressed.”
Speaking of this, the logistics director smiled helplessly and said: "A large part of the reason for this situation is that the head of state ordered that 5% of canned production be allocated and sent to Ukraine to support the German dispatched personnel there to maintain operations."
"Because the head of state transported too much food to Ukraine, the quality of cans produced by large domestic factories has greatly declined in order to ensure quantity. They no longer produce high-quality cans as before. The soldiers all feel that the cans they eat are not as good as before."
It’s the same feeling as before, but I can’t tell what has changed.”
The director lit a cigarette, took two deep puffs and then continued: "Do you think the steaks the soldiers eat now are still the same as before? Are they real steaks?"
"What?" The young officer took two steps forward and asked doubtfully: "Although it is said that a large amount of flour is added to the canned luncheon meat, the canned steak cannot be fake."
The director blew out a smoke ring, shook his head and said: "I think too much. They are all compound meat. The main raw material is duck steak. However, after adding various flavors added by the Munitions Production Department, the soldiers can eat it exactly like real steak.
"Of course, there are also some ground cow offal plus flour, which are specially processed and then added to canned steaks to meet the needs of frontline soldiers for canned beef."
"Although this may be a bit hard to imagine, young man, this is the current situation of our logistics department, and you and I must learn to accept it."
The director patted the young officer on the shoulder and said earnestly: "That's why I am so angry with General Rommel's request. If we really follow his request, we may have to reduce the food quotas of other troops."
