From: "George Z. Bush"

nothing that happened in the ETO would have happened if we in the MTO
hadn't had Kesselring and his troops tied up in Italy. Those extra Heer
troops
might have had a decisive influence on the outcome of our invasion efforts.

Not to mention on the Russian front. Operation Torch forced the Luftwaffe to
send 320 Ju 52s to the Med in November, 1942, just at the time the Soviets
mounted their counter-attack at Stalingrad and the Nazis tried to resupply
their troops their by air. Torch also forced the Germans to end their air
attacks on the Murmansk convoys and transfer anti-shipping and fighter units to
the Med. In the six months after Torch, the Germans lost more than 2,400
aircraft in the MTO fighting, including almost two-thirds of all their fighters
and bombers available as of Oct., 1942. When the Germans were driven from
Africa, among other things, they abandoned their aircraft maintenance and
repair equipment, tons of spare parts, and most of their ground crews.
The Germans rushed reinforcements to defend Italy, stripping other theaters.
Then came the assault on Sicily and Husky. In July 1943 alone, the Luftwaffe
lost more than 700 aircraft in the Sicilian fighting.
Just considering this period, and only the Luftwaffe, imagine if the forces
diverted to the Med, even just those lost there, had been available on the
Eastern Front.
Arguing about which theater was more important during the war is like arguing
which of your organs is more impartant. One says the heart is most important,
another the lungs, yet another the liver. Good arguments can be made in each
case, but remove any one of them and the other two are finished as well.


Chris Mark