I thought I would add some data to hopefully set the discussion rolling again. Since the discussion has focussed mainly on fuel I've concentrated on fuel figures, too. First off is a monthly breakdown of fuel
delivered to Axis forces Libya and, occasionally, Egypt.
All figures in metric tons.
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Month, Year Tonnage received
06-40 -
07-40 8,820
08-40 13,709
09-40 10,992
10-40 371
11-40 8,142
12-40 5,486
01-41 2,897
02-41 10,682
03-41 4,059
04-41 23,676
05-41 20,027
06-41 35,850
07-41 11,570
08-41 37,201
09-41 13,108
10-41 11,951
11-41 2,471
12-41 7,133
01-42 22,842
02-42 24,458
03-42 15,105
04-42 48,031
05-42 18,581
06-42 5,568
07-42 23,901
08-42 22,503
09-42 31,061
10-42 12,308
11-42 21,731
12-42 2,058
01-43 24
...all figures from the Italian official history.
I'm very grateful to Bronsky for having made these figures available to me. These figures appear in bits and pieces on this thread, but I thought it relevant to post (and in some cases re-post) the whole thing in one post.
Next table is made up of numbers I've lifted from Sadkovich, p. 288. It describes fuel sent and received from June through September 1942, further broken down by nationality and with total losses calculated by me.
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Italian Fuel German Fuel
Sent Arrived Sent Arrived Sent total Arr. total %loss
June 4,753 3,804 6,760 5,568 11,513 9,372 19%
July 14,075 12,728 26,870 23,901 40,945 36,629 11%
Aug. 22,167 9,802 38,474 22,500 60,641 32,302 47%
Sept. 18,743 11,973 40,200 31,061 58,943 43,034 27%
...there were also civilian deliveries in the above four months, but I have excluded those.
The discrepancy between table 1), monthly fuel deliveries, and table 2), fuel deliveries broken down by month, can apparently be explained by table 1) counting only German fuel for the months appearing in table 2). That would however seem a little illogical, given that Sadkovich gives the Italian official histories as his source.
The explanation as I see it can either be that Sadkovich overstates his agenda - something which I would not put past him - or simple honest misreading of data on his part.
Any additional info is very welcome - Rich, you earlier mentioned that you had some German fuel receipts from North Africa. Perhaps you'd care to post some data from those so we can determine if Sadkovich overstates the fuel sent and delivered in June through September 1942?
EDIT: it turns out that the June-September 1942 numbers for fuel deliveries compare far better with the monthly fuel deliveries, above. Page 420 in the Italian edition of Sadkovich reads thusly:
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Italian Fuel German Fuel
Sent Arrived Sent Arrived Sent total Arr. total %loss
June 4,753 3,804 2,007 1,764 6,760 5,568 18%
July 14,075 12,728 12,795 11,173 26,870 23,901 11%
Aug. 22,167 9,802 16,307 12,698 38,474 22,500 42%
Sept. 18,743 11,973 21,453 19,088 40,200 31,061 23%
Not quite an a-ha! moment, rather disappointment at having thrown more than 100 USD after a book which can't even get its numbers right
The
Italian edition has been edited by the author and Italian historian Augusto De Toro and comes at a mere 30 Euros.