Case BLUE

(Case BLUE)

In the German Ostheer (Eastern Army) in 1942, its southern formations, Army Group South, was further divided into two Army Groups, A and B which was further divided into four army level headquarters. Army Group A included the Seventeenth Army that was an infantry formation that had tanks and the First Panzer Army that was an armored formation that marched infantry. Army Group B included the German Sixth and Fourth Panzer Armies. On this date in 1942, as a part of the second year of the German of the Sovirt Union. The German plan had been to send Army Group A into the Caucuses Mountains but Army Group B was ordered to the Volga and the seizure of Stalingrad.  Now, one generally is aware of the ultimate outcome. In November, the Soviets counter-attacked and eviscerated Axis forces in the bend of the Don River and encircled the Sixth Army till it was destroyed by early 1943.

The efforts to relieve Sixth Army were complicated as available forces were not sufficient to break through to the Stalingrad perimeter. Army Group A was itself extracting from the Caucuses and was in no position to march north. Other sectors of the Eastern Front were similarly active and Stalingrad miles away. In short, Sixth Army could not be saved by forces available.

It is quite a different story today. Maui still needs re-building. Hurricane Idalia might be moving back out to sea but some destruction has been left in its wake. This is a job for FEMA but its budget is being tied to funding the Ukraine War. If the same support could have been given to Sixth Army in 1942-43 ?

Open ended commitments like the U.S. to Ukraine cannot be sustained indefinitely. As long as Bidenomics is Administration policy and GDP growth is limited to 2.1% annually and a persistent inflation, so what could possibly be the motivation with aid to Ukraine but less for Maui or the Southeast. But the President continues to be obsessed with clean energy and further closed areas of the Gulf of Mexico in order to "save the whales."

It is not lost that this is the same theater as in World War II. The Germans invaded in 1941, the Soviets had expelled them by 1945. But the strategic decision to be made will have less to do with Ukrainian capability on the ground and more on political motivation in Washington. It is being shown that funding the war is detracting from uses elsewhere, like Maui and Florida. 

Move the plank from your own eye first.