Final Essay Egee Oil 120

* Identify two battles during World War II that was impacted by access or lack of access to oil. Then explain why or how both sides were impacted.

Let me begin with a short story. The great tank commander--George S. Patton--found out the hard way how important oil was (in the form of gasoline) to the war effort. His tanks were moving so fast as they approached the Seigfried Line of Germany, they all ran out of gasoline. To get more fuel to the fiery general, as quickly as possible, it had to be airlifted from Normandy.

The great tank commander George S. Patton found out the hard way just how important oil was during World War II (in the form of gasoline) to the allied war effort. While approaching the battle of Hurtgenwald, George S. Patton had his tanks moving so fast as they approached the Siegfried Line of Germany; they all ran out of Gasoline. This put an enormous halt on the American attack forcing them to have a large amount of gasoline airlifted to them from Normandy. This gave the Germans time to prepare for the attack taking the element of surprise out of the question.

Another battle of World War II that was affected by oil was the battle of the bulge. During this battle, the heavy snowstorms cause huge traffic jams for the German military, which caused them to run low on fuel. This was very beneficial to the American military in the sense that they could “out run” the Germans by moving faster due to the accessibility of oil. This proved to be a big turning point in the battle and in the war itself. The Germans lack of fuel caused them to slow the movement of their tanks even after the traffic jams were controlled.