Did the geology of Europe influence World War 2?

Answer 1

Answer

Yes, it did. In asking and answering the question you have to consider exactly what Geology is. Geology is more than rocks, it is rivers and streams, land forms, beaches, reefs, channels, cliffs, mountains, hills and penninsulas; a myriad of things we look at and take for granted.

Just looking at Europe for starters, one can see many geological forms that influenced how, where and why things took place as they did.

The Ardennes Mountains played a big role in two major offensives of the war. The Germans invaded Belgium through Sedan, bypassing the Maginot Line and flanking the bulk of the opposing Allied Armies who expected a repeat of the Schlieffen Plan used by the Germans in WWI. This same mountainous region was the scene of the Battle fo the Bulge in 1944 where the Germans broke through the American lines in a last ditch attempt at victory. The English Channel, stopped the Germans from invading Britian. The Geology of Norway, it's rich metal deposits prompted Hitler to invade to ensure a continued supply of metals.Likewise his invasion of Russia, to claim the rich agricultural lands of the Ukraine and the rich oil resources of the Urals. He didn't invade Switzerland because of it's forbidding and easily defended geology. The Balkans and Greece were a delay to his invasion of Russia, their difficult geological terrain proving harder to conqueor than expected and the resulting delay may have cost him a victory in the Russian campaign and ultimately the war.The large flat plains of Russia proved too much for the German supply system that ultimately failed to adequately supply the overstretched Wehrmacht.

In Italy and Sicily, the Germans made excellent use of the mountainous terrain to slow and make costly every allied advance.

The Allies likewise used geology to their advantage, becoming adept at amphibious landings, the most difficult undertaking in modern war. Thus making every coastline a possible point of attack. The geology of the coast of Normandy made it the choice of the Allied Invasion, whilst other beaches were unsuited because of their unfavorable geology, loose sand, high surf, or forbidding easily defended cliffs. The history of the war is filed with battles that were lost or nearly so due to the fact that geology favoring the defenders was ignored by the attacker, making the attack a very costly near run thing: Tarawa, Salerno, Iwo Jima, Peleliu, Heurtgen Forest to name a few.

In North Africa, the geologic occurance of water, or lack there of, controlled the movements of armies, as did the occurrence of landforms such as sand ergs or seas, and large marshy depressions (the Haifa).

On a more basic note, geology controls topography and "the high ground" or hills have always conveyed an advantage to the defender and have controlled where battles have been fought for millenia.

In the Pacific, geology played a major role, as it controlled the placement of airfields, invasion beaches and anchorages. Major land sea and air battles were fought for control of islands that were in reality insignificant except for their importance as sites for airfields, anchorages or supply bases.

Midway, Tarawa, Guadacanal, Port Moresby, Peleilu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Saipan, Guam, Phillipines, all had military significance because of their location which was due to geologic whim.

The Japanese made great use of the geology on the defence, fortifying the existing geologic barrier reefs with mines and obstructions. They dug into the soft coral soil to build caves, or improved existing natural caves to make themselves impervious to the overwhelming firepower that the US Military could bring to bear, making it necessary that the Americans dig them out yard by costly yard. This tenacious costly defense influenced the American decision to ultimately use the Atomic Bomb.

So not only did geology influence the actions by offering reward; oil, food, and resources, it controlled where, when and how and why battles were fought. It also influenced the tactics of those fighting the battles by providing offensive or defensive advantages.

Keith Patton