29. The Axis Lacked the Means to Seize the Middle East or Use it to Outflank the Soviets
Seizing Egypt was within the Germans’ grasp, but seizing the rest of the Middle East, or using the region as a base to attack the USSR from the south, were nonstarters. The Germans lacked the shipping capacity to supply a force large enough for such goals. Throughout the North African Campaign, the Axis had struggled to keep their forces minimally supplied, and frequently fell short. That, with forces operating near the shortest supply routes from Italy.
The Axis lacked the shipping to adequately supply a force as negligible as the four German divisions of the Afrika Korps positioned nearby and close to the sea. It is thus inconceivable that they could have supplied a much larger force capable of overrunning the Middle East, or impacting the gargantuan war against the USSR, where the Germans and Soviets pitted hundreds of divisions against each other.