...during WWII. They keep talking about our early failures were practically due to not being in battle before, but have a slightly different take. Yes, we (the US Army) weren't battle tested when we arrived, but IMHO the lack of leadership/tactics and equipment was far more influential than just not being battle tested. The American troops failure at Kasserine Pass was due to having nothing that could stop the Tiger tanks, so they just rolled over the American positions. In one of the battles they talked about bringing in air support after the third day of battle to force the Germans to retreat. Why didn't we coordinate air strikes long before Rommel engaged our army?

But to back it up a little, why didn't we have submarines sinking every ship that could reinforce the German army in North Africa long before our invasion? Would think they could base out of Gibraltar, since it never fell during the war.

If I was running the show in North Africa, would have had the AAF guy in my staff in every planning meeting, and would fire his butt if he wasn't providing sufficient support. It appears air power was the only weapon we had that could push the German armor back.

Our equipment was insufficient, our training was probably rushed (and insufficient), but we did have some advantages that we should have used, but didn't. At least not when it should have first been utilized.