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From the standpoint of geography the advantage was strongly with the Axis. Germany and Japan had shorter lines of communication, which meant that they required less transportation equipment and had less military manpower and matériel tied up in the "pipeline" from the zone of interior to the combat areas. Germany also had inside lines of communication radiating from the homeland to the combat areas, a situation which afforded greater flexibility in the redeployment of troops and supplies. The fact that Germany's lines of communication were mostly overland meant that her war potential was less affected by the hazards which beset ocean shipping and that her army could employ short-range transport planes more extensively in its logistic operations.

TRANSPORTATION IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBAL WARFARE cap, and the reserves of both natural and synthetic oil fuels and lubricants were very 85 small from the outset. Despite the strain which war on several fronts imposed on the transportation systems of Germany, there is no basis for stating that her lines of communication in western Europe would have failed from inherent weaknesses or internal causes. Their failure in the late stages of the war resulted from the terrific aerial bombardment to which transportation and its supporting industries were subjected.

After these early campaigns, however, our supply lines to oversea combat areas were quickly established and were maintained intact. This became possible in part because of the effective protection given to our shipping and the great shipbuilding achievement which added many more vessels than the enemy sank, but it was due in large measure also to effective strategic and logistic planning in which transportation was always a basic consideration. 71 Shipment of morale items was not entirely at the expense of military items, since some could be stowed as filler cargo in spaces left empty by stowage of bulky equipment.