Training and doing courses is though a very important aspect of command of troops and theur employment but i want to ask that if our gocs are capable and can think out of the box like rommel or will stick to the book like Montgomery . Keeping in mind that Pakistan made many tactical as well as strategic mistakes which led it to not having a complete victory in many areas especially considering that PA had technological(some also say numerically; including Maj Gen S.A Hamid) superiority in tanks during 65
But what about the current ones. Do they have the abilities to deploy,move and manoeuvre, attack, counter attack,be flexible and mold their plans under the heat of the battle
Also how about the War on Terror. How do u think it has affected our generals' abilities to carry out large scale maneuvers;positively or negatively
I will synthesize three major points from your post through example of Wehrmacht and then you can decide on your own.
1. Size of force being commanded (Army Group ? Corps ? Division ?)
2. Logistics to maintain an armored offensive
3. Replacement of destroyed vehicles
1. Rommel had seen (not commanded) various successes of Wehrmacht in WW2 even before he commanded his Ghost Division. Wehrmacht had Field Armies (Army Groups), not just Corps or Divisions, it was so massive. In previous Indo-Pak wars, Armored Division level Ops cannot be mentioned in prime words, they were mediocre if one wants to give the formation some dignity. Brigade and Regimental level Ops stood out in some cases. The German commanders were commanding Corps level and Army Group level Panzer forces. Their experienced was of 2-3-4 years of continuous combat and they were being promoted as such. In Indo-pak scenario, a conventional war touching 30 days may not even pan out, in rare cases it could yes. Now compare years and years of experience of a German Panzer commander to a Pakistani/Indian Tank commander and then think rationally.
Can a tank commander from subcontinent pull out an armored warfare miracle when commanding a Division sized or above force ?
2. In WW2, to sustain such a force a humongous amount of resources in transport, fuel, ammunition, spare parts etc were needed for Panzer Forces. And yes they were available. When Rommel informed his superiors and the General staff that he wishes to reach beyond Egypt, he was asked how was he supposed to support such an operation ? He replied, thats not my headache, that is QMG's job's. Even when supplies and replacements were dwindling through attacks on German ships by Allied Navy and tonnage was being lost in the sea, nothing deterred Rommel from driving his forces along the North African desert. Firstly, Rommel knew that Afrika Korps can be supported through sea and air. Secondly, he knew that art of warfare was to keep the momentum going, even when African campaign became a sideshow after invasion of USSR. In Pakistan's case, the Armored Divisions will not be eclipsed by any other theatre of war, unless PA heavily invests in Air assault and Airborne Ops but even then not much supplies need to be diverted towards them. Armor and its related units require most of the supplies.
So how will a PA GOC think in regards of supplies and supply lines extending on the desert?
3. Rommel knew that his lost Panzers will be replaced, otherwise he will use Italian tanks. In African campaign, he kept going as he got replacements in men and material. This changed after Operation Barbarossa but somehow he kept getting panzers and eventually even got Tigers in Africa. 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion was decimated completely 2,3 times but the replacements kept it going. When the replacements stopped coming and hope was lost, Wehrmacht surrendered in Africa. The same happened in 65 and 71, Khem Karan (1st Armd Div) and Longewala (22 Cav). PA has a mixture of tanks, the best have been deployed in Armored Divisions. There may not be any replacements for lost T-80s or lost AKs. One could argue that Afrika Corps had a mixture of Panzers I,II,III and IV as well as Italian tanks and still Rommel was able to reach outskirts of Egypt.
How will a PA Armored Commander cope up with losses and replacements if he decides to go in like Rommel did?