Was that from poor planning on our part I wonder?
Part of it was poor planning and part of it was a real manpower shortage. It was a balancing act to meet and properly balance the manpower requirements of industry, agriculture and the military.
The way the replacements was handled toward the end of the war was atrocious. Some of those poor kids went right to the battlefield with inadequate training and were slaughtered. Many were killed on their first day. Many NCO’s and junior officers didn’t even bother to get to know their men because they knew many would die in short order.
Stephen Ambrose spells it out very well in “Citizen Soldiers”.
Another thing: Our air power and artillery saved us. We had the best.