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Was Patton right? Should we have taken out the Russians when we could?
American Thinker ^ | 06/06/2018 | By Richard Jack Rail

Posted on 06/06/2018 10:44:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: Seruzawa

Good analysis there (your post #7). The Red Army in 1945 was massive, experienced, and very well led.

The only way the Western Allies could have beat them would have been with a massive air campaign, including an atomic bomb or two. Even then, it would have been a bloody mess. And as you said, the American public never would have stood for it.


21 posted on 06/06/2018 11:07:57 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: SeekAndFind

No.

We’d still be fighting that war.


22 posted on 06/06/2018 11:08:41 AM PDT by Skooz (Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us)
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To: SeekAndFind

The fate of Post WWII Europe was largely determined by FDR’s disastrous concessions to Stalin in Yalta.

We could,however, have done much more to prevent the Russian takeover of Eastern Europe and we should have done so.

Stalin was very dependent upon American aid to keep his Army going and his troops in Eastern Europe were very extended with long supply lines.

The West basically rolled over politically to Stalin and Socialists governments very sympathetic to the Soviets were elected in Great Britain and in much of Europe because there just was no political will to resist Stalin.

Militarily, the cost would have been very high to go against the Soviets.


23 posted on 06/06/2018 11:10:41 AM PDT by rdcbn
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To: SeekAndFind

“Was Patton right? Should we have taken out the Russians when we could?”

Depends on how many more millions of people you wanted killed.


24 posted on 06/06/2018 11:10:54 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: C19fan

None of this matters. If Truman had actually approved this the parents of every GI in Europe would have marched on Washington and burned the White House down. I remember talking about this with relatives of that generation and there would have been zero popular support for such a move. They wanted their sons home.


25 posted on 06/06/2018 11:16:10 AM PDT by jalisco555 ("In a Time of Universal Deceit Telling the Truth Is a Revolutionary Act" - George Orwell)
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To: SeekAndFind

What’s the statistic? 80% of German casualties occurred on the Russian front.

The ideal situation would have been to let Germany and Russia bash each other’s brains out for another 3 years or so before entering the war.


26 posted on 06/06/2018 11:18:54 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: SeekAndFind

Yes.


27 posted on 06/06/2018 11:20:05 AM PDT by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket)
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To: PGR88

I always felt the best case scenario.....Hitler takes Moscow, Stalin is overthrown in a coup led by Khrushchev, who is pragmatic enough to understand that to truly unite the people and win the war he must abandon Bolshevism.


28 posted on 06/06/2018 11:20:47 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Leaning Right
The Red Army in 1945 was massive, experienced, and very well led.

True, but by the time they reached Berlin they were overextended and had little air support. On our side we were at our zenith in terms of air, manufacturing, weapon technology, and strategy. We could have cut their supply lines (hell, we invaded Normandy) and wrapped up the campaign in 18 months, IMHO.

29 posted on 06/06/2018 11:23:31 AM PDT by JonPreston
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To: JonPreston

We could have done it for the Eastern Bloc. Ethnic wars in Yugoslavia would have resulted. Of course it was May, 1945. Plenty of time to free them.


30 posted on 06/06/2018 11:27:53 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: SeekAndFind

That is why Patton was not put in command of anything past Sicily.


31 posted on 06/06/2018 11:28:03 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: JonPreston
True, but by the time they reached Berlin they were overextended and had little air support. On our side we were at our zenith in terms of air, manufacturing, weapon technology, and strategy. We could have cut their supply lines (hell, we invaded Normandy) and wrapped up the campaign in 18 months, IMHO.

p07

There was already controversy about which troops in Europe would be going to the Pacific.

There would be zero support for going to war with the Soviets that had been portrayed at home as loyal allies for over 3 years.

32 posted on 06/06/2018 11:29:45 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Solution: Bring in the..”

Are you kidding?


33 posted on 06/06/2018 11:30:04 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: Pearls Before Swine
I agree. We might not have gotten our butts kicked but a lot of good men would have died only to lose.

After what the 3rd Army had gone through...it would have been a coin toss at the best.

34 posted on 06/06/2018 11:30:53 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Get in the Spirit! The Spirit of '76!)
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To: C19fan

Please permit me to add one more factor to your excellent list.

Morale: Advantage Soviets.

The Nazis had just surrendered. The average GI was breathing a sigh of relief. Then to be told that America was now going to attack a “friend”...I can’t see how that would sit well.

On the other hand, it would have been easy for the commissars to motivate the average Soviet soldier. An American attack on the Red Army would been painted as naked treachery. Just as FDR described the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.


35 posted on 06/06/2018 11:31:08 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: JonPreston

“and wrapped up the campaign in 18 months, IMHO. “

What on Earth constitutes “wrapped up”? Do you realize how long it took just to get from Normandy to Antwerp?


36 posted on 06/06/2018 11:34:15 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

Not only that. Even if we “won” at great cost, Russia is too big to be meaningfully controlled. The only reasonable goal would have been to depose Stalin and the rest of the Communist government. But, as we have learned over the years, installing a new government doesn’t always work out in a smooth or timely fashion. I think Germany and Japan were unusual in that respect.


37 posted on 06/06/2018 11:34:24 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine ("Married with children.")
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To: Snickering Hound

Right there was zero political appetite given our misunderstanding of Uncle Joe and his bloody regime.


38 posted on 06/06/2018 11:38:17 AM PDT by JonPreston
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To: Pearls Before Swine

A land war wasn’t necessary. Before the Soviets got “the bomb” we held all the cards.

Drop a nuke on Kamchatka, some place void of people with Moscow forewarned to ensure anyone near ground zero could be moved clear. Let them know the next would hit a sparsely populated area and keep upping the ante until they abandoned Eastern Europe and East Germany.

All our ground forced would be needed for was shielding Western Europe until Stalin threw in the towel or was forcibly removed from power.


39 posted on 06/06/2018 11:38:28 AM PDT by fire and forget (Sic Semper Tyrannis Liberalis)
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To: JonPreston

> True, but by the time they reached Berlin they were overextended and had little air support. <

That would have, for sure, kept the Red Army from advancing into Western Germany at the time. But would it have been enough to dislodge them from prepared defensive positions?

Maybe. But it would have been a bloody mess. And as others have noted, mobs would have burned down the White House before then.


40 posted on 06/06/2018 11:39:17 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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