Posted on 12/12/2004 8:58:43 AM PST by knighthawk
Definitely. But the war could've been won by Christmas 1944 as originally believed if it hadn't been for Eisenhower and Bradley. Bradley got stuck on the Cotentin Peninsula, then Eisenhower came up with the "brilliant" idea of a broad front.
JCH Lee didn't help any, either.
http://www.faqfarm.com/History/WWII/8427
Just a quickie look.
What were Hitler's key mistakes during the war?
Would you mind linking me to some good Market-Garden analyses? I know the general reasons why it was a failure, but I don't nkow the specific details behind it.
Thank you!
One of my favorite scenes in the movie "Patton" is when Bradley has to break the news to Patton that Montgomery's army is going to be given the bulk of the supplies. Patton say's, "Hell I know I'm a Prima Donna. I admit it! What I can't stand about Montgomery is he won't admit it!!".
Hitler was a moron when it came to military matters. He had some great generals but when they would tell him what an idiot he was he would fire them and get someone who was just a yes man. The number of mistakes he made are too numerous to count.
There is war and then there is the political war...(All wars are political. (De Gaulle "took Paris?")..There was dealing with Montgomery(Brits) and dealing with Stalin...I know why we did a lot of things(sick of war for one thing ..commie sympathizers another) but I know how long we lived with the consequences.
More to the point, if FDR were like W, he'd be taking the complaints seriously! That's the tragedy. The NY Times only has influence as clueless Republicans ALLOW them to have influence, or pay them any mind at all.
Memo to the Bush WH - cancel your subscriptions to the Wash Post and NY Times, and stop watching CNN. Please - someday soon. As the commercial says - just do it.
Have you read "A Bridge Too Far" or seen the movie?
No to both.
Beautiful song and an interesting anecdote. If competent writers and directors ever take to Hollywood again, this would make an interesting scene in the reenactment of those 'last 10 days'.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=56274
Google Market Garden...This was just one thing I found.
You know what they would have said:
"This just proves the military has been lying to us. The Germans are no where near defeat."
"There is no way to win this war."
"Hitler has outwitted the Pentagon!!"
Yeppers, and the one thing your father would never have done was trash his fellow soldiers, and lie about a "seared memory" (Cambodia, Christmas) that never happened.
My late father-in-late was at Hickam Field, Dec. 7, 1941. He was later deployed to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal as an Army Air Force navigator and fought on until 1944, when he was shipped to San Diego with one of those strange jungle rot diseases that cost him over 80% of his stomach. He never talked about the war either.
It's no wonder that the Swift Boat men came after Kerry with all guns blazing.
FDR would have called the publisher of the newspaper up and threatened to throw his ass in jail if they didn't knock it off.
Just ask the Nisei.
That's a good place to start with a broad overview of what the plan was and why it failed.
There's a good scene in Band of Brothers about that.
Read "The Politician" by Robert Welch. Chapter 4:Operation Keelhaul is one of the most hair raising things I've ever read.
FMCDH(BITS)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.