To: Kaslin
I don't agree with Victor Davis Hanson on this one. The Hürtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge could have arguably been avoided had Eisenhower's relationship with General Devers been more professional. Eisenhower had an extremely difficult job and could be forgiven for many mistakes, however his insecure motivations at stopping Devers cannot be forgiven.
How World War II Wasnt Won
One Allied army, however, was still on the move. The Sixth Army Group reached the Rhine at Strasbourg, France, on Nov. 24, and its commander, Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers, looked across its muddy waters into Germany. His force, made up of the United States Seventh and French First Armies, 350,000 men, had landed Aug. 15 near Marseille an invasion largely overlooked by history but regarded at the time as the second D-Day and advanced through southern France to Strasbourg. No other Allied army had yet reached the Rhine, not even hard-charging George Pattons.
Devers dispatched scouts over the river. Theres nobody in those pillboxes over there, a soldier reported. Defenses on the German side of the upper Rhine were unmanned and the enemy was unprepared for a cross-river attack, which could unhinge the Germans southern front and possibly lead to the collapse of the entire line from Holland to Switzerland.
101 posted on
06/11/2015 1:27:12 PM PDT by
PA Engineer
(Liberate America from the Occupation Media. #2ndAmendmentMatters)
To: PA Engineer
But you agree with the NY Slimes?
102 posted on
06/11/2015 1:39:38 PM PDT by
Kaslin
(He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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