>That’s interesting...What were our strengths militarily you think?
US army killed 5 Germans for every 4 Americans lost. Russia lost 4 Russians for every German killed. The US army was full mechanized, very fast moving, and with pinpoint artillery. Our fighter-bombers destroyed German tank counterattacks. In France Germany viewed US troops as about on par with them.
>Russians always tell me that Americans take too much credit for ourselves even though we didn’t lose as many lives...and i’m like...isn’t that the point?
Industrial warfare is about producing enough goods to make your army effective in the field. The US outproduced everyone about 10 to 1. Russia would have folded in 1943 or 1944 without US support. US victory in Tunisia was a bigger blow to the Germany army than the defeat at Stalingrad according to German accounts of the war. The US airwar decimated the German Airforce and was the primary reason Germany had issues with air support in the east. As a rule Russian planes ran when they encounter German fighters the Germans regularly destroyed the entire Soviet airforce. But the US would just send another 10,000 planes and the Russian air force would be reborn. None of the big Russian gains in 1943 and 1944 would have happened if the German airforce wasn’t busy fighting the US in Italy and over Germany.
Russia fighting alone would have lost the war by late 1943.
Yes! So not only was the U.S. strategic militarily, but we had business sense to boot! (in terms of producing and selling things to our allies before joining the war in person.)
Interesting about Russia’s status in ‘43-’44. Thank you for clarifying.
I wish we as Americans took greater care to preserve these narratives and own these victories. Not to lord over others, but to remember those we’ve lost and to stop self-sabotaging ourselves with P.C. revisionism.
Up until late ‘44 even with all the other fronts the Germans had a 4-1 kill ratio, including tanks, on the eastern front. I do not think the Germans could have defeated the Soviets only because i do not think the Soviets would have ever surrendered.
DUNKIRK was awful if you knew about the battle. If you did not know anything about the battle going into the theater you knew even less coming out. PS the Germans lost more troops after Dunkirk. The politicians gave up after Sedan.