Comments by "John Burns" (@johnburns4017) on "TIKhistory"
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General Bodo Zimmermann, Chief of Operations, German Army Group D, said that had the strategy of Montgomery succeeded in the autumn of 1944, there would have been no need to fight for the West Wall, not for the central and upper Rhine, all of 24 which would have fallen automatically.
Indeed, had Monty's idea for a 40 division concentrated thrust towards the Ruhr been accepted by Eisenhower instead of messing about in the Lorraine, Alsace, Vosges, etc, it would have all been over for the Germans in the west.
"The best course of the Allies would have been to concentrate a really strong striking force with which to break through past Aachen to the Ruhr area. Germany's strength is in the north. South Germany was a side issue. He who holds northern Germany holds Germany. Such a break-through, coupled with air domination, would have torn in pieces the weak German front and ended the war. Berlin and Prague would have been occupied ahead of the Russians. There were no German forces behind the Rhine, and at the end of August our front was wide open. There was the possibility of an operational break-through in the Aachen area, in September. This would have facilitated a rapid conquest of the Ruhr and a quicker advance on Berlin.
By turning the forces from the Aachen area sharply northward, the German 15th and1st Parachute Armies could have been pinned against the estuaries of the Mass and the Rhine. They could not have escaped eastwards into Germany."
- Gunther Blumentritt in, The Other Side Of The Hill by Liddell Hart
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David Himmelsbach
Eisenhower had prioritised the north in his broad front strategy. Monty had the concept and some preparations for Operation Comet, a multiple crossing of the Rhine. This would have the US 1st Army on the right flank. On hearing of this Bradley disobeyed Eisenhower's orders and starving Hodge's 1st army of supplies giving them to Patton.
Comet, a pursuit operation, had to be cut down to Market Garden, with one crossing of the Rhine, with the US 1st Army omitted. Bradley and Patton should have been fired. The US had some excellent Corps commanders like Truscott who would have done a far better job. Of all the manpower available a vital thrust, which Eisenhower prioritised, was down to three corps operation. VIII Corps and XII Corps were on XXX Corps flanks to Eindhoven. Then XXX Corps by themselves above.
Monty wanted the crossing of the Rhine to be Kasel, but was overruled for Arnhem. Monty did not plan or take part in the execution of Market Garden. Brereton, an American, who was in command of the First Allied Airborne Army did a lot of it. The USAAF objected to fighter-bombers being used. So the vital tool that prevented the Germans from moving during the day was not there. The Germans in broad daylight moved tanks fro Germany to Arnhem.
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Randisides
There has been a tradition in the world of downgrading Britain's contribution to WW2, especially in the USA. The British fought a highly technological and industrial war and did so very efficiently. Britain used not only her vast empire but her even larger trading empire to great effect - an army of 2.6 million marched into Burma. The British, with its massive navy, surrounded the Axis, from the Med (cutting off both entrances to the sea) to the Eastern Atlantic, starving them of natural resources, and ensuring where the battles would be fought.
Steel not flesh was the slogan. The British assessed that having massive armies is highly inefficient. The larger the army the higher the casualties. Britain deliberately chose to keep numbers of front line troops as low as possible building machines and using technology advances instead - the BEF in France was the first army were men never marched - fully motorised. The Kangaroo was the first armoured personnel carrier developed in WW2 from adapted tanks, saving many lives, in contrast to the horrendous US casualties. The policy worked, despite fighting for the duration, the only major country to do so, and all around the globe, the country had only lost around 440,000, which is half the British dead of the 1914-1918 war, which lasted two years less. Germany and the USSR lost considerably more troops than they had in WW1.
From the war came amazing British inventions: the cavity magnetron, electronic computer, the world’s most advanced jet engines, anti-submarine electronics, the proximity fuse, as well as the Liberty ship (a Sunderland design), to name but a few. Massive developments in manufacturing, with a staggering 132,500 aircraft and over one million military vehicles. Canada alone produced more wheeled vehicles than Germany.
From the first American servicemen arriving in Britain in 1942, until VE Day, the British provided the USA with 31% of all their supplies in the European Theatre of Operations. Britain's war effort was astonishing – backed by their insistence in continuing the fight in 1940. The British made an enormous contribution to winning the war, being the key agents. This had a positive effect on the future of the world. The declinist view of Britain in the war must be dispelled for good.
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