Could D-Day have been in 1943?
A friend passed along a link yesterday to an article in the Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal by Cornell University history professor John H. Weiss. [LINK]
Among the points outlined by Weiss:
Quote:
- That it should be said that it was Soviet and not American military action which was responsible for the defeat of the Germans.
- Weiss gives the surrender of the German forces at the Battle of Stalingrad as the politically decisive event of the war and the Battle of Kursk as “the militarily decisive engagement.”
- Weiss does go to pains to point out the importance of the American Lend-Lease program to Soviet war efforts, especially after the Battle of Stalingrad.
- That many historians are now of a mind that Operation Overlord could have been undertaken in 1943.
I would be interested in hearing from members of the forum as to whether this is pure hindsight or if any of the Allied generals and admirals were also advocating for the same at the time. Weiss states that the resources used in the Italian Campaign and the strategic bombing of German cities could have been put to better use.
Again, pure hindsight?
Could D-Day have been in 1943?
Ganulv raises a question about strategy in WW2, prompted by his reading, so this new thread has been started. His post will appear 1st in a moment.
From Italy to Germany another way
ganulv posted (cited in part) earlier:
Quote:
Weiss states that the resources used in the Italian Campaign and the strategic bombing of German cities could have been put to better use.
Having just read a book that covered the Italian campaign it is worth mentioning several times major components were removed to fight elsewhere, the French (North African) Corps to southern France (after D-Day) and the Canadian Corps to the UK to participate in the D-Day landings.
So in some respects Italy enabled Allied formation to learn how to fight against a respected, capable enemy and the move on to fight another day. I would expect individuals were moved too, way below Eisenhower and Montgomery's level.