History may seem jaded towards the Americans and their efforts during the war. I take offense to Ignorant people who love to say that "America saved England" or "If it wasn't for the US then England would be speaking German". That is just wrong and plain Idiotic. It was truly a combined effort between the Americans and England both in manpower and supplies. Neither nation could have beaten Germany and Japan by themselves. I am American and I know what sacrifices and losses we endured during the war but the English suffered far more than the US citizens. We were not in fear of nightly attacks from German bombers. The US mainland was not bombed or under threat of an Invasion. Their may of been a lot of "American Ingenuity" and Industrial might, however England was just as active and just as Important.
I agree 100%! I must admitt America and Russia was a big major part of the allies. If briton was that useless against the germans (going by statements by many memebrs i have come across) the Lufftwaffe would have finshed the R/A/F and british off quick smart. Which it never happend,proves briton had alot of strelth with her. I honestly believe that briton won ww2 at the start and the Americans and Russians finshed the job off,meaning they won the war at the end! A joint win for three major countries.
It was a world war Heidi and everbody did it's share, not "we" did it and "others didn't" as we heard before. Don't forget France for instance, more Luftwaffe aircrafts were shot down during the Battle of France than the Battle of Britain and those downed German aircraft and pilots ware badly missed by the Luftwaffe when they started th Blitz. Also the hundreds of thousands who made their escape at Dunkirk and Nantes etc... managed to so partly due to the sacrifice of 100.000 soldiers who tried to delay the German advance as long as possible. Besides, other countries should not be forgotten. Think about Yougoslavia, their constant figting kept quite a few Germans busy . I think it's always a shame no one hardly ever mentions the ousantanding contribution of the Canadians, the Australians , the New Zealanders, the Poles, the Free Dutch, the Free French , the Free Poles. 12 nations partcipated at D-Day not two. So I also Praise the Norwegians and the Luxemburgers and all the others, the memories are all honored at the Caen Memorial. The fact that some countries had less men available does not take away their fighting skills, so I conclude it was an allied victory not made with the blood of nationals from many countries involved.
Of cause,you're right ,im bad! I think of France having a major biggest underground unit that suported the British during the hard times,which would have boosted the british right up. i did not mean to leave other countries out,i only know of the major allied countries and germany,i find it hard to talk about smaller countries cause i don't know nothing about them. I knew they were apart and assisted in winning the war,but i am affraid i don't where they had frought. With the commonwealth countries,i class them under briton,that's why i did not mention them. no country should be left out,but with my lack of knowledge,i just could did not know(i knew about france though)
I think the role of Tito's Partisan really deserves more credit too. The tens of thousands Germans who were kept busy in Yougoslavia could have given the Russians a hard time on the Ost Front. On a smaller scale the Greek Resistance gave the Germans a hard time too, same for Albania.
Like you said,the British forces hadn'been built up:in fact the first two(!) British divisions arrived in France at the end of september!The French had no intention to fight alone,I doubt they had ever the intention to attack the Siegfriedline;from september 15 the Germans were strenghtening their Forces in the West.
First of all. If you are American please learn to type English. now on to my answer. Yes the Brits did a great job at holding the Germans off. But I think that at the very least the Americans could have been deployed from Russian Forward bases. and later from Italy. But I also think that it would have been pretty hard for the Germans to ever invade Britain anyways because they would have definitely had the help of the Americans even if the Japanese had not attacked I think America would have entered the war to save Britain.
I simply don't think that the British or the French could scrounge up the manpower. Sure, the RAF put up an impressive fight, but could they have staved it off forever? Besides, the AMERICAN Bomber Command held at least part of the Luftwaffe in the western front, and not where they were needed supporting thrusts in the east. In a word, no.
If this is a wind up, please reconsider. There are genuine veterans on this site. If you are serious. Please read a few books.
I think the total mumber of divisions the British mobilized in WW2 was less than 50, how are they going to take on a 150+ divisions German army ? Britain by itself didn't have the manpower base to take on the German army and Commonwealth troops, while sometimes very good, are not enough to make a difference. They could certainly defend the British Isles indefinetly as the Germans didn't have the capability to invade or achieve air superiority over the British isles but after the fall of France could not win without help. Possibly the only nation that could have beaten Hitler by itself is the USSR and even there I have big doubts, LL didn't fully kick in before Stalingrad but the Luftwaffe was unable to concentrate East right from the beginning of Barbarossa due to the RAF. AFAIK the Anglo-French grand strategy was to wear out the Germans by blockade and bombing and only go to the offensive in 1941 if not 1942, it may have worked without the French collapse but I think not (I won't elaborate further as this is not a what if).
. The fixed size of the Field army was changed throughout the war, as aliies disappeared and new ones entered. As you say the overall strategy fell apart as France was knocked out of the war.
She is not british.. She has gone from the site.. Thank you for the intimation you would save Britain.. For a moment there I thought I would have to learn to speak German.
The Soviet Union would not allow the American aircraft to use it's bases. I know that for the August 1 air raid on Ploesti, the USAAF requested the use of Soviet bases for it's bombers to land, and possibly rearm for a follow up strike on a return trip to Africa, due to the extreme range of the mission (flying to Russia was closer than flying back home).The request was ignored by Soviet authorities. Once bases in Italy were captured, yes, the USAAF flew from Italy.
what? If my grammar was bad forgive me. But I didn't spell every other word wrong. If the original poster is American or British I think they should learn to at least spell right. If they are not American or British I forgive them of that because not everyone speaks/spells English well. I wasn't aware of that, I thought they used a lot of our pilots for training and things. If we are going to do a kind of what if scenario I think that once Americas industrial power was in gear the US could have taken Germany, just an opinion though.
It is not worth arguing about, as she has left the building...But she was indeed of East European areana. Many on here do not have English as their first language. They manage to be understood. It is our obligation on here if English is our first language to make others welcome. WW2 Was global and not fought in English or Amerixcano. So easy on the critisism of others grammer. I for one want to read what they have to say, not frighten them away.
Operation Frantic was a series of seven shuttle bombing operations conducted by American aircraft based in Britain or the Mediterranean which then landed at three American bases (including Poltava and Mirgorod) in the Soviet Union. This shuttle bombing technique complicated the defense of German targets. If that is untrue, then there are a lot of surprised US vets who were at Poltava when they were raided by the Luftwaffe.
Gromit is correct, After months of negotiations between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the U. S .ambassador, Averill Harriman, Stalin authorized the led groups of B-17s and P-51s use of bases at Mirgorod, Piryatin, and in a shuttle mission between Poltava, located east of the Dnieper Italy and the Soviet base River and southeast of Kiev. at Poltava. Army Air Forces in World War II
Like I said, if you are not American that's okay and I understand. I said if you are (American) you should learn to spell correctly