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Originally Posted by bigfun
it's funny you brought this up as i just started to read a book by Ernie Pyle where he talks about fighting the French in North Africa? i'm noew to this but that really confuses me? so anyway i will be reading this with much anticipation!!!
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Please contribute what you are reading about.
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Originally Posted by Sloniksp
Perhaps the "Under belly" of the 3rd Reich was its most vulnerable?
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Could you be refering to Churchills infamous crocidle? Only problem is that Italy or Greece for that matter did not contribute much to the war power of Germany and those areas could be defended with 10-20 divisions maybe 30. Not so soft.
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Originally Posted by T. A. Gardner
The answer lies in the politics of coallition. The US Army and Roosevelt wanted to invade Europe directly almost from their entry into the war. Coded Roundup, there were plans for such an invasion from 1942 on.
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True. Sledgehammer was planned for '42, it was a Dieppe type raid. Roundup was intended to invade France in '43. Stalin kept requesting a front in 42, Roosevelt wanted to keep the Russians in the war and needed action for the 42 elections. American planners new that to beat Germany they needed to fight in France.
Quote:
Originally Posted by T. A. Gardner
The British and Churchill pretty much steadfastly refused to go along with such plans, instead offering alternatives that "sniped at the edges" of the German army. Churchill's Greek campaign, the North Africa campaign, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica are all examples of this thinking.
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Also true. Churchill didn't like the idea of getting into a war of attrition on the Continent. He gave the reason that there were not enough men and landing craft in the UK to launch Roundup or Sledgehammer. There were aroudn 30 divisions in the UK for defense.