We are darned lucky that Roosevelt didn't have his way with Churchill. Imagine the US Army of late 1942 invading France at Calais, say. We would have been lucky to evacuate 50% of our people. Dieppe writ large.
What a fool Roosevelt was. It seems like he was a knave as well. It looks like he had John Kennedy's morals. Americans elected him President four times.
Putting on my analyst's hat I see that Dieppe (August 19, 1942)prevented Roosevelt blowing the whole damned war. Seems like the Dieppe operation was a reconnaissance in force to assess the possibility of an invasion of France in 1942. The hard won answer was invasion yes, but survival, no.
OK piece on Dieppe, not highbrow:
http://users.pandora.be/dave.depickere/Text/dieppe.html
The only reason Torch worked at all is that the French were even more disorganized and pig headed than you would expect of the French.
War is such a shock. It cannot be put into words. People just freak. It is odd to watch happen, then it becomes tiresome. You become very old on the inside.
Patton knew what he was doing, but Eisenhower caused real damage by interfering with the actual fighting. In Sicily, also. By 1944 he came to see that he was, indeed, as MacArthur said of him, "The best clerk I ever had." Well, that is a little harsh, but Eisenhower was a political general, not a fighting general.
Speaking of Patton, both he and Rommel were most effective when they were the very closest possible to the actual battle. Fighting generals. James Gavin. MacArthur during the Great War, Creighton Abrams in WWII. Halsey in the Navy. Of my generation, General "Tommy" Franks, every bit the equal of any of the others.
But we are reminded every day by Jean Fraud himself that these Vichy Chicks are our traditional allies?
Invade France in 1942? June 6, 1944 was perhaps the earliest possible date--what was Winston thinking?
The so-great Roosevelt failed to get the memo; his loose lips on the radio sank ships.
But did the press of the day force him to apologize during wartime?
Rookies can perform under pressure: History Channel just showed the discovery of the Jap midget sub sunk by Ward sixty-three years ago.
We wouldn't have to worry about sending our troops in harm's way under a Kerry administration--he'd never buck a French veto at global test time.
