Replies

“The 1980s movie Patton's Last Days was replayed on cable last week where he get’s slapped down for suggesting such a thing.”

I've long suspected that Patton was killed for wanting to take on the USSR. Call me a tinfoil wearer, but it's what I believe.

“Politically it was not possible at the time.”

I completely agree. I think of a line from the Orson Welles film “The Stranger” where a Nazi is described as “still having the stench of burnt bodies” on his clothes; no way would those types be fighting along side (or in front of) the Stars and Stripes (at least not openly). Although, Nuremburg could have been effectively canceled if those ghouls were thrown back in against the Soviets - I highly doubt they would have survived a second time against them. "Herr Hess, you have two choices: take this Mauser and attack the East or you get hung in five minutes."

“They wanted the troops home in 1945, VE and VJ. The wake-up day was when the USSR announced that had the bomb, which they stole from us,”

Of course! And since we don't have the luxury of a crystal ball, I doubt most folks saw Korea and Vietman on the horizon, which cost us another 110,000+ American lives and countless more casualties.

In the end, Patton was right in a military sense - we should have fought them then why we had the troops there (and were the sole owners of “the bomb”). Politically, it couldn't happen.

I erred, the quote was: “still having the stench of burnt flesh”.

“In the end, Patton was right in a military sense - we should have fought them then why we had the troops there (and were the sole owners of “the bomb”). Politically, it couldn’t happen.”

should read

In the end, Patton was right in a military sense - we should have fought them when we had the troops there (and were the sole owners of “the bomb”). Politically, it couldn’t happen.

I forgot to mention that after Hitler killed himself and Germany surrendered the war with Japan was still on and most were expecting to have to invade the main islands.So many troops were being sent to the Pacific.

I remember a scene in McArthur where he told the Soviet military leader that if the USSR tried any of that funny business in Japan that they did in Europe that he would arrest their whole USSR diplomatic staff. Eventually Truman fired him over Korea.

Patton and McArthur both wondered why we fought in WWII just to let communists pick up the spoils, but as Republicans learned the hard way (OK maybe just a few did), you need the voters’s support in wars to win.