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To: RinaseaofDs
After Normandy, you’d think they would have done everything possible to make operating out of Normandy hell.

Oh, they did. The Germans had a strategy of holding on to the ports as long as possible. Lorient, Saint Nazaire, La Rochelle, and Dunkirk in France held out until the German surrender in May 1945. And when ports were taken, like Cherbourg, German demolitions squads were very, very good at making sure they would be unusable for a long time, sinking ships, blowing up piers, booby trapping everything, and so on. One American called Cherbourg "A masterful job, beyond a doubt the most complete, intensive, and best planned demolition in history." It took until November to get the port fully restored, but even then it could barely support the Allied armies.

70 posted on 10/17/2018 2:04:24 PM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("The rat always knows when he's in with weasels."--Tom Waits)
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To: Bubba Ho-Tep

So it really became a race to Berlin ahead of the Russians. Ike and everyone else knew the Russians were going to be trouble?


73 posted on 10/17/2018 2:14:09 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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