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To: Tolik
Indeed, a month after D-Day, the beachhead had grown only very grudgingly. We seemed hopelessly bogged down. A good summary of the situation is found in Operation Cobra and the Great Offensive: Sixty Days that Changed the Course of WW II, now on supermarket shelves all over the country.

The essence of it is that, after the little window of decent weather that was exploited for the invasion, air operations in support of ground troops were impossible for the entire month that followed. We had been depending upon air power to offset the threat of German armor. What saved our bacon is that Hitler and some of his staff bought the ruse of a Calais offensive that never came, bought it so thoroughly that they froze a large Panzer force and other reserves through that whole month of vulnerability and beyond.

Operation Cobra commenced just as the weather relented. As that got rolling, Patton took command of the Third Army. Things changed dramatically. The beachhead became a broad Western Front as the Third Reich unraveled.

11 posted on 06/07/2004 7:15:50 AM PDT by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro
People were sacrificed to make Calais scenario convincing. Can current generals sacrifice anybody? I would not want to be the guy making the decision to sacrifice anybody (or being sacrificed, of course), but in the war they have to do it.

And how about not saving Coventry protecting the cracked codes?! ?!
15 posted on 06/07/2004 12:11:00 PM PDT by Tolik
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