If, as with the 34th, the fastest one took a year, no reason to believe it could have been done any quicker. And that year is to get them to American ports, not embarked, arrived, unloaded, unpacked, and set up. Probably another 2-3 months to get there and get combat ready, so for a NG division mobilizing around the time of Dunkirk, it would be August, 1941 before they could fight in Britain.
I'm not meaning to slight the Marines, but they had their hands full in the Pacific, and, of course, some of the Army divisions had to go out there too and couldn't have helped Britain.
No doubt in my mind that Churchill is The Man of the Century. Nobody else alive (and maybe nobody who ever lived) could have kept their people's heart in the war.
If you'll allow one more thought: I've become a really WWII nut in the last year. Someday the gang needs to have a WWII book review-discussion-round robin. I love Bookfinder.com - and they love me!
You're most likely correct on that, we would have built up our forces gradually in the surrounding area while Hitler was fighting Britain. Although given the urgency of the situation, it may have motivated the US to move a little quicker into Europe than it did following Pearl Harbor. All of the continent falling to Hitler, including Britain was seen by Roosevelt as a far greater threat to US interests than Japan was.
No doubt in my mind that Churchill is The Man of the Century. Nobody else alive (and maybe nobody who ever lived) could have kept their people's heart in the war.
Definitely agree with you there, Churchill was the inspiration the West needed to fight on, especially after the way Neville Chamberlain failed so horribly to understand the threat Britain was up against. He was the right man at the right time.