Re: Normandy daily - 1944
I was always curious why the invasion of southern France was executed when it was. It might be the availability of landing craft and especially the LSTs. (Winston Churchill was quoted as saying, "the destinies of two great empires... seem to be tied up in some [dadgum] things called LSTs.) Perhaps it was tied to Operation FORTITUDE, the on-going deception of the Germans as to the landings at Pas de Calais. Once you land in the south of France, the deception of Pas de Calais is pretty much over.
t seems to me that DRAGOON was executed too late, though.
I agree, but there was the matter of the Anzio operation at about the same time.
Anzio has always been one of my favorites from a historic perspective. A great idea, executed with too few resources (both men and material). As a result of a half-done execution, a bunch of good men got killed, and the operation dang near got thrown back into the sea.
The reason for the short resources? We were staging for Normandy. A most legitimate reason for not releasing the necessary means for Anzio, but a lesson that has served me well in a lot of situations since I became aware of the considerations....if you attempt an operation at all you do it with overwhelming force. You commit so many resources that only a dolt could fail.
As my friend Isaiah 63:1 likes to say, "if you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly."
Point being, the Allies couldn't have supported three amphibious invasions (Normandy, Southern France, and Anzio) essentially simultaneously.
I don't disagree with the benefits of a second French landing. But you then doom the Italian campaign to a man-chewing meatgrinder for no real good reason. Under that scenario, the France-to-Germany thrust would have reached Berlin well before the poor SOBs in central Italy made it to Tuscany.
It's easy to throw rocks when you look at only a segment. When you view the whole, though, with resources that are not limitless, you realize that boosting one thing necessarily takes away from the other.
Who do you make life hard (and short) on? The guys in Northern France, or the guys in Central Italy? What do you tell their mothers?
Man, I'm glad I didn't have to make those decisions.