If USSR had lost to Nazi Germany?

 

Originally posted by Laelius Consider one important fact, the US was fighting a war on two fronts

The British were fighting on several fronts too.

 

and for the most part had yet to engage the Germans on land en masse.  If you allow the US the same advantage of the USSR and allow a war on a single front the it would become apparent that the US would have a number of advantages of its own.  First the US fleet of WW2 was arguably the most powerful in history, only Nelson's fleet bears exception, with this unparalleled naval power the German positions in Italy, Greece and Scandinavia would become unteneble.

There is no possible argument for saying that the US fleet in WW2 was the most powerful since Nelson. It was smaller than the Royal Navy, and remained so until well after the war was over.

The Allied air forces would still sweep the Luftwaffe out of the sky,  Allied bombers would still be able to savage German railways and refineries whilst the Werhmacht would be forced to fight the allies on a number of different fronts from Scandinavia to the Greek peninsula.  Ultimately if the bomb doesn't get the Germans the Allies win against a castrated Germany in a Cold War like solution.

Edited by gcle2003 - 21-Jun-2006 at 08:15

 

Good points about Kasserine but there is a huge difference in that the Blitzkrieg into France was much newer then, took advantage of an area (the Ardennes) that was foolishly unguarded and was a much more "open" campaign. Still, it's true that every defeat teaches a lesson.

 

Sorry if I gave that impression- it just seemed very unfair to label the British as inferior forces. As you mentioned the Brits helped train the Rangers- there was a reason, because Britain in general had better or more extensive special units and forces (Commandos, LRDG, SAS, SBS, SOE etc) and more experience than their American allies. Nor did the poster seemed to have actually studied British tactics- the Commando tactic for example was highly successful (as you mentioned Dieppe was tactically a disaster but strategically a victory because it taught the Allies great lessons that were used on D-Day, however there were plenty of successful Commando missions). Another was SOE and its dealings with partisans and resistance people. Then we look at innovations like rocket firing planes (the Typhoon), Hobarts funnies etc in retaliation to the Blitzkrieg.  Or the SAS/LRDG raiding tactics etc.

 

As for the BEF, well when there are High Command struggles, an awfully led French Army, very few men and bungled mistakes (liek the whole Ardennes thing). There were victories though (Dunkirk- yes Hitler could have destroyed the BEF but he didnt and the fighting on the way back was excellent). While the American loss was total with few saving graces.

 

The American forces were obviously good all I object to was random putting down of the British Army in particular without any referances or evidence to prove a point.