The Allies had massive concerns that a failed invasion of France would result in Uncle Joe pulling the plug.

If Hitler had pulled back & reduced his front by 1/2 after 43, which would have effectively doubled his forces & set the stage for a defensive battle of attrition...hum.




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Anyone advocating pushing harder should look at the casualties the Soviets took in 1945 and realize we were being intelligent. Much brighter to let the Germans and Soviets bleed each other rather than have the Germans and the West bleed each other. Why does anyone feel British and American servicemen should die so future German civilians live better. Only fools kill their own people for the profit of others.

Germany and USSR jointly at a truce changes the western front quite a bit, although the possibility of that actually happening seems to have been overblown.

IMO most in the US underestimate the contribution of USSR in defeating Germany in WW2.

Lots of issues with Germany and USSR doing a truce.

1) They'd had one earlier and both sides broke it. USSR by taking all of Lithuania rather than splitting as agreed and Germany by invading USSR.

2) USSR has paid 80%+ of the price of a total win but is likely getting little above starting position 6/22/41 and not even that if trying for a truce before mid 1944.

3) Because of the timing of the taking of Lithuania Germany knows it can't trust the USSR if still at war in the West and thus has great incentive to give up all their Western conquests for a truce in the West.

4) Germany defined their victory conditions; lebensraum in the East, so the West was always a diversion from winning.

5) I agree most in the US underestimate the price in blood the USSR paid and how important it was to defeating Germany.

I don't think the US transferred divisions out of Europe after the recapture of France. Their divisions were all rather heavily engaged. In fact they transferred quite a few fresh divisions in. The 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 20th Armored Divisions only have the battle honor 'Germany' except for the 13th ('Ardennes, Germany') and the 14th ('France, Germany'). The 42nd Infantry Division has 'Schweinfurt, Munich, Dachau (Germany)'. The 44th Infantry Division has 'Saar, Ulm (Germany), Danube River.' The 63rd Infantry has 'Bavaria (Germany), Danube River'. The 65th Infantry, 'Saarlauteren, Regensburg (Germany), Danube River.' The 69th Infantry, 'Germany'. The 70th, 'Saarbrucken, Moselle River (Germany).' The 71st, 'Harz Mountains (Germany)'. The 75th, 'Ardennes, Westphalia (Germany).' The 76th, 'Luxembourg, Germany'. The 78th, 'Aachen, Roer River, Ruhr (Germany).' The 84th, 'Ardennes, Hanover (Germany).' The 86th, 'Dachau, Ingolstadt (Germany).' The 87th, 'Ardennes, Germany, Czechoslovakian border.' The 97th, 'Germany'. The 98th, 'Ardennes, Remagen Bridgehead (Germany).' The 102nd, 'Siegfried Line, Ruhr, Munchen-Gladbach (Germany).' The 103rd, 'Stuttgart (Germany), Austria.' The 104th, 'Rhine Crossing, Cologne, Ruhr (Germany).' The 106th, 'St Vith (Ardennes), Germany.' It looks as though the US actually poured very large numbers of fresh troops into Europe after the successful campaign in Normandy. It was purely a US political decision to let the Soviets take Berlin and a large bite of eastern Germany, in the mistaken belief that those nice progressive Soviets would hold free elections -- a decision they soon came to regret.