Was Eisenhower a Bad General?
I was just reading a book about Hitler and WW 2 which pointed out mistakes the Allies made, and was wondering whether our leadership at the theatre-strategy level in Europe– i.e., Eisenhower– really was any good. Examples:
1. Why invade the Riviera in 1944? The Germans were going to retreat there anyway rather than get cut off, and it used up lots of landing craft.
2. A quick invasion of mainland Italy in 1943, right after Sicily, would have led to its surrender and capture before German troops were in place. We could have gotten Croatia then too.
3. The invasion of Sicily allowed the Germans to escape via Messina.
4. A 1943 invasion of the Riviera would have been risky, but then we would have had working ports in France in early 1944.
5. The Germans thought we would invade Flanders, not Normandy, because Flanders was the smart place to invade. We would have started a lot closer to Germany.
6. In general, the Allies were too cautious. The very fact that the Sicily, Salerno, Normany invasions were so successful is evidence that we were being too careful.
7. The Arnheim drop, on the other hand, was too rash. It was just too complicated to succeed– everything had to go right.
8. The Bulge slowed down the Allies a lot. Why? Why couldn’t we just press ahead?