re: #545 calcajun

Oh God, this has become a WWII thread and that is the area of history I love the most. And I gotta get a project done. Dammit.

OK, real fast:

1. FDR did not know in advance about Pearl harbor—he did not jst “let it happen”

2. There was never any chance of relieving the Philippines—those troops were doomed from the start (MacArthur made it worse by trying to defend the beaches)

3. Hitler’s Operation: Sea Lion would have never worked (look at the logistics of Overlord)

4. A cross-channel invasion into France in 1942 would not have worked

5. Strategic bombing was a failure.

6. Germany could have won the war at several points, but was doomed after 1941.

7. Dropping the A-bomb was the right move.

8. Stopping at the Elbe was the wrong move.

9. No one has ever really caught the significance of the CBI Theater of War.

10. There ought to be a monument to General von Cholditz, the last German garrison commander of Paris—and the French should have a holiday in his name.

I could go on, but talk amongst yourselves. I gotta work.

I’d add that if the fleet had gotten some advance notice of the Pearl Harbor attack, and had sortied…the loss of life would have been much higher. The BB’s were vulnerable and sinking in blue water would have killed many more than did die.