Re: D-Day was Shermans

bbrush@unlnotes.unl.edu wrote:

>
> ready to counterattack, but he had to wait until the higher HQ gave
him the
> ok to do what he knew was the right thing to do.  This is a perfect
example
> of how a mess at higher echelons neutralized the initiative of a lower
> level commander.  Had the lower levels not been subject to a mess of
an
> upper command structure the Germans would have given the Allies a much
> harder fight, and quite possibly defeated the invasions.

That's a possibility, but a slight one at that point, given the
superiority of
the Allies in the air.	More likely what would've happened is that the
Allied
forces would have suffered more casualties, but would have been able to
hang
on.

> My point is that there wouldn't be a mass invasion against a "hot"
beach.
> A debacle like Omaha wouldn't be excuted again simply because we have
the
> capability and precision to neutralize the kind of defenses that were
> present on the beaches then.	Also there's the sheer scale of the
> operation.  I'm not sure a situation would arise where an operation on
that
> scale would be necessary.  Of course there's also the argument that
most
> modern militaries wouldn't attempt a static defense simply because a
mobile
> defense in depth has proven much more effective.

I'm not certain that I'd characterize Omaha Beach as a debacle. 
Certainly, the
units landing there suffered much higher casualties than those on the
other
beaches (8 men left at the end of the day out of the lead company of the
116th
Rgmt. which made the initial landings!) but even so, the primary reason
for the
difficulty on Omaha was the *failure* of Allied intelligence to detect
the
presence of the 352nd Division, along with the failure of the Air Forces
to
effectively use strategic bombing forces in a tactical role.  I won't,
however,
dispute your point that we probably will never see the likes of it
again; but
that's probably due more to the fact that pound for pound, the
individual
soldier in the modern era can draw on more firepower than soldiers in
any
previous time.

Mark

>
>
> Bill