presentations

Operation Varsity was an interesting presentation because of the number of records the battle set for the airborne but it is real unknown today. This battle was a larger assault then D-Day and cost three times the number of lives but is all but forgotten. I also find it interesting that a little over a thousand killed in this jump of 30K+ would make the allies cancel all future jumps because of the causalities. That is not saying the men’s lives were not important but the Allies couldn’t stomach them but would then send men into battle for a piece of land that was not important. Lastly, it was mentioned that someone of Ike’s staff give the battle plan to the Germans. I was wondering if anybody knows if this was the only case or were their more and was the individual ever discovered?

The presentation on Budapest has been the most unique presentation to date. The battle I feel shows just how bad the situation for Germany had become. Germany had to rush in to take control of the country to avoid losing territory to the Soviets without a fight because their ally wanted to surrender. It was also interesting in the way the Russia used psychological warfare in the city against the Germans. I just thought it is only something that has come into use in modern times. This battle also shows that Hitler decision to always stay and fight probably helped end the war sooner. This is seen in the attempted break out where only 700 Germans survived the attempt and over 100k were taken prisoner in the city’s capture. One has to wonder if Hitler would have let his generals make tactical withdrawals if the war would have turned out differently?

The battle of Seelow Heights presentation showed that it was the beginning of the end for Germany and Hitler. It showed that the Germans could do little in the way of stopping the Russian advance and were only buying time. However, I still think the Russians had little if any regard for the lives of the common foot soldier. It seems to me that most battles they won were by numbers alone not better tactics.