anzio and

you may recall our instructor saying that the invasion of anzio was a way around the gustav line, and after hearing of the tuff fighting there and noticing from the maps that rome wasn't far from anzio. I have always wondered why the allies didn't go straight for rome since i would have saved time and lives-the anzio operation was in late january but rome wasn't taken until early june

from the reading, it was almost shocking to learn about omar bradley's and others failure to effectively prepare for the omaha landing considering all the other efforts put into making sure that operation would succeed.

Presenting: Anzio and Monte Cassino

Both presentations were full of information. I knew a little bit about the Anzio operation, but I didn't realize how much of a seesaw there really was. It was interestingly timed, because at first the Germans wanted to keep their panzer divisions in reserve for fighting to hold the line formed by the Po River, but then changed their minds and decided to crush the Anzio beachhead and hold the Gustav line with even more reinforcements. Anzio seems to be the guiding concept battle for the later amphibious attack on Inchon during the Korean War. When the Allies found themselves stuck against an extremely defensible position, they opted to go around it to add pressure from multiple sides.
Monte Cassino was that position the Allies were stuck against. I didn't realize that the Allies bombed the monastery, and then the Germans moved in. Moreover, I think the German plan to drop paratroopers in to fortify the ruins of the monastery was a brilliant move. Like was mentioned in the presentation, it seems the Germans realized how defensible rubble can be from their experiences at Stalingrad.

Anzio and Monte Casino

I was amazed at the harshness of the fighting that took place in Italy in regards to the operations at Anzio and Monte Casino. The Allies put much effort into invading the city of Anzio which is apparent by the number and types of forces used. These forces consisted of amphibious infantry, airborne units, and ranger units. I did learn from the presentations that these forces were badly needed in regards to the resistance that the Germans placed before them.
I had always thought that the raid on Monte Casino resulted in the Germans suffering greater casualties. The presentations again educated me on the right path by showing that the Allies had around 50,000 casualties. It was ironic that the bombing of the structure provided the Germans an advantage of getting to fight with better cover and concealment. This also was a strong example of collateral damage in World War 2 with the Monte being eliminated because of the combat that transpired.

Anzio and Monte Cassino

The presentations over Anzio and Monte Cassino were great. I did not realize that they had played a key role in trying to pull eastern German troops into southern Europe. Also it was interesting to hear about the fighting that took place in Italy. This information often gets left out when talking or learning about World War 2. Furthermore I did not realize so many soldiers died from non combat injuries due to trench warfare and other reasons. One thing I might have missed though was where were the Italian forces? Were they mostly defeated or were they just part of the German armies and under their command?

March 24-26: Fortress Europe

Class Cancelled Monday March 24

Dear Students,

Class is cancelled for Monday March 24. You have an extension of your break to work on your critical reviews and your research papers.

Our schedule will be pushed back a day, including all the presentations. Those presentations scheduled for Monday will go on Wednesday. Those scheduled for Wednesday will be pushed to the following Monday, repeat until the end of the semester.

We will have class on Monday April 28 which was previously scheduled as a day off.

Best,
Lon Strauss

Maria Gonzalez - Presentations on 3/10/08

I really thought it was interesting how the specific medications had benefits and side effects as influential as they were.  Medical problems were as much of a problem or more of a problem than the opposing armies.  I had not realized that medical advances had such a large impact on the soldiers.  Before this presentation I just thought that medical problems were just something that soldiers dealt with, but I now know that it was more difficult than just dealing with the medical problems.  I also thought it was interesting in how liberally the sulfa drugs and penicillin was used.  

Herman Goering was most interesting to me for his art fascination.  His huge collection distracted him from his military life.  I thought it was quite interesting that he was able to have a distraction like this and he was still able to have his political love with Hitler.  He was even close enough to become Hitler's heir.  I wonder what he might have been able to do if he had not had this art collection and distraction.  If he were more focused on his military goals he would probably caused more damage to the innocent victims.