Battle of Metz

The Metz presentation was well done. Despite the fact that the region/city could have been bypassed, it really is a testament to tasks getting accomplished through sheer force of will. Patton's 3rd Army was short on supplies, short on fuel and still was able to get the job done. Absolutely amazing.

American training

I thought it was interesting to learn about American training for Operation Overlord. I thought it was interesting how ill prepard the troops were trained for battle once they were on the contintent. However, even without proper training it was great that troops were able to make due with what they had as it had to have been incredibly difficult and frustrating.

Battle of Metz

The most interesting thing about the Battle of Metz was that I had never herd of it. This was stated by the presenter who informed us that very little mention is given to this battle by the mainstream of U.S. History. I can see why that this battle is hardly mentioned with regards to it being such a costly and perhaps foolish military operation on the Western Front. I was not even aware of such fortifications being in existance in this location either. I thought that the Germans were only able to use the urban areas that were in between them and the Allies. It was a good call of them to recycle the resources that were in the old Magino Line.

Eisenhower

General Eisenhower was by far one of the greatets leaders the U.S. has ever had. I was interested by him starting the war out in the Pacific with McCarthur and then moving his way to the Atlantica by commanding SHAEF. He had much responsiblity considering that his command was joint by leading the the many nations who were fighting the Germans well before the U.S. entered the war. His conduct proves that he executed this job well.
Another point of interest was how he had to ballance the action on the Western Front between Monty and Patton. He showed reasonable leadership by permitting Monty to take the main action on this front opposed to Patton at times. An example being the Market Garden Campaign in which military resources were allocated to Monty's forces opposed to Bradely and Patton in the South.

presentations

I appreciate your all's comments on my presentation. I am really glad that I chose to write about "Ike" in respect to all the work he contributed in his lifetime. His ability to achieve a war career, Presidency, and other huge impacts on the United States government is phenominal. I do want to say sorry for my mispronounciation of "Overlord", it was way to early to put me on the spot. But enough about me...
In regards to the presentation on the photographers of World War II I found it very interesting how they put thier lives on the lines to take pictures. The fact that some of them were standing on the front line just for pictures, that is crazy. I do find it sad, however that only eight of these pictures survived. In retrospect, it might have made him more famous, but it still sucks. Anyway good on your presentation. I found it very thoughtful, and I liked how you did something different.

photographers and Eisenhower

The presentation on the photographers of WWII was very interesting. I had previoulsy heard of the censorship of the photographs, but had never seen any examples of what was censored. It is understandable that the US didn't want wounded soldiers shown, but it also gave the American citizens a false sense of the war. The information about colored film was very interesting, I did not realize that it was used mainly for training videos.
Eisenhower seems to have a great career. His participation in Normandy, the Italian campaign, and Operation Overlord seems to have really helped the Allies. I found it interesting that Eisenhower was never in battle during his military career.

Ike and Photographers

It was good in class today to step back a little from all the battles in the European theater and look at some individuals that played major roles in the events of WWII. I thought both presentations were good, especially the one about the photographers. I think it was important to show that propaganda was used by both sides and so was censorship. Too many times we look at all the negatives of the enemy and do not look at our own disappointments. An example of this would be the Japanese internment during the war. However it was cool to see all the equipment that the photographers used and some of the photos that were published and those that were not. As for the presentation on Ike I thought it was good to see how many operations and functions he served during the war. Obviously he was a key part in the Allied victory.