weather

I thought the lecture this week showed an interesting point that is often overlooked and that is the weather. The weather in Operation Overlord played an important role in the Allies securing the beaches on D-Day. One has to wonder how Rommel would have reacted if he was present to direct the battle from the beginning and if his troops where prepared could the Allies have succeeded? In addition, I thought the lecture shows that the Allies planned on the strategic level, which was different from the Germans. Their long term planning helped them win on D-Day because they thought of every possible problem and at least had some sort of solution before hand (i.e. Mulberry harbor) unlike their German counterparts in the invasion of Russia.

Presentations

Anzio I thought was interesting because the Allies landed unopposed but they failed to make their drive towards Rome. To me it seems like that Allies again lost a chance to break the German's back in Italy. They failed because they were being too cautious and when they finally did break out they missed the chance to capture a retreating army. I have to wonder what would have happened if the Allies had captured Rome shortly after the landing how that would have changed the war?

After the presentation I believe that Monte Casino should have never taken place because of the terrain the Allies had to overcome, especially when field commanders suggested it be by passed. In addition, I feel that the battle gave the Allies a black eye because they bombed the monastery when the Germans were not using it at all for their defenses. The presentation to me showed the battle of Monte Casino did not play any major role in the war besides just increasing the casualties count on both sides.

Presentations

I thought the presentation of Monte Casino was really interesting. I had heard of the battle but didn't realize that it was made up of four different battles. I had also never thought about how much terrain and weather play into winning battles. The Germans had a big advantage by being in the mountains instead of the valleys like the Allies.

Overlord

I find it great how the Allies were able to decieve the Germans with planning and coordination.  The Allies knew of the unwillingness of the Nazis to adapt to change planning and took advantage of it.  For example, after the Allies had landed in Normandy, the Axis still believed that the larger invasion would occur at Calais.  This unwillingness to adapt was the Achilles heal to Nazi war planning and led to their eventual downfall.

Overlord

I didn't know that overlord was the largest invasion ever. It does fit though, the largest war ever with the largest invasion ever in attempts to turn the tide in europe. They coordinated it with what was happening in italy. I thought it was interesting that they set up and took all the time and effort into tricking the Germans. How did Eisenhower feel about being in charge of such an operation? It was a brilliant manuever though.

Anzio and Cassino seemed to be a little similar. They both contained lots of troops and also had a lot of the same problems for both sides. I think the bombing of the Abbey was just an unafortunate side effect of war. Things happen like that in every war, especially when they weren't very accuatate back then. I thought they were really interesting presentations though.

Presentations and Lecture from Wed.

Wednesday's presentations were well done. It seems like as we get closer to the end of the war, the endurance level of the allies is increasing. The Battle of Monte Cristo is a good example of this. There were four separate battles involved and the allies fought hard in every one of them. They didn't give up even though they were beat back a couple of times. Their growth as soldiers is becoming more and more evident as the semester goes on. Even though I lived in Germany for a while and have seen the differences in cities that were destroyed in the war and cities that were not destroyed, I was still surprised to hear about the destruction of the abbey. This war really was devestating because the world not only lost a huge number of people but also, a lot of art was destroyed or went missing.
In a couple different lectures and presentations it was been said that, sometimes POW's were used to fight for the opposite side. Was there ever a problem with this? Did the Italians, for example, willingly fight for the allies after they surrendered?
I love how well operation overlord worked. The deception that the allies used worked very well and was well planned.

OPERATION OVERLORD

It is amazing to me how the Allies were able to deceive the Germans into believing that there would be an attack on Pays de Calais rather than Normandy.  The fact that the Germans were surprised is a true commendation to the commanders and troops of the Allied forces as they landed the largest amphibious assault of the war at Normandy.