Quote:
Originally Posted by natehale1971
I remember all the cons that showed how bad that a southern assault through the Balkans would have been, but I swear that I had read smowhere that the soft underbelly of Europe that Churchill was talking about was suppose to be an attack through Vichy France, using Sardina and Corsica as bases for forces to land in Southern France.
That they'd be able to push in and cut Germany off from Northern Italy and get to the Rhine, cutting German Occupation forces along the Atlantic Seaboard off from supplylines with the Fatherland. This would have been followed by the Normandy Landings when the Germans were focused on the Southern Offensive that was pushing towards the Rhine.
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Churchill was mostly opposed to the southern France landings in August 44, as that took forces away from the Italian campaign. What he wanted was more operations in Italy and the Balkans, for two reasons. One was to block future Soviet penetration of the Balkans, the other was to try to break into Germany from the south. He spoke of the Ljubljana Gap, and sending the Eighth Army's mechanized forces (pretty formidable, actually) through there. This was his "soft underbelly."
Churchill (and several of his military chiefs) was also opposed to the Normandy landings, because they knew it was something of a gamble, and that the British Empire had only one shot at it-- their armies had been bled out, and would be losing strength over time. If it failed, they'd be unable to meaningfully affect the war. Attacking the enemy where he has strength is usually a bad idea if you have waning strength yourself.
IMO, attacking the Balkans is bad idea.This is based on some map study, and a bit of wargaming. You know those supply shortages the W.Allies had in the autumn of 1944, when Patton famously outran his supply lines? One key culprit there was the damage inflicted on the French rail net by the Allied air forces. Compare the state of the French rail net, with the air campaign, to the far less developed Balkan railnet, with bombing and Yugoslav partisans. Then add in in all of the effects of dealing with those partisans, other ethnic militias, and so on. Then add in the fact that the Allies would be pushing through mostly rough terrain, against the Germans who had proved themselves to be no slouches at defense. Result? The Soviets still get to Berlin, and France is un-liberated.
As for shooting up the Italian peninsula and making a right turn at Trieste, it could work, IMO, only if the Allies had made better northward progress before the winter of '43-44 set in, and continued to make such progress in the spring of '44. If Anzio hadn't been a stalemate for several months, maybe that could have done the trick, but it's hard to make that happen. Either way, you're again trying to shove a big armored corps through the southern foothills of the Alps to try to get to Vienna, leaving a long flank exposed to those same mountains. If you get there before the winter of '44-45, and If you can get through the "Gap," and IF you have the Americans and French to cover that flank, Maybe you get to Vienna by Christmas. And Maybe you invite the Germans to throw the forces that went to the Ardennes in December to descend on Austria instead.
What I haven't seen done, and might work in a game someday, is the part about cutting off the Germans in Italy by cutting across the top of the peninsula from the southern France landings. If those Germans are removed from the OB, then maybe a shove east could work out.
All of the above is again, my opinion as a wargamer.