According to the Green Book, the Vogles fighting was some of the hardest that the Seventh Army had to endure. The 442nd RCT earned most of its decorations in the Vosges (just to one example). I've walked the ground there once and its damned good defensive terrain, almost impassable to vehicle traffic off road and with lots of nasty little ridges and draws to disrupt any advance.
But if I've learned anything from researching military history, its that you will always find conflicting reports on every battle! One battalion can report foot-by-foot defense by well-led defenders and another battalion on the other side of the ridge, gets greeted by swarms of defenders all to ready to surrender. Go figure!
As for dear Winston, I've seen books and articles stating that he argued for or against every decision made in the war. So I have no doubt that we are looking at different views from one of the 20th Centuries premier politicans!
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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