1. "The irony of it all is that the Soviet empire is largely one of our own creation."
General Albert C. Wedemeyer, (one of the war's senior strategists,)
How so?
2. Franklin Roosevelt was in thrall of the far more brilliant, Joseph Stalin. The aims of the Roosevelt administration included turning over at least half of the continent of Europe to Stalin's tender mercies at the war's end.
Yeah....that's a fact.
3. Pivotal to this endeavor was the insistence that the Allied attack on Fortress Europa had to be via Normandy, the northwestern edge of the continent, and not the more logical southern vantage, Italy.
The Allies owned Italy: what sense to leave the continent to re-invade the continent?
a. In Kerry-like terms, General Eisenhower 'was for the Italy invasion before he voted against it.'
Of course, the received an extra star for changing his view.
4. Let's go back to that time: many in government and many analysts saw the communist control of the Roosevelt administration, and warned of dire outcomes, outcomes that have come to pass. The hope was that the Allies would defeat Germany and take control of post-war Europe.
The Left needed central Europe left to the Red Army, and, therefore beat the drum for a Normandy invasion.
5. Get a sense of the time from the NYTimes...
" ALLIED FRONT IN ITALY NOT SO FAR FROM REICH; In Other Words, It Is Just as Close to Germany From Any Peninsula Point As It Is From Dnieper THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE"
By EDWIN L. JAMES
September 12, 1943
Pay Articles from September 1943 Part 4 - Site Map - The New York Times
6. The point made by the Times' Russia correspondent was that the distance from the toe of Italy to Germany's southern border was about the same as from Russia's western edge, the Dnieper River, and Germany's eastern border.
So, if the Allies proceeded from Italy, "the British and Americans are in a position to get to Germany just as rapidly as are the Russians." And, he opined, there was no longer reason for concern among "those addicted especially to worry about Moscow government's role in post war affairs..." and that "Moscow would gain control of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and France."
You see, the cognoscenti understood the threat of a growing communism.
So....no danger.....unless, of course, Roosevelt and Stalin abandoned Italy and invaded via northwestern France.....
7. Poor Edwin James.....he continues: "The point is that the political implications of the Russians having the only army ready to march into a deflated Nazi Reich no longer exist. So far as geographical considerations go, Americans, British, and Russians all have a chance."
Ibid.
If he read that, Stalin would have laughed so hard, he would have burst a коронарной артерии!
General Albert C. Wedemeyer, (one of the war's senior strategists,)
How so?
2. Franklin Roosevelt was in thrall of the far more brilliant, Joseph Stalin. The aims of the Roosevelt administration included turning over at least half of the continent of Europe to Stalin's tender mercies at the war's end.
Yeah....that's a fact.
3. Pivotal to this endeavor was the insistence that the Allied attack on Fortress Europa had to be via Normandy, the northwestern edge of the continent, and not the more logical southern vantage, Italy.
The Allies owned Italy: what sense to leave the continent to re-invade the continent?
a. In Kerry-like terms, General Eisenhower 'was for the Italy invasion before he voted against it.'
Of course, the received an extra star for changing his view.
4. Let's go back to that time: many in government and many analysts saw the communist control of the Roosevelt administration, and warned of dire outcomes, outcomes that have come to pass. The hope was that the Allies would defeat Germany and take control of post-war Europe.
The Left needed central Europe left to the Red Army, and, therefore beat the drum for a Normandy invasion.
5. Get a sense of the time from the NYTimes...
" ALLIED FRONT IN ITALY NOT SO FAR FROM REICH; In Other Words, It Is Just as Close to Germany From Any Peninsula Point As It Is From Dnieper THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE"
By EDWIN L. JAMES
September 12, 1943
Pay Articles from September 1943 Part 4 - Site Map - The New York Times
6. The point made by the Times' Russia correspondent was that the distance from the toe of Italy to Germany's southern border was about the same as from Russia's western edge, the Dnieper River, and Germany's eastern border.
So, if the Allies proceeded from Italy, "the British and Americans are in a position to get to Germany just as rapidly as are the Russians." And, he opined, there was no longer reason for concern among "those addicted especially to worry about Moscow government's role in post war affairs..." and that "Moscow would gain control of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and France."
You see, the cognoscenti understood the threat of a growing communism.
So....no danger.....unless, of course, Roosevelt and Stalin abandoned Italy and invaded via northwestern France.....
7. Poor Edwin James.....he continues: "The point is that the political implications of the Russians having the only army ready to march into a deflated Nazi Reich no longer exist. So far as geographical considerations go, Americans, British, and Russians all have a chance."
Ibid.
If he read that, Stalin would have laughed so hard, he would have burst a коронарной артерии!
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