The book An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943 gives the reader valuable insight into the campaign in North Africa in 1942-1943 for both Allied and the German forces. The narrative follows the American and British armies as they fought the Vichy French in Morocco and Algiers, and then later when they fight the Germans and the Italians for Tunisia. The novel follows the inexperienced and ill-led soldiers from battle to battle as they gradually become a more cohesive and deadly fighting force. This novel also centers around the almost mythical but also flawed commanders who dominate the battlefield and write their names in the history books: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel. The author, Patrick Atkinson, lays out a spectacular narrative on what was happening during Operation Torch and in the North African Campaign. In analyzing the narrative, the author’s main points consist of the Allies (American and British) and German strategy/thinking during the campaign. The other main points consist of the ally defeats and failures during the campaign which resulted in them having to re-strategize and rethink of how to defeat the Nazi forces under the command of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel. All of this cumulates to his important main point, which was that the Allies gained enough vital experience from their past defeats to win the overall campaign. There are parallels and tie-ins fro this book that correspond to the readings that we have had to do
Secondly, I want to discuss if the skepticism from the British and Americans had anything to do with Canada’s stationed positions away from combat. British 8th army division has a high reputation in the African campaign and had included two inexperienced Canadian divisions into Operation Husky. Even with Canada’s prior engagements, the British army did not exclude them from the operation. Canada’s participation changed the perspective of their allies and placed them as a center role in the invasion. There is still the skeptical premise I will address in my paper to explore how Canadian soldier’s role alongside its allies changed their views throughout the invasion.
General Dwight Eisenhower was the commander of the landing in northern Africa and the supreme commander of the Allied forces in Western Europe during World War II. Although nervous about the weather conditions of the planned Operation Overlord, with great courage, he sent off his troops to battle. His great speech before the battle and the responsible character displayed by a note in case of failure moved the hearts of American citizens praying for victory; he already displayed strong, charismatic leadership. He oversaw the great success of the Normandy invasion and the liberation of Western Europe. On May 7, 1945, onwards, he commanded the US occupation zone in Germany, accepting Germany’s unconditional
Dennis Showalter delivers a highly factual and almost comical biography on Patton and Rommel, two of history’s most decisive and inspirational military leaders of World War I and World War II in a manner that not only intrigues the reader but also tells the tale of these two historical generals. Showalter conducted extensive research into the lives and tales of both Patton and Rommel which becomes evident through his comfort in telling each generals story. Showalter’s ease in telling their stories is a testament to his abounding knowledge of the two and his almost supernatural presence in their timelines. Showalter strategically emplaces humor as a tool to break up the monotony of the constant stream of information that bashes the reader concerning
Having proposed that military history has been failing in its duty, Keegan then continues to demonstrate how it should be done. The battles of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme are the main interests of the book; these battles took place centuries apart and all involved British armies. He examines, in detail, which aspects of war changed or remain constant between the three battles. Keegan brilliantly and
The book Eisenhower’s Armies focuses on the interactions between the British and American armies during World War II. Its purpose is to show the incredible amount of tension that existed between the two armies and that despite threatening to tear the alliance apart on several occasions they were able to maintain a working relationship and win the war. However, the book isn’t just about World War II, it also contains the history of relations between the two armies from the French and Indian War to the First World War. It also contains how the members of the two armies viewed each other and what they learned from each other. While the book is interesting to read and is very informative it contains several historical errors.
In December of 1944 the Germans started their advancement on the region, and on 16th December would mark the start of the 10-day battle for Ardennes region. During this paper, we will be discussing the events that unfolded, and how this battle became known as the turning point of the war. In the end of this you will have a clear understanding of how the German attack, German advance stall, impact of the war, and equipment and tactics were crucially to the United States and Allies success during World War II. So now that I have given you some general back ground on the Battle of Elsenborn we will continue to enlighten you on the events that unfolded during this battle, in hope that you find this article as informative as we have. Remember the following during this essay (Fuller, n.d.) “Artillery conquers and infantry occupies”.
In 1943 the British and American Allies shared a common language and a common enemy, but they disagreed on the war’s grand strategy. (site) General George Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, wanted to conduct a cross channel invasion bringing the fight directly to the Germans. Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, wanted to fight in the edges of the Axis territory and exploit the soft underbelly of Southern Europe. (site) These strategic differences culminated in the Sicily Campaign, where the Allies’ command and control function, in many cases, proved to be inadequate to consistently integrate joint functions at the operational level, as it failed to ensure all senior leaders adhered to the three key attributes for Mission Command and,
The Allied Powers, during World War II, recognized the only way to achieve a decisive victory was to work in conjunction, and utilize one another’s strengths and assets. However, Great Britain and the United States had differing views on the proper strategy. The United States believed concentrating its power at the earliest possible moment to attack an enemy’s critical center of gravity was the appropriate course of action (Greenfield, 1963, p. 25). The United States desired to conduct a cross channel amphibious assault and securing the French coastline from German forces. Great Britain viewed American strategy, operations, and tactics as reckless and inexperienced (Greenfield, 1963, p. 43). Winston Churchill preferred his forces to concentrate their efforts in the Mediterranean and North Africa, through more cautious engagements, to preserve economic stability in the region, while allowing the Russians to fight Germany directly and weaken German resolve. Successful unified operations in the Mediterranean were necessary, prior to conducting the cross channel invasion, in order to provide the Allies with increased strategic advantages, as well as increased faith in the commitment to combined war efforts. First, the United States needed to prove to Britain that its military forces were able to plan and execute disciplined combined operational
The book D-Day Through German Eyes is a book that goes over the events of June 6th or “D-Day”, but in a view that is often forgotten. The author Holger Eckhertz puts together many journals of his grandfather’s work. Holger’s grandfather, Dieter Eckhertz was a military journalist during World War Two, he wrote for many German magazines and other military publications. He interviewed many people during the World War 2. Later on the 10th anniversary of D-Day, Dieter Eckhertz decided to track down multiple German soldiers who survived the invasion of Normandy and interview their recollection of D-Day. He then wanted compile all of these interviews into a book, but in 1955 Dieter Eckhertz died and the book was not completed. Then the materials
In 1943 the British and American Allies shared a common language, common enemy, but they disagreed on the war’s grand strategy and struggled building mutual trust in each others’ motives and capabilities. (site) These differences and struggles culminated in the Sicily Campaign, Operation Husky, which provides a luminous and cautionary example of the pitfalls of joint warfare. At the heart of Husky’s struggles stood the Allied dysfunctional Mission Command war-fighting function and it’s inability to coordinate joint FIRES and Sustainment war-fighting function. The Allied Mission Command function failed to ensure all senior commanders understood Commander’s intent and the problem (and opportunity) present in Sicily, and most importantly, they
Historical writings have evolved from procedural accounts of events to inquisitive reflections on combatants. Focusing on weapons, strategies and generals’ perspectives the procedural approach quickly provides in-depth information, but often in a distorted way 1. It is important to remember a commander’s actions and the events of their battles are often exaggerated to support current political goals . Alternately, a slightly more encompassing approach to warfare considers the conflict’s decisiveness in addition to the battle’s statistics and facts 1. That is to say, what influence did the battle have on future events and how were people’s lives changed by it. Beyond these procedural approaches, modern historians now use a more inquisitive method that combines personal experiences and facts. This more inclusive method allows
Many figures we know of today served in WWII. One of those individuals is the famous Erwin Rommel, one of Germany’s best generals.Rommel is renowned for his leadership of the legendary Afrika Korps and his incredible use of ambush and Blitzkrieg, or lightning war,tactics. History has solidified Rommel as a great leader and has earned the respect of both friends and foes and is notorious today due to the diversity of the forces that made up the “Afrika Korps ”,the success he achieved in the Africa campaign, the overwhelming forces he fought against,the battles he raged, and the events that led to his death.
The poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” uses many elements of writing to give the reader a better understanding of what happened. Some of the things that helped me understand what happened in the story was the use of repetition, order, point of view, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Three of the main elements that assisted me in realizing the real events in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson are the use of repetition, point of view, and vocabulary.
British and American historians have covered the Normandy invasion extensively, and one therefore wonders if there is any need for another treatment of the campaign. In Normandy: The Landings to the Liberation of Paris, Olivier Wieviorka demonstrates that there is indeed room for new interpretations of this much-covered subject. Wieviorka, a professor of history at the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, covers every aspect of the Normandy invasion: politics and grand strategy, economic production, the formation and training of military forces, air and naval power, intelligence, logistics, deception, tactical operations, the French resistance, the impact of the war on soldiers and civilians, and other topics all come under his penetrating analysis. Well researched from both primary and secondary sources and exceptionally well written (and translated, one might add), Normandy belongs on the bookshelves of all serious historians of World War II. Aside from its appeal to the serious scholar of military history, Wieviorka’s readable prose makes Normandy just as suitable to the general reader interested in the history of Operation Overlord and the momentous events that transpired in Great Britain and France in the spring and summer of 1944.
At the 2014 International Conference on World War II held in New Orleans, Louisiana on 6 December, Dr. Roger Cirillo, Director, Book Programs at the Association of United States Army, was asked to speak on the Allied Forces’ strategy to defeat Germany in the fall of 1944. Dr. Cirillo, pulling no punches, questioned the intellect of General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s decision to employ a ‘broad-front’ approach against German forces scattered throughout Europe in late 1944. It was on this issue Eisenhower was at odds with British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery who supported quite a different strategy that would have instead concentrated allied power against Germany’s industrial base utilizing a ‘single-thrust’ attack. A hotly contested debate still today, there is no shortage of opinion concerning the two different strategies. Dr. Cirillo is unmistakably an admirer of British military thinking and how the war may have been influenced by concentrating allied efforts on German centers of gravity, as proposed by Montgomery. Obviously dismissive of the larger U.S. objectives and perhaps narrow-mindedly taking strong opposition to Eisenhower’s broad-front strategy given his British military school training, Dr. Cirillo’s criticism of Eisenhower fails to account for the positive effects of denying the enemy large swaths of territory, American and British public opinion at the time, and efforts to maintain Soviet assistance in the war, and differing thoughts on Germany’s