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Polish/German/Russian relations [304]
Actually there was a very important battle the Russians won at this period of war.It was the battle for Moscow in 1941 when the german army faced the possibility of a total destruction.(How it managed to survive the winter of 1942 and the soviet counterattack is one of the greatest achievements in military history).
Americans also managed to stop the germans in Tebetha despite the big losses.
The El Alamein battle was won due to the 800 brand new Sherman tanks the americans offered to the 8th english army between the June and September of 1942.Rommel managed to defeat the british in Tobruk although he had less soldiers(only 100.000 were german) and less tanks(only 400 german) and less planes than the british.Very few armies have advanced when the enemy has superior air power.One was the Africa corps against the british.Only 4 german divisions against 12 english,new Zealand and canadian.
The americans ho landed in Omaha had 6.000 casualties in 3 hours due to german mashine guns.English troops faced no resistance at all at Sword and the other places they arrived.Kaen was supposed to be occupied by day 3 after D-day and the british managed to take it over only in August after 2 months of battles against the german PanzerSS divisions.The americans in the same tme managed to encircle the german troops and so the latter had to retry from France to avoid total annihilation.The panzer divisions which fought against the english in Caen had already lost 50-60% of their tanks due to heavy bombardment from american Mustangs P51 on their way to Caen.
They came there after 20 days route but the bristish had not managed to penetrate the front.
You forget to mention that 9th and 10th Panzer divisions were there to relax after the big battles in Normandy and the retreat in France where they lost almost all of their ammunition.They almost had no tanks and they were totally unprepared for the operation.They just happened to be there by luck.
On the other hand the Arnem operation was very carefully planned by the english who wanted to bring a quick end to the war.They sent for it their best troops and had absolute air superiority.
The english delayed the rapid movement of Patton who wanted to encircle the germans in Sicely.The germans managed to get to Italy from Sicely without any losses because the english did not advance fast enough.
They landed to Italy in August 1943 and needed 1 full year to conquer Rome,300 km away.They mrached 300 km in one year the slowest advance in history,Italy proved to be the worst choice,a place without any strategic interest where the ground morphology allowed very few germans to defend effectively.
Stalin proposed the Normandy operation since 1942.English constantly delayed it.Americans wanted to do it in 1943,the english said no,and then said maybe in 1946 or later.Americans became so angry,they threatened the british in order to put an end to the war.Churchill wanted to land in Balkans,not in Normandy but Stalin forbid it to him.He said Balkans will be a political operation,the military operation is in Normandy.
When the germans moved forces from the eastern front to France to fight the allies,the Russians managed to crash them completely.(25 german divisions destroyed in eastern front in the russian offensive of June-July 1944,the russian troops enter the polish borders).
