"The 8 Worst Mistakes Made by the Allies During World War II" Topic

"Hindsight is 20/20, especially when it comes to second guessing the harrowing decisions that have to be made during wartime. But sometimes we have to be critical, if we hope to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. With that in mind, here are the most egregious blunders made by the Western Allies during the Second World War…"
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Amicalement
Armand

There are big differences between mistakes and failures. Market Garden failed, but who are we to judge, 70 years on, that it was a mistake. We can write histories, but we can never see things through the eyes of those who were there. Everything else is just opinion, some of which is very informed opinion but opinion nonetheless.

Sir Liddell Hart, who interviewed the primary participants in Market Garden (and much of WWII), also thinks it was an ill-conceived mistake.

I was just using Market Garden as an example, but did Eisenhower and Montgomery think it a failure or a mistake. Like I said, everyone else just has opinions. Judging from the books I've read, I'd say it was a gamble that most people were willing to make to end the war, but it failed. Liddell Hart says it was a mistake. Both just opinions.

Actually Market Garden was one of the most successful operations of the war, the problem was that it needed to be 100%, 90% didn't cut it for once, and that was the weakness.

I agree mate, but I was just using Market Garden as an example of the dangers of looking at things through our modern eyes. Too many people take opinion as fact.

Success cancels everything; had any of the gambles like Market Garden or Anzio paid off, we'd be talking about how brilliant they were. It's worth noting that hardly any of the Allied mistakes were as bad or decisive as Axis mistakes.

I'm very much taken aback at one of the closing remarks, that some people think it was a "mistake" not to race the Soviets to Berlin (what, so the Anglo-Americans could have suffered hundreds of thousands of needless casualties in the battle for that city? Which had been pledged to the Soviet occupation area anyway?) or to launch World War Three immediately by attacking the Russian armies in Germany. That's curiously exactly what the Nazis wanted to happen! Anyway, where did the notion come from that not starting WWII was a "mistake?" It's like the revenge of Patton's ghost.

Anzio was an atrocious place to invade, farther up the Italian peninsula would have reeked havoc on the German defenses.

Haven't looked at link yet but recently saw a program on Market/Garden and it was explained it did achieve most of its objective and the 90% did help a lot of people.
Anzio was a disaster
The Sitzkreig war era is easier to understand if one thinks about the horror of WWI.
Dieppe was a tragedy but maybe a necessary one with lessons learned.

Yes biggest mistake was not to push into Germany whilst it was fighting Poland.

Then we should have one in France 1940. BTW I went to the Ardennes to see the route of the German invasion. Horrible terrain to attack through. Narrow roads through woody hills with lots of bridges to cross.

In the West

The Normandy battles actually developed pretty well as envisioned. They lasted long enough to fray some nerves.

The logistical planning for the invasion and post onvasion were superb. However, nobody thought too far beyond the middle of France. So once the get to eastern France and Belgium, then how do we supply them? The logistics put a critical stranglehold on the ccampaign. A little more resources and support for the channel ports and Antweerp may have helped.

Market garden, as has already been mentioned an all or nothing attempt. It does give food for thought on the view that Montgomery was a slow fixed attack and incrementalist ind of guy.

Italy
Anzio, hesitation kills.

Clarks' drive to be the liberator of Rome, when he might have been ablle to have trapped a German army instead.

The stripping away of resources for the invasion of southern France. In hinsight Dragoon may have been irelevant to the outcome of the liberation of france given the speed of the advance. It hindered the Italain campaign incredibly. yet despite having fewer resources than the germans they stillmaintained the offensives.

Changing the long practised plan for the defense of the Philipines on the eve of the invasion.

Never etting the army navy and air force to sit down to seriously talk about the defense of Malaya and Singapore.

Bombing from Chinese bases and not expecting the Japanese to react by attacking deeper into China.

Beleieve it or not, I think that what were considered to be gross mistakes in the Mediterrainian and the Desert actually benefitted the allies for the most part.

Diversion of resources to Greece, Syria, Iraq, Persia, Ethiopia and Somalia may have prolonged the campaign. However it was probably necessary in the long run to get the experience for the troops,nevermind the technical and weapon develoment that accompanied the time. I suspect an allied invasion in 1943 to have been an unmitigated disaster.

The biggest mistake of the Mediterranian would have been the attempt to go back to Leros and to retake some Greek islands with absolutely no support or cooperation from any one else..

I think I'd define a "mistake" as an unforced error. Basically, you decide to do something (for whatever reason) that isn't your smartest move. It could result in a defeat on the battlefield or perhaps a success which gains you nothing of importance. A "Failure" is a move which doesn't work either because of poor execution on your part, or due to the enemy's reaction.

In regards to the much discussed Operation Market-Garden, I think those who declare it to be a 90% (or whatever) success are failing to see the nature of Market-Garden. The purpose of the operation was open a route into Germany which would end the war in 1944. That was how Montgomery conceived it and that was how he sold it to Eisenhower. In early September 1944 it seemed like victory was within reach, but supply problems were causing the great offensive to grind to a halt. The only reserve the Allies had (or actually, the only reserve which could be committed to the fight--there were divisions piling up in Normandy and England which couldn't be sent forward because there was no way to supply them) were the airborne divisions. Montgomery and Eisenhower hoped that using them in Holland would jump-start the offensive and allow them to make that final push into Germany and end the war. That was the objective. And that was the ONLY objective that mattered. Only a 100% success meant anything. Anything less was a 100% failure.

The Brits defend market garden to the end without reason, a child could figure out that an advance this size down a single road is simply ludicrous

Agree that Market Garden was a failed operation…

Amicalement
ARmand