Thursday, June 7, 2012

Oldest Military Blogger Enlightened


Crossing the Rhine ?

I received an e-mail from Phred, who is a good buddy
and frequent visitor to my Blog. The mail contained
an Op.Ed article published in the N.Y. Times on Nov.23,2009.
He thought it might interest me.
The title "How World War II Wasn't Won" seemed intriguing.
Well it was! And very interesting too!

This type of information that has been secretly
suppressed and hidden away for 40 or 50 odd years.
always interested me because I was there.
This information, about people who we literally
worshipped while they were alive and endeared
in the press and the media, unmasked after.
their demise, with a few dozen words and
a half a dozen plain facts.
Of course witnesses and testimony are always a bonus.
The following is my interpretation of the Contributor
to the Times Op.Ed. Section, David Colley, Author of
"How World War II Wasn't Won"

The 6th Army, led by Lt.Gen. Devers reached
Strasbourgh, France.
He looked across a river to see German territory.
Scouts sent across the river, to determine the
feasibility of crossing this body of water reported
that there were no German defenses and the
pill boxes were not manned.
General Devers had brought the 6th Army Group
from the shores of Marseille to the undefended
Rhine River in 3 months.
His forces of more than 300,000 American and
French troops had landed on the beaches of
Southern France on August 15,1944,in an
unheralded invasion, virtually overlooked
in the battles of World War II and here they were,
ready to cross the Rhine River before the end of
November 1944.
He proceeded to prepare his men and equipment
for the forging of the river while he waited
for his orders.
On Nov.24, General Eisenhower came to see
for himself and instead of ordering LT.Gen. Devers
to take his forces into Germany, he commanded
Devers to engage the enemy further North on
the French side of the Rhine River.
This decision, ridiculed by Gen Patton in his
Memoirs points out that the German Counterattack
ensued, less than 4 weeks later,
with English speaking German soldiers,
in American uniforms,
at Christmas time,
ultimately ended with the Battle of the Bulge
and more than 75,000 Killed,wounded and
the many suffering from Trench foot,
may have never happened.

This post has a direct relation to me and my Brother Moishe.
The war might have ended 6 months sooner and my
Brother would not have had to endure for the rest of his life
with the severe case of Trench Foot so many in the
80th Division earned, South of Bastone, that cruel Winter.

I might add this Quotation from Author,David Colley.
"General Dwight D. Eisenhower's mistake led to one of the
costliest Battles in American History,
the Battle of the Bulge"




10 comments:

CI-Roller Dude said...

It appears that so many of today's Army officers studied lesson on "how to screw things up and get more troops killed"

I witnessed too many stupid blunders in my Army days to think they didn't train the officers to screw things up.

phred3176 said...

I am glad the article inspired you.
Phred

Anonymous said...

eh.. cognitively post..

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Anonymous said...

Dear Blogger.,, atrocities of war!
So much about which we are not informed. "C'est la Vie" is easily said.....but this is pathetic when so
many human lives are at stake!!!

This "cover-up" has been secreted for so many years....thanks to Ken Small for revealing the truth....and
thanks to you for sharing this with your many readers! M

Anonymous said...

It is very interesting for me to read that blog. Thanx for it. I like such topics and everything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.

Anonymous said...

It has been a long time since I last read your accounts of WW II. Thanks, again Sol, for the history lesson...........love ya, Bill and Carole

Pat Tillett said...

Thanks so much for giving us insight into what you experienced.
I'm going to start with your earlier posts.
fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Pretty interesting place you've got here. Thanx for it. I like such topics and anything connected to this matter. BTW, try to add some images :).