In 1939, the Wehrmacht attacked France with a 1:1 ratio in manpower. It took 3 weeks to overrun it.
In 1944, the US and the UK landed with combined force in Normandy and advanced with a 3:1 manpower superiority, with a 5:1 superiority whenever they attacked. They had near complete air superiority. It took them 7 months to conquer France.
That’s Prussian military tradition in action.’
True, but remember that in the attack, all armies suffer a drawback and this applies to both Allied AND German. In 1944 the Germans attacked Bastogne with a 9:1 superiority. In fact, bear in mind that the Germans only launched one actual offensive in the West and that was the Bulge and they experienced the same problems experienced by the Allies.
‘The Dunkerque evacuation was only possible since Hitler panicked and ordered the panzer divisions to halt. A proper surrounding with the following tank shock would have destroyed whatever the British could have used to defend against an invasion.’
Possibly, but don’t forget that the Germans also needed time to regroup and allow their rear-echelon formations time to catch up. It wasn’t entirely Hitler interfering and stopping his forces for long term political reasons.
‘During fall 1941, Hitler ordered his troops to, instead of conquering Moscow, go towards Ukraine and its abundant food stores. Hitler moaned about how his generals don’t understand war economics, while the effects of conquering Moscow would have outweighed Ukraine heavily. The entire railroad network of USSR would have been messed up with the fall of Moscow. The army would have got proper winter shelter. The soldiers’ spirits would certainly have risen, and the Russians would most certainly have felt a huge blow to their morale.’
This is also of interest and is frequently cited. However it was Clark who insisted on a drive for Rome instead of an attempt to cut off retreating German units (after Monte Cassino taken). Clearly a focus on capturing capital cities versus wiping out enemy formations is not always wise.
‘And, most peculiar of all must be the failure to deal with Operation Overlord. Only a few hours’ drive from the beaches, there was a Panzer army which probably could have thrown back at least a few beachheads into the sea. It was though under Hitler’s personal command. At the time of the landing, Hitler was sleeping, and nobody was allowed to wake him up regardless of anything. Consequence? When Hitler finally woke up, several hours had passed and the beachheads were too well fortified to be assaulted.’
Not sure I agree with this. After Salerno and Sicily landings the Allies played hell with German counterattacks with armour. It doesn’t matter how good your panzers are if they put themselves in range of 5 inch Naval guns. Rundstedt and Rommel disagreed about how to defend against D-Day. The former wanted mobile formations in the rear kept out of range of those Allied destroyers, cruisers and battleships- with good reason.