23 de novembro de 2009

Um pequeno apontamento de história

Não conhecia este episódio, mas sabia das críticas ao modo como Eisenhower tinha conduzido a ofensiva alianda em 1944, e que teria contribuído para o adiamento do fim da guerra para o ano seguinte: ele não estava, efectivamente, na mesma divisão de outros grandes generais da IIGG (muito mais do lado dos alemães do que do lado dos aliados):

Op-Ed Contributor - How World War II Wasn’t Won - NYTimes.com: "Sixty-five years ago, in November 1944, the war in Europe was at a stalemate. A resurgent Wehrmacht had halted the Allied armies along Germany’s borders after its headlong retreat across northern France following D-Day. From Holland to France, the front was static — yet thousands of Allied soldiers continued to die in futile battles to reach the Rhine River. One Allied army, however, was still on the move. The Sixth Army Group reached the Rhine at Strasbourg, France, on Nov. 24, and its commander, Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers, looked across its muddy waters into Germany. His force, made up of the United States Seventh and French First Armies, 350,000 men, had landed Aug. 15 near Marseille — an invasion largely overlooked by history but regarded at the time as “the second D-Day” — and advanced through southern France to Strasbourg. No other Allied army had yet reached the Rhine, not even hard-charging George Patton’s.[...]"

Sem comentários: