Italian is such a romantic sounding language...Wadda mistake-a da make-a!
Italian is such a romantic sounding language...Wadda mistake-a da make-a!
Seems everyone forgets Moltke.The plan had gone to shit.
So what is the OOB compared to OTL? Allies and Axis do they have the same number of divisions as in OTL, less, or more?
So far we know 2 things:
a) The Allies had more time to plan the invasion compared to the OTL. Regarding planning the one thing I am looking forward to see is if the planning covered the capture of Messina. In OTL the invasions plans didn't cover when, how and by whom Messina would be captured, or any plans to attempt to close the straits. (source . An interesting conversation back a couple of years regarding the evacuation through the Messina straits is this one https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/allies-cut-the-strait-of-messina-retreat.425866/.
b) The Allies have quite a bit heavier carrier-based air support than OTL. More CVs and CVLs in the RN, USN even the Marine Nationale.
The US is running slightly ahead of OTL. Equipment production started slightly earlier from a higher level of the industrial base. National Guard divisions that were not ready for combat deployment until H1 1944 are becoming available. This includes 28th Infantry Division which in OTL landed in France mid-July 1944 and participated in Operation COBRA
at least another field army.
If we combine these facts along with the earlier introduction in the ETO of the National Guard divisions and the earlier victory in the Battle of the Atlantic then it seems to me that the Allies have the equivalent of 3 extra field armies in the ETO. Full armies mind you. My dear @fester, it seems you have something coming for us readers...
Lastly, although I sincerely thank you for the informative and detailed reply, I apologize for not making myself clear: I wanted to ask about the OOB in Sicily specifically.
Going way back to the dawn of Keyne's Cruisers (The Original Series ), the starting premise was the economic boost of additional ships. With that initial move, it seems to me, there's bound to be a bit of a lag on the manpower and manpower administration side. In effect, hardware supply exceeded manpower demand for a bit? At this point of the war, the elastic of manpower has bounced back?
Going way back to the dawn of Keyne's Cruisers (The Original Series ), the starting premise was the economic boost of additional ships. With that initial move, it seems to me, there's bound to be a bit of a lag on the manpower and manpower administration side. In effect, hardware supply exceeded manpower demand for a bit? At this point of the war, the elastic of manpower has bounced back?
Read the last paragraph of the prologue. That was an army POD
July 11, 1937 Washington DC
House Majority Leader William Bankhead (D-AL) hid a sigh of relief as the last hand had been shaken, the last promise made, the last eyebrow raised. The current Emergency Relief Appropriations Act would go through the House in the morning and then through the Senate early the following week. The act would authorize $2.5 billion in emergency relief spending, a significant cut from the $4.8 billion spent in 1935 and 1936 on the Works Project Administration. Only $1.9 billion was appropriated for the WPA.
The Navy was authorized to build one more Yorktown class carrier with work to be started as soon as practicable. Nine cruisers, three repeats of the Wichita heavy cruiser and six slightly modified St. Louis light cruisers would be laid down over the next three years. Twenty four new destroyers of the latest 1500 ton class were authorized in addition to the regular naval appropriation. Sixty older destroyers would be brought in for significant overhauls at smaller, non-federally owned yards. Finally, Senator Milton’s (D-NJ) vote had been secured when the Navy agreed to subsidize sixteen tankers for Standard Oil.
The Army appropriation had been a long and vicious fight. Congress would approve and fund a new square infantry division but the four infantry regiments and associated support battalions would not be concentrated. Current formations would be sent overseas as soon as the new units were raised. One infantry regiment would reinforce the Philippines, another would go to Hawaii, a third would go to Panama and the last regiment was being penciled in for Puerto Rico. The infantry branch also lost sole control over tanks as the cavalry wanted to convert a pair of horse regiments into a tank brigade
I remember the post about the Commonwealth, French, Polish and Greek units.
En 1942, le général de Gaulle, considérant comme important que des soldats français servent sur tous les fronts de la guerre, décide d'engager des forces sur le front de l'Est. Le général de Gaulle envisage tout d'abord d'envoyer une division mécanisée (la future 1re division française libre du général de Larminat) sur le front de l'Est, mais l'opposition anglaise, ajoutée aux difficultés de ce projet, et l'avis du général Valin, commandant des Forces aériennes françaises libres, le font opter pour l'envoi d'une unité aérienne en lieu et place d'une division.
So my question is, will the GC 3 Normandie go to the Eastern Front or will an equipment starved French army send a division in Russia?
Ternate, Luzon May 3, 1943
(snip) The tacit ceasefire of incapacity was ending.
The relevant question is with what resources?Does this change in the relative status-quo goad the Japanese into responding in some way?
The relevant question is with what resources?
The Japanese Luzon garrison could, if amply supplied with artillery shells that are either in Manchuko, China or used on the Kra Isthmus, might be able to grind their way through the defensive lines at the cost of gutting their core capacity to defend the rest of the islands against the highly likely Fall 1943/Winter 1944 invasion.