in this case how to stop Blitzkrieg - and that person is likely to still come to the same answer - Tank Destroyers!
No McNair? Probably result in worse US armoured formations in WW2.
Its quite 'funny' when some one who was the main driver of a successful organization is instead only remembered for a perceived fault.
In this case the perceived fault is the TD Doctrine and the lack of 76mm armed shermans which no one in the US Army of any note wanted anyway before June 44!
And the TD Doctrine while only being actually used once in North Africa - did give every Infantry Division a battalion of 30 odd heavily armed very mobile self propelled 3" guns firing a useful HE shell (which was used in a ratio of 11 HE shells fired to 1 AP shell fired in ETO)
Without McNair kicking arse and building up the US Army's armoured formations from sweet frak all then some one else is going to have to do it
And that some one else is going to be presented with the same problems that McNair was in 1940/41 - in this case how to stop Blitzkrieg - and that person is likely to still come to the same answer - Tank Destroyers!
That’s a really good point. While the TD doctrine may not have been the most efficient use of resources, it wasn’t a failure. Those guns got used as infantry assault guns regardless. Meanwhile, the Combat Command oriented US Armored Division was one of the most efficient formations of the war when it came to employing limited armored assets.
.. Devers was an articulate proponent of the Army's now-emerging tactical doctrine of combined arms: infantry-artillery-armor-close air support. ...
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And the TD Doctrine while only being actually used once in North Africa - did give every Infantry Division a battalion of 30 odd heavily armed very mobile self propelled 3" guns firing a useful HE shell (which was used in a ratio of 11 HE shells fired to 1 AP shell fired in ETO)
...
That’s a really good point. While the TD doctrine may not have been the most efficient use of resources, it wasn’t a failure. Those guns got used as infantry assault guns regardless. Meanwhile, the Combat Command oriented US Armored Division was one of the most efficient formations of the war when it came to employing limited armored assets.