Why do some Americans believe they single handedly won WW2?

[odanny]

I bet you don't even believe your own baloney.

I included a laughing emoji.

 

[meaner gene]

And when we died on the beach at Normandy, was there even 1 French asshole there on the beaches?

You don't even recognize the part the French resistance and French underground played in planning the D-Day invasion.
The midnight paratroop raids to help isolate Normandy from reinforcement. The frontline eyes and ears of the German reaction to the invasion.

 

[rightwinger]

It seems to crop up quite a few times where posters claim everyone would be speaking German if the US hadn't won WW2.

Time for America to get over its WWII nostalgia

It was the nadir of human history, not a Saturday morning cartoon

theweek.com

There's nothing wrong with an interest in history. But the distorted and chauvinist way the war's history has been presented in the popular imagination is a major problem. It's long since time Americans adopted a more realistic and sensible attitude towards World War II.

The greatest error of historical fact in America's popular interpretation of the war is the idea that the United States won it pretty much single-handedly.

So despite actual history, do you still believe America single-handedly won WW2? Why? Is it something school taught you or your parents? Genuinely would like to know.

The USSR did most of the work in beating the Nazis
The US beat Japan mostly by ourselves

 

[rightwinger]

Can you imagine today's republican response to Lend Lease?

"we need to stop supplying the Russians with weapons so they can realize they've lost and surrender to Germany"

If Trump was leading the US in 1940 he would have made a deal with Hitler giving him all captured territory in USSR, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and North Africa

All so the killing would stop

 

[meaner gene]

Aircraft and pilots were constantly bled off the Russian front to defend the homeland. Also the growing need for large caliber anti-aircraft artillery diverted guns that would have helped on the Russian front as tank-killers.

FWIW, the USAAF had more casualties than any other land or naval force in the USA military.

You have it backwards. German resources were sent to the Russian front, and bled from the western front.
The war against Russia was bleeding German resources at unsustainable rates. Germany had to call off the invasion of Britain

Key factors contributing to Germany's failures:

Shifting Priorities:
Hitler's attention shifted to the Eastern Front, and the invasion of the Soviet Union diverted resources and focus away from the British campaign.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Montgomery drove Rommel across most of Africa before the Americans ever engaged him there. Americans often want to paint Montgomery as a prima dona and not all that important to the war effort but those who do that do not appreciate how much the British did contribute to their share of winning that terrible war. But then Brits also naturally look to their own glory without appreciating how much the Americans were also needed.

And yes, if Hitler had not foolishly ordered a Russian campaign in the dead of winter in the middle of it all, seriously draining the German resources and resulting in a decisive Russian victory, the war could have been prolonged much longer.

Competent students of history do not make the mistake of overlooking all contributions to the war..

One fictitious but telling war movie properly grants appreciation to both Brits and Yanks besides being a very entertaining movie is "Where Eagles Dare." Filmed and released in 1968 it isn't a true story and is based on the book by the same name, but it is still a really good movie.

Monty pushed the Afrika Korps back across the Western Desert from El Alamein to Mareth using American supplies and American M-4 Sherman tanks actually taken right from the First Armored Division leaving it to fight the Germans with M-3 Lee tanks. In past offensives without the massive American support the best the British could do was to push the Afrika Korps back to El Agheila before running out of transport and supplies about halfway to Mareth.

 

[odanny]

The reason Operation Barbarossa didn't take place before the winter hit is because of the heroic resistance of the Greeks for which Hitler had to divert his troop to the southern flanks in Mussolini's failure. In fact, Hitler once uttered, "Let it not be said that the Spartans fought like Greeks, but the Greeks fought like Spartans."

There are few higher words that could be uttered by the victorious than that.

Hitler was more worried about the appearance of weakness rather than weakness itself, he could have left Greece alone and it would have only bruised the pride of Mussolini. He did the same in Stalingrad when it was obliterated and posed no strategic value. Instead he lost the entire 6th Army there trying to capture it.

The delay of Barbarossa could have been significant, considering just how close German forces got to Red Square in 1941. Would another month meant they would have taken the capital? Stalin was initially frozen in fear and only at the last minute did any preparation for an evacauation take place. Winter was the deciding factor in stopping the advance.

 

[The Irish Ram]

British Empire and all that.

The ones we kicked all the way back across the Ocean...

 

[The Irish Ram]

This is a situation the US, and frankly all other countries haven't prepared for. No nation is capable of producing the number of 5th generation fighter aircraft that would support an all out war. Both sides would expend their inventory in weeks or months, with replacements not being manufactured in sufficient numbers for years.

The instruments of war were so much simpler back then. Today if you can't get the microchips from Taiwan, military manufacturing couldn't produce the first rate smart weapons.

You are right, and it is one of the things that Trump is changing. He wants us self-sufficient. And he is right.

 

[meaner gene]

You are right, and it is one of the things that Trump is changing. He wants us self-sufficient. And he is right.

I believe Biden out "Trumped" Trump with the chips act.

 

[otto105]

Why are Brits such fags now if they were so badass back then? Hmm?
Our societies are not the same. Yours came from Feudal Lords and Monarchies and ours came from people that went out to the ass end of nowhere and built a thriving civilization with just tools, vision, and drive. We are not the same.
We told Brits to fuck off over 200 years ago. And made them.
UK was responsible for the firebombing of Dresden, as I recall. Something tells me your Commie indoctrination in the UK schools left out a lot of the history we were taught. The schools have been commiefied in the UK since the late 1970s
grinding out compliant mushheads, of which you probably are one. I can't fix 12 years of indoctrination, sorry.
Brits did some fighting in N.Africa, too.

Posted like a white old man who has claimed “those damn Democratic wars” then takes credit for them.

Posted like an old white man whitewashing history.

Posted like an old white man whining about everything was better in the past. Like getting measles and TB to make assholes again.

 

[meaner gene]

The CHIPS and Science Act is a US federal law enacted in 2022 that aims to bolster the domestic semiconductor industry and foster innovation in science and technology. It includes $52 billion in funding for semiconductor incentives,

The Act also includes an investment tax credit for semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the US.

 

[The Irish Ram]

You don't even recognize the part the French resistance and French underground played in planning the D-Day invasion.
The midnight paratroop raids to help isolate Normandy from reinforcement. The frontline eyes and ears of the German reaction to the invasion.

I don't overlook it. Especially the boldness of the Russians. All the allies played a part. As did the courageous resistance. But, if you put all of them together, and remove America from the group, they would have lost.

 

[meaner gene]

Impact and Goals:
Revitalizing Domestic Semiconductor Production:
.
The Act aims to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the US, reducing reliance on foreign countries and strengthening the US supply chain.
Creating Jobs:
.
It is expected to create numerous jobs in the semiconductor industry and related fields.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

The USSR did most of the work in beating the Nazis
The US beat Japan mostly by ourselves

Only because we supplied the tools and food.

 

[The Irish Ram]

I believe Biden out "Trumped" Trump with the chips act.

Since Trump has been there for a little over 100 days, let's tally that up in a couple of years and see just what is being produced right here. Biden sunbathed. Trump works.

 

[rightwinger]

Only because we supplied the tools and food.

Just like we are doing with Ukraine

FDR built the “Arsenal of Democracy”which enabled the fighting of WWII

Post WWII, the US helped rebuild the wartime world

 

[rightwinger]

Since Trump has been there for a little over 100 days, let's tally that up in a couple of years and see just what is being produced right here. Biden sunbathed. Trump works.

Biden built
Trump tears down

 

[Foxfyre]

Battle of El Alamein was only a couple weeks before Torch landings in NorthWest Africa, and took a while for Montgomery to reach Tunisia. German retreat Westward because of Torch landings had much to do with Monty's drive, not to mention the tanks(Shermans) and aircraft the USA had sent to him.

Hitler ordered Barbarossa start in June, but failed to focus enough on Moscow before winter hit. All Soviet railroads funneled through Moscow and taking such would have crimped Soviet ability to shift troops and supplies along the fronts.

Also didn't help that Stalin had most of the military deployed on the border instead of in depth behind. Made it possible for the Germans to surround most of them right from the start. It was USA Lend-Lease to Russia that helped them put a stop to German advances and then begin counter-attacks.

The fact is that in 1939 Stalin and Hitler had signed a pack making them allies. Russia served Germany well by protecting its rear while Germany focused on taking France and otherwise extending successes attacking the west. (Germany would shortly invade and take Poland and the Ukraine was part of Stalin's empire.)

But Hitler hated the Russians and the Jews and after Russia had served its purpose, it was his intention all along to take Russia down. (This from a least two or three documentary histories I read of that period.) Fascism could not exist indefinitely alongside "Stalinism" i.e. the Russian version of Marxist socialism.

But Hitler seriously miscalculated by opening a serious second front before he had completed defeating the Brits and other allies. It almost certainly shortened the war and played a huge part in the Nazi demise.

 

[meaner gene]

I don't overlook it. Especially the boldness of the Russians. All the allies played a part. As did the courageous resistance. But, if you put all of them together, and remove America from the group, they would have lost.

The same if you removed the English from the fight.
And even more so, if you removed the Russian from the fight.

Without the tremendous losses and redistribution of resources from Operation Barbarossa, there could never had been a D-day.
And an invasion through the "soft underbelly" would have been reinforced with the resources used on the eastern front.