George Brinton McClellan is a much despised figure for his
failure to take initiatives in The American Civil War which could have seen an
end to that conflict some two years earlier than was actually the
case.
What
is perhaps less understood is that World War Two, in similar fashion, could have been brought to a
much sooner end - and without all of those nations being overcome by Stalin's
forces had it not been for some incredible inactivity in Normandy during the
July of 1944.
Outside Caen, rapid movement by allied troops
ended up with hundreds of thousands of German troops trapped in the Falaise
Pocket with only the narrow Falaise Gap as a point of
escape.
Criminal inactivity by the Allied Commanders
allowed a delay of seven days in destroying this army with what would have been
minimal allied losses.
Long story short, a quarter of a million Germans
escaped and lived to fight another day! Yes, it was a substantial
victory - but it could have been a war-ending
one!
Apparently, much of the blame should be
attributed to American General Omar Bradley who was apparently unchallenged by the
heavily overrated General Bernard
Montgomery, his British sidekick.
Bradley was usually better than this - Montgomery - less so.
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