Quote:
Originally Posted by phylo_roadking
It's been a long time since I read it, but, once upon a time I read that the delay of Dragoon was also partly political...in that it hung the Maquis' risings in Central France, Vercours etc., out to dry - but I've heard TWO alternative reasons why :-
1/ it removed a possible Maquis political challenge to DeGaulle after Liberation, many Maquis' groups being Socilaist at best, Marxist at worst,
or
2/ it thus destroyed a major source OF possible DeGaulle support in the expected turbulent French post-liberation political scene.
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Interesting theory on delaying invasion to weaken the
French underground. I had never heard that before. Do
you happen to recall where you saw it? Is there a map
of areas the French underground were strong in ’44?
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I would still disagree that the disadvantages of launching
an earlier S. France invasion outweigh the advantages.
Admittedly, the logistical problems would be huge &
it forces aircraft to fly further.
But at least from a quick glance at a map it doesn’t
look a lot further from Corsica to S. France invasion
beaches as from UK to some D-Day beaches. And I
am assuming the weather is much better in the Med
then the channel
(Anzio did go in January after all – true that’s further
S., but I’m guessing that Dragoon could have gone much
earlier in the year than D-Day … Is there a meteorologist
who can comment?)
Supply lines for the Germans would be longer, and
with better weather they would be more exposed to air
attacks. If the French underground was stronger in
the South, that would help too.
An invasion in the S. drawing heavy German strength
there & then D-Day landings could potentially cut off
Germans in the S. The reverse case with D-Day 1st
meant that German forces moving N. weren’t faced
with a landing threatening their line of retreat.
Even if Dragoon did get bogged down, I would still
argue it was better than the historical alternative of
crawling up Italy. And an invasion in say April or
May ’44 would not necessarily need to be larger
than historically with Overlord soon after.