ChrisMerchant's Blog

The bypasses were not Eisenhower's idea. Those came later, most times because the cities requested them.
The interstate system was a great idea, but he wasn't the first.
There was already a highway system started. The Interstate system killed many communities and US highways like 66 and 1 have been abandoned along with the towns and cities they went through.

Eisenhower was the supreme commander,he wasn't on the battlefield though, he was a General Staff officer playing the political role. Bradly,Patton and Montgommery were responsible for planing and conducting the operations.. "COBRA" to break out of the Normandy hedgerows was solely Bradley's idea and Eisenhower approved, it didn't lead to the rapid breakthrough promissed. " MARKET-GARDEN " was Montgommery's failed brain-child to get a crossing over the Rhine, approved by Eisenhower,it chewed up and nearly destroyed three Allied divisions. He gave long range assignments and delegated areas of opperation. The battle-field Generals conducted the war.

Allowing the Russians to take Berlin cost them 1 million casualties, I'm fairly certain that was Roosevelt's main consideration. Those would have been American casualties if the demarkation lines hadn't already been drawn.

Zbert taking a comment out of context such as mine on the taking of Berlin doesn't win an arguement esspecially since I'd already mentioned that the demarkation lines had been drawn up. Ya blew it on that one. The US Army had the largest number of troops to deploy on D-Day so they got the largest landing beaches. The effectiveness of the peliminary fell far short of expectations. That lead to the high number of casualties.

According to this, from the D-Day Museum, The UK troops outnumbered the US by more than 10,000.

On D-Day, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops in Normandy. The American forces landed numbered 73,000: 23,250 on Utah Beach, 34,250 on Omaha Beach, and 15,500 airborne troops. In the British and Canadian sector, 83,115 troops were landed (61,715 of them British): 24,970 on Gold Beach, 21,400 on Juno Beach, 28,845 on Sword Beach, and 7900 airborne troops.

That was the consideration in his decision at Yalta, though I didn't mention Yalta, same for Churchill.You're the one that tried to twist my statement on casualties wih our beach landing. Sorry zbert you loose. Put down the Marvel comics and cheap paperback novels.Must I remind you again ?

zbert, I mentioned the Russian casualties taking Berlin and stated that wa roosevelt's consideration for letting the Russians having it, fact. Then you make a claim stating that if casualties were a consideration then our troops wouldn't have been put ashore at Normandy. Bogus claim zbert. The time of the year,tides and depth of the actual beach to land on also played part. Juno,Gold,and Sword for the British and Canadians. Ohama and Utah for the Americans.

Anthony Eden wrote about Yalta in his autobiography, Memoirs: The Reckoning (1965)


Roosevelt was, above all else, a consummate politician. Few men could see more clearly their immediate objective, or show greater artistry in obtaining it. As a price of these gifts, his long-range vision was not quite so sure. The President shared a widespread American suspicion of the British Empire as it had once been and, despite his knowledge of world affairs, he was always anxious to make it plain to Stalin that the United States was not 'ganging up' with Britain against Russia. The outcome of this was some confusion in Anglo-American relations which profited the Soviets.

Roosevelt did not confine his dislike of colonialism to the British Empire alone, for it was a principle with him, not the less cherished for its possible advantages. He hoped that former colonial territories, once free of their masters, would become politically and economically dependent upon the United States, and had no fear that other powers might fill that role.

Winston Churchill's strength lay in his vigorous sense of purpose and his courage, which carried him undismayed over obstacles daunting to lesser men. He was also generous and impulsive, but this could be a handicap at the conference table. Churchill liked to talk, he did not like to listen, and he found it difficult to wait for, and seldom let pass, his turn to speak. The spoils in the diplomatic game do not necessarily go to the man most eager to debate.

Marshal Stalin as a negotiator was the toughest proposition of all. Indeed, after some

As you can clearly see from the memoirs of someone who was there, Roosevelt's primary concern was political, not casualties.