I got an email the other day from my Buddy Max who lives in Ukraine. Along with wishes for a Happy New Year came a somber message about the return of the Iron Curtain to Eastern Europe. He told me that already in Belarus the citizens can no longer access international commerce sites like ebay and Paypal and soon it will happen in Ukraine too. You know something? I'm beginning to think that Churchill and Patton weren't so crazy after all. They both had the vision to know what would happen if Stalin was left in control of Eastern Europe and the Balkan states but President Roosevelt and Ike trusted Stalin and both felt that the American people would not stand for the betrayal of an Ally in 1945, so the people of Eastern Europe and the Balkan states were never to experience democracy...they were freed from one tyrant only to be under the boot of another who was arguably worse than Hitler!
Then again..everybody had a belly full of war and killing by May of 1945, so maybe FDR and Ike made the right choice after all... :woof
Hope you all had a good Christmas this year!
Nicely put. Ya it is easy to say we should have gone Patton's way. Ya, he was right, but think about the carnage if we has asked our boys to stay and continue the fight? OMG!
It's a sad situation alright! Seems one part of the world takes one step ahead, but others take two steps back. So sad...
Nicely put. Ya it is easy to say we should have gone Patton's way. Ya, he was right, but think about the carnage if we has asked our boys to stay and continue the fight? OMG!
It's a sad situation alright! Seems one part of the world takes one step ahead, but others take two steps back. So sad...
Thank you for your comments M-1. By January of 1945 the Red Army was the largest, most powerful and well armed fighting force in the world, bearing no resemblance to the confused and poorly lead force that was quickly defeated by the Nazi Blitzkrieg in June of 1941. They were battle hardened veterans who had been fighting for over four years and four tough Winters. Hitler tried to wage a war of attrition with Stalin and Germany lost 75% of it's troops in the process. Had we done what Patton suggested we and the Western Allies would have most likely shared Germany's fate. Thank God that the voice of reason prevailed! 
