As The Election Approaches
In American, the beginning of October brought about a heightened political frenzy, as the first war time presidential election in nearly 100 years was less than a month away. A face off between two former Governors from New York, unlike the previous three elections this was the toughest one for Roosevelt. An election during wartime, in a war firmly backed by the people, generally bolsters the incumbent's chances significantly, as the ideas of solidarity for the war cause chip away the petty party politics. However the best way for a challenger to unseat an incumbent is infact to attack his policies in prosecuting the war. Thomas Dewey's attack on the president's policies had to be very carefully worded, lest he come across to the public as being opposed to the war, or too divisive a candidate while the war was still ongoing.
Consequently, Dewey chose the most logical way to go about this, by attacking the president for not doing
enough for the war effort. To say the least, the continued stalemates that had developed both in France and China had proven terribly frustrating for everyone involved: Generals, staffers, politicians, and also the public. The first World War, and the gruesome and unrewarding results of trench warfare and static fronts were still fresh on many's minds. It was a type of warfare many would not like to see again, and yet to some it appeared the current war in Europe and Asia was turning into the same thing.
Thomas Dewey - Republican Candidate
The public euphoria that occurred when the invasions of China and Europe first began soon gave way to great frustration as both offensives ground to a complete halt. As time went by, and the lack of results came, the euphoria died down, realism set in, and support waned. The German spring offensive earlier in the year had had a devastating effect not just on the European war effort, but in the public confidence and morale. Stillwell's and Patton's breakouts had given short term optimism back in the states, and were eagerly played upon by Roosevelt's reelection campaign, but in early October it was clear the situation had once again turned static.
Dewey also took the opportunity in these final days by chiding the President for failing to work in concert with America's Allies. The current assemblage of troops the Allies had, he said, seemed to work as two completely independent units, blind to each other's movements and goals. The failed invasion of Normandy by Bradley's Army was a clear example of this, when the thousands of British troops across the channel were loaded on transports in great numbers for operations elsewhere. He urged that the two main forces of the Alliance must work closer together and side by side in future operations.
The continued lack of success on the offensive front had begun to weigh heavily on people's minds, and Dewey attempted to play on this. He likewise berated the President on the slow progress of increasing both the size of the armed forces and the quality of their weapons. On these latter points he had ample fact to back him up. This was one of the most glaring deficiencies in the entire war effort. While the overall size of the military, and the quality of their weapons were not matters for public consumption, it could not be disputed in closed session that even in late 1944, compared to the other major combatants, the United States was still well behind the curve in both the size and quality of their fighting force.
Review of the United States Military
A closer look into the size and make up of the three branches is required to get a clearer understanding for the stalemates that ensued in China and Europe. The beginning chapter of this book discusses in great detail the stranglehold that Isolationism had on the American public and government, and the severe price the military had to pay for this. As late as 1939, with the war clouds gathering across the globe, the Roosevelt administration and congress were still unable to appropriate proper funding for the upgrading of what still a third class army. The only branch that saw substantial gains in funding since 1936 in fact was the submarine project Nemo. The number of divisions had increased multiple fold from the paltry five that existed in 1936, but its overall size and quality was still far short of the major powers.
It was not until 1941 that the government's hand was forced, and a large wartime budget was passed. But beginning a large scale improvement of the military, both in size and quality was a very large undertaking, especially since it had to go from being a severely undersized isolationist continental force, to capable of sustaining offensives across two different seas. The military had indeed grown by leaps and bounds in the past four years compared to where they stood in 1936, but such a late start had left them far behind the arms races of the various combatants, and America still found itself in a furious game of catch up. For a closer examination of the situation, we will break up the analysis of the military into its three different branches.
The Naval War
As in 1936, in 1944 the Navy was still by far the strongest branch of the American military. This had been the case throughout the isolationist years, and in the last half of the 1930's was further supplemented by the extensive Operation Nemo, which had created the world's finest submarine fleet for destroying Japanese shipping. Having gained supremacy of the Pacific over the Japanese in relatively short time, the recent resurgence of the Japanese submarine program forced America's hand in signing off on several new capital and smaller ships, as well as expensive upgrading of the existing fleet. Including refitting of current ships, in early October 1944 the Navy still accounted for the largest percentage in the building queue. It was perhaps a holdover of old pre-war strategies, that the Navy should be first in strength above all other branches. The Japanese naval bombardment of the California coast in early 1942, clearly a one off attempt with little strategic value, seemed to emphasize the need to keep the enemy away from the continental United States by use of a very strong and complete navy.
As the Japanese Navy showed a brief resurgence in mid 1944, forcing the navy's hand, there was considerable hostility among the three branches, and indeed in both the administration and congress, over the large increase in naval funding that quickly took place. There was much wrangling that the strongest branch of the military was receiving vast funding that the other severely undersized branches so desperately needed. There was in fact quite a war going on in the halls of the War Department between Navy, Army and Air Force brass, and many of these fights turned ugly at times.
The other two branches had sufficient reason to quarrel over the naval increases. Taking away Britain's enormous transport fleet, on paper the United States had the most complete navy in the world. Hosting by far the most battleships, with several new Iowa and Colorado class ships on the way, it had the second largest contingent of cruisers behind great Britain, and by far and away had the best fleet of carriers in the world.
The Iowa Class Battleship was America's Premiere Naval Weapon
Proponents of the recent naval increased pointed to the reports from American naval intelligence. It was estimated that the Japanese navy, in count at least, had nearly as many ships as the United States. However, the force lacked any substantial confirmation of capital ships, comprised half of the submarines that had of late torn into the American fleet, and an as of yet unseen host of destroyers. Reports estimated this destroyer group to be twice the size of the American destroyer contingent. The "Mahan" was the primary destroyer class in the American arsenal, a solid ship, and while estimated to be outnumbered by its Japanese counterpart, the Navy felt the large number of Northhampton and Omaha class cruisers currently being built would offset this destroyer advantage.
In addition to their well stocked Gato fleet, the Navy was in the process of turning out its next iteration of world class sub, the Electro Submarine. Already showing its value in a series of battles off the Marianas, there were several more being built in the ship yards. This new submarine fleet once finished, along with the Gatos fresh from port with the latest weaponry could once again begin their stranglehold on Japanese shipping to and from the home islands, something which in recent months had been denied by the resurgent Japanese attacks in the Babuyan channel.
The Air War
The weakest link of the three branches was in fact the air wing. This was a secret to no one. While the long standing Continental Defense Initiative (CDI) had called for a large navy as the bulk of America's defense, once war seemed imminent, the extremely under sized army, what with its antiquated weaponry and thirty year old tactics, was the next to be improved and built up. This left the newest wing of the military with what little was left over in the budget. Air power was clearly the least of the three branches in pre war military planning, and it was not until the enemy demonstrated the full potential of a large scale, well equipped air force, that the War Department started to change its thinking. and because of that, America was still paying the price late into 1944.
Unable to defend the ground troops from the Japanese air attacks in China, a stop gap measure was introduced: the large scale improvement of anti-air batteries. It was a far more budget friendly improvement than building up the air wing, with shorter turn around. This tactic caused considerable debate and tension as well, but it was clearly intended as a short term fix. In fairness, in early 1944 the vast improvement in anti-air networks in China had made an incredible difference in the war effort, especially in the skies over Xiamen. The ground troops received far less damage from air raids, while the Japanese lost a good many planes to the increased flak. The 80mm multi-barreled gun became the workhouse of the anti-air campaign, with the 120mm prepared to replace it in another month.
But recent events were showing anti aircraft stations alone could not repel well concentrated attacks of Stukas in France. Eleventh Army Group Commander General Devers protested to Marshall in late September over the lack of proper air cover and complete lack of tactical air support in the European theatre, "With the large contingent of enemy air units up in Normandy, if we are ever to march that far north and engage that large armada of airplanes, Gardner's paltry air force will quickly be devoured, and the entirety of the ground troops left wholly vulnerable to devastating attacks that singlehandedly can wipe out our entire front." He was clearly not overstating his opinion here. When the first large scale Stuka raids had begun on Fourth and Tenth Armies, before Gardner's small air contingent was called in to thwart it, the enemy tactical bombing campaign seemed destined to wipe out the defensive capacity of the two armies entirely.
In sheer numbers, the United States had more total planes than either Great Britain or Russia. But the combination of the continued engagements against the Luftwaffe had thinned the latter's numbers greatly, while the Americans were loath to commit to aerial engagements without being quite sure of superiority in the battle. In all, it was still a very small force, 33 squadrons in all, split across two continents. 18 of the 33 squadrons were fighter craft, with only a total of 6 tactical bomber squadrons. In comparison to America's total of 33 squadrons, the Japanese were estimated to have over 60, while the Germans had close to 80.
Curtiss P40-B Warhawk
Not only were the American pilots vastly outnumbered in both China and Europe, their machines were also outclassed. P40B Warhawks and P39 Air Cobras still made up the majority of their air force through the summer of 1944. Practically relics compared to their German counterparts, they could hold their own wonderfully against Stukas that were ill suited for air to air combat, but were simply no match for the latest German interceptors. The P-47A Thunderbolt, F4U Corsair, and P-38F Lightning had only in the last month become ready for production. But because of the current backlog in ship building, there would not be substantial numbers of them available until mid to late 1945.
The B25C Mitchell was the chief tactical bomber, and while having served with moderate success, was never produced in proper numbers to make a difference. By mid 1944 it had begun to show its age however, and raids on ground troops in China yielded minimum results. There was no replacement tac bomber in the works, so the Mitchell would be the primary tool against ground troops for the foreseeable future.
The Ground War
TheArmy was a branch of the American military that proved to be a bit of an enigma. America because of its vast size boasted a considerable manpower pool to that of other nations, but despite this fact, in late 1944 the army was by most standards, severely undersized. By Pentagon estimates, the United States had only the seventh largest army in the world. Comprised of 74 divisions in total, it included 4 Marine divisions, 4 Mountain and 10 Motorized. The ratio of ground troops to overall population seemed incredibly disproportionate to that of other countries. In comparison the United Kingdom was able to field 101 divisions, while America's two main foes, Germany and Japan were able to put together considerably larger forces, with about 280 divisions apiece.
America despite her rich resources, industrial capacity and manpower reserves was only able to field 1/4 of the troops its enemy was able to put on the battlefield. This fact alone sheds considerable light into why operations in both China and France had ground to a quick halt. Granted, many of Germany's divisions were tied up fighting the nearly 500 Russian divisions in the east, but the fact that America was able to even make inroads into both continents against such overwhelming numbers is a testament to the quality of the commanders in the field, and the ability of the companies and platoons fighting the actual war. As a further example of the diminutive size of the Army in 1944, in comparison to wartime America's 78 divisions, the nations of Brazil and Nationalist Spain, both at peace, were estimated to have current standing armies of 67 and 120 divisions respectively.
Unlike other nations, America took a different approach to manpower. The armed forces were made up primarily of young men who were five or less years out of high school. The War Department believed in the theory that manpower would not win the war, but economic might, and war time production. The vast industrial capacity had not been squandered by putting millions into uniform, and one direct result of this was the ability to churn out the world's largest and most complete navy. American troops were better clothed and better fed than perhaps any wartime nation on the planet. But the cost of such material production was the severely undersized ground forces. Army commander after army commander complained about the need for more boots on the ground. Outnumbered as they were, making inroads into hostile continents was a formidable task. The doctrine of mass concentration was just not feasible when an army of 12 divisions was going up against an enemy with 30.
While the United States Army was estimated to have the second most armored divisions (9), the tanks currently on the battlefield were both outdated and outclassed by their German counterparts. The antiquated M2A4 made up about half of the tanks in the army, with the M3 40mm Stuart making up the remainder. The 70mm M3 Lee was only now in production and not slated to reach the battlefield for several months. The Sherman had not yet even been put on the drawing board and would not be available for production until the end of 1945.
M2A4
Complicating this lack of quality armor, one item completely missing from the war arsenal was the mechanized units. While panzergrenadier divisions comprised nearly one third of the German ground forces, America not only didn't a counterpart to this threat, but there were no plans to begin building them. The failed assault on Toulouse by Fifth Army had been beaten back handily by panzergrenadiers, and the infantry simply did not have an answer for their firepower. This was perhaps the greatest hole in the entire American military arsenal, and there were not even plans to pursue this avenue. Tanks were the key research product of the American military at the moment, and as long as they were yet in short supply, it would be difficult for the infantry to advance against this formidable German foe.
With a view of the current state of the military, which includes being quite undersized for the task at hand, misdirected in it appropriations, and the poor quality of equipment, it becomes clearer to understand why the American war effort did not have the continual string of successes in Asia and Europe that everyone expected. Outnumbered and with lesser tools, the soldiers and commanders on the ground were doing the best they could to overcome such odds. The nearly complete lack of air support further exacerbated the situation, making the ability to wage war successfully, either in defensive positions or offensive operations, all the more difficult.
