Home by Christmas: The Illusion of Victory in 1944

(Hardback)

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By September 1944, Allied forces had broken out from the Normandy beachheads, liberated Paris, and found themselves poised on the German border. As this offensive gained momentum, Patton and Montgomery, hoping to exploit the enemy's temporary weakness in the West, concocted their own alternatives to Eisenhower's broad front strategy. Each proposed a single thrust aimed directly into the German heartland, designed to "bring the troops home by Christmas." This study examines this so-called "broad front-single thrust" controversy and concludes that the idea of early victory was wishful thinking--a product of the erroneous and dangerous assumption that the Nazi regime was tottering on the brink of collapse. Rather than unnecessarily prolonging the war, as some have argued, Eisenhower's decision to stay the strategic course probably averted a military disaster.

Reviews

.,."Ronald Andidora has compiled a succinct and clear synthesis of the factors that continued the war into 1945."-The Journal of Military History
...Ronald Andidora has compiled a succinct and clear synthesis of the factors that continued the war into 1945.-The Journal of Military History
..."Ronald Andidora has compiled a succinct and clear synthesis of the factors that continued the war into 1945."-The Journal of Military History

Author Bio

RONALD ANDIDORA is an independent researcher. His previous publications include Iron Admirals (Greenwood, 2000) and numerous articles for Military History Magazine, World War II Magazine, Parameters, and the Naval War College Review. He worked for more than twenty years in the Pennsylvania Senate.