There is a real question of whether we had the ability to launch any
invasion of Europe in 1943, let alone sucessfully. Our costly
"learning experiences" in Tunisia do raise the question of how ready
the US was to take on the Wehrmacht.

If the Allies (not just the U.S.) had landed in France in November
1942, they would have been massacred.

The U.S. Army at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943 was
indeed no match for the German army (properly called the Heer, not the
Wehrmacht). It was a fairly inexpensive graduate course in the
realities of combat. The USAAF, however, fared very well in comparison
to the Luftwaffe. And the USN was streets ahead of the Kriegsmarine.

Note also that the North African campaign proved the ability of the
United States to launch an invasion across 4,000 miles of open
ocean--something never done before, and rarely since. That was quite
an accomplishment. It also turned a German ally -- the French colonial
army -- into a member of the Allied forces, and thus paved the way for
the Free French role in 1944.

Later on, a lot of German troops were tied up in the MTO keeping us
tied up in the MTO. Interesting question who came out ahead there...

Given that German and Italian prisoners are generally numbered well to
the north of 300,000, there is no question but that the North African
campaign was an astounding success for the Allies. Tunisia was an Axis
defeat on the scale of Stalingrad.

Sicily too was a splendid victory. It's true that the Allies got
bogged down in Italy in 1944, but that was largely because resources
were diverted to the invasion of France. I don't think it's fair to
say that the U.S. was "tied up" in Italy. We could have left any time
we wanted to. It was the Germans who were tied down.

all the best -- Dan Ford
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