Posted by iceburn on 1/8/2003, 10:36 am, in reply to "Re: No Way!" In my opinion, his perspective makes sense for an army officer. His opponents (Ernest King, General Douglas MacArthur, and Chester Nimitz - all important men in the navy) would gain more political and consequently financial backing (for their military branch) by going after Japan first. The war in Europe was more of an army affair, and by far more attractive to the leader of the U.S. Army. I've never really felt that the Japanese defense/strategy/survival depended on any facet of the German people. The Axis alliance was only beneficial to Germany in the short run. Perhaps if both Japan and Germany had expanded as they wished, the alliance would have been more important to both major parties. Italy, as far as I'm concerned, was a cushion for Germany, alleviating another war on three fronts. Thus, Italy was far more important to Germany than Japan was. I just can't see any real, immediate significance of the German military/economy/whatever to Japan. I might be looking a little too much into the wording you used, but I think that George Marshall's backing of the attack on Germany was more political an objective than a real strategic one. On a side note, the victory over Germany had a very beneficial side effect for the army. After the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, the army was internationally recognized as a hero against human oppression, tyranny, etc. In my opinion, this was a major loss for the navy, and the fact that the war in Germany usually constitutes more teaching time in colleges, Universities, and high school history courses, just goes to show you how much more appreciated the army became than the navy. As you've indirectly kind of pointed out, the army's victory over Germany, seemed directly linked to the navy and marine's success in the Pacific - almost a 'without the army, the navy wouldn't have won' kind of inferrence from America. Thank you for your time, Iceburn Link: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmarshallG.htm
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From what I've read, Marshall was in favor of attacking Germany first, rather than Japan. I've not read that Marshall felt that defeating Germany would mean the defeat of Japan.
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