THE WEAPONS FOR FINAL VICTORY
SEELY, Lt. Comdr. C. S.
The Weapons For Final Victory By LT. COMDR. C. S. SEELY= OUR BRIDGEHEAD in France is now deep enough to permit unloading of ships with little or no interference from the enemy. Therefore we should...
...Russian losses in the presentdrive no doubt are small, as pursuing a beaten, and actually routed, army is never an expensive matter in either men or materials...
...and psychological warfare rather than on massed manpower warfare...
...It i§ now clearly apparent, if not actually certain, that the war can be won without great loss of American life —and this should now be one of our major objectives— if not the major one...
...We certainly must not repeat the mistake we made near the end of the last war when we launched our greatest infantry attacks—and suffered our heaviest losses—after it was clear that the war was about over...
...A Germany organized on democratic lines would seem enough to demand of the German people...
...They have that now, and are perfectly satisfied...
...The Russians understand our difficult position, and they certainly do not expect us to sacrifice lives merely to make their task easier...
...Emphasis should now be placed on machine (bomber, artillery, tank, etc...
...Our present tactics seem eminently sound...
...In any case, however, there does not now seem much military sense in trying to get to Berlin ahead of the Russians...
...They face fewer and weaker obstacles on the road to Berlin than we do, even though we have surmounted the Channel, our toughest obstacle...
...The Russians are at Warsaw, the last formidable obstacle on the Eastern Front, and have actually crossed the Vistula in considerable force—an almost incredible military achievement so early in their present drive—while we are still far from Paris and nowhere near the Rhine...
...We should increase our efforts to win the German people over to our side...
...Leaflets, radio, and other propaganda methods certainly can be effective now, as no doubt the German officer-Junker revolt was more serious than was apparent from first reports...
...that Germany and her allies were cracking up...
...All we need to do to win the war is keep up the pressure on Hitler—and obviously that is what we are doing...
...However, we probably should land at least 2,000,000 men before we try to take such a strongly fortified city as Paris, for the Nazis almost certainly will make a determined stand there...
...Although there is little in the present situation to warrant the belief that Nazism will be defeated this year, it would seem that there is no longer any real and pressing need for us to take great chances as there was before we crossed the Channel...
...The opinions and assertions expressed above are the private ones of the ivriter and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the naval service at large...
...This will increase the burdens on civilians only a little, but it will greatly increase the chances of our fighters returning home safe and sound...
...Therefore we should soon have enough force ashore to begin our attack on Paris, or at least on the Havre-Paris (Seine River) line...
...The main thing the Russians wanted from America and Britain was a Second Front that would hold Nazi divisions in the West...
Vol. 8 • August 1944 • No. 33
