Re: Why wasnt the British army semi-elite?

In article <dh9kv1$kuq$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Andrew Clark <aclark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>pitiful, there was little radar and no air force. The was no
>possibility of sea or air attack on the besieging US fleet,
>which could stage from relatively nearby islands
>
In fact, the Japanese launched a full-scale sea and air attack
on the US forces, committing pretty much all the available
ships. The carrier forces would have been considered
pretty formidable earlier in the war. The fact that
this attack was handily defeated with greatly disproportionate
Japanese losses reflects USN capability more than Japanese
weakness.

>>From late 1943 on, the Central Pacific advance had to be prepared
for a large counterattack in every operation. That's what
determined the start of that drive: the US had to had enough
carriers to handle any reasonable Japanese attack.

By 1945, the USN was perfectly capable of putting a thousand carrier
aircraft into a fairly small area, about a quarter of the total
Luftwaffe operational strength for most of the war. Given
enough reason, the USN was capable of providing air superiority
for any landing in Europe, and maintaining it for an extended
period of time.

I don't see why the US would be invading Europe without a strong
British alliance, personally, but the US could have done it.



--
David H. Thornley | If you want my opinion, ask.
david@xxxxxxxxxxxx | If you don't, flee.
http://www.thornley.net/~thornley/david/ | O-
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