[CliffFletcher]

Armageddon starts in September '44, after the Normandy breakout. Hasting's argument is that the war in the West could (and should) have been over by Christmas, if the Allied armies had pressed the Germans more aggressively. He blames incompetence on the part of Allied commanders, and a lack of aggression by the soldiers on the ground. He cites many comments by Allied commanders, like James Gavin, expressing extreme frustration at the habit of Allied ground troops to halt as soon as they encountered opposition and wait for armour and air support. This enabled the Germans to routinely cover their retreat with a small holding force, and pull back to prepared positions, where the sequence would be played out again in a day or two. Allied troops were also prone to retreating pell-mell when hit by counterattacks, not stopping until they were far back in the rear.

Professor Sir Michael Howard, who possesses the unusual distinction of being both a military historian and a veteran of combat against the Wehrmacht, wrote frankly:

“Until a very late stage of the war the commanders of British and American ground forces knew all too well that, in a confrontation with the German troops on anything approaching equal terms, their own men were likely to be soundly defeated. They were better than we were: that cannot be stressed too often. Every Allied soldier involved in fighting the Germans knew this was so, and did not regard it in any way humiliating. We were amateurs…fighting the best professionals in the business…We blasted our way into Europe with a minimum of finesse and a maximum of high explosive.”

Anyway, it's worth a read if you have an interest in the broad strokes of the late war, particularly the enormous cost in civilians lives.