Sarah Paine

you can start doing peripheral theaters like in North Africa.

And then these casualties, while they aren't as significant as what's going on on the main front, it's cumulative.

So Stalingrad, the largest battle, the war is going on.

You got North Africa.

And then when you have Kursk, which is the largest set piece battle, the war is big, big tank battle.

This is when Sicily is happening and moving up the Italian peninsula.

And you can see the cumulative effects of these sequential operations and adding up

both the main theater and the peripheral theater, so that when you get to Normandy, the Russians are tying up 228 Axis divisions.

There are only 58 Axis divisions all in Western Europe, Italy and everywhere.

So that's what makes Normandy possible, is the Russians really holding on to things.

But when you start looking at the main front, the peripheral operations in Italy and then Normandy, and then you have additional fronts in France and then the Balkans, this continental cancer is into remission, that the Germans just can't sustain it.

Okay, to summarize...

Before Britain had allies in this war, it was in a world of hurt.

It was just losing one thing after another.

But once you get the big continental buddy, don't dismiss the importance of a big continental buddy that is in the area where the fighting is taking place, not separated by the seas, but there with a big army.

That was essential.

And then once the United States gets in with its big productive base, then you can really start doing things.

Because if you can command the seas, that's what the Battle of the Atlantic is about, then you can connect the world and connect allies, theaters, resources.

So here are the operational effects of these peripheral operations.

You start with one where you can.