Warlords
Under scrutiny
Military leadership
Churchill |
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In a sense, Churchill's military leadership was never fully put to the test in World War II because he was always a secondary partner militarily to Roosevelt when it came to the big strategic decisions. For example, Churchill was reluctant to endorse an Allied invasion of northern France, which he was convinced would result in terrible casualties. He preferred to strike at what he saw as the 'soft underbelly' of occupied Europe, attacking north through Italy and into the Balkans. Roosevelt and his generals, unwilling to act against Stalin's desire for a second front in northern France, overruled this strategy. Churchill's military ventures in the eastern Mediterranean were no more than sideshows to the main battle arenas.
