A few American mistakes.......
Battlefield
The Americans making the same mistake as the French in the Ardennes in '44 was probably the most costly mistake the Americans made in the war.

Lulled into a false sense of security, the Americans couldn't believe the Germans had the capacity to mount a large scale attack at that stage of the war, especially in the Ardennes sector.

80,000+ casualties later they found out they were wrong.

And Mark Clarks decision to put the glory of entering Rome ahead of trapping German forces in Southern Italy meant the campaign dragged on with many more allied casualties.

The daylight bombing raids on Europe without a suitable escort fighter.

In the Pacific......
The communications failure that led to the debacle at Pearl harbour...

MacArthur getting caught with his pants down in the Philippines 1941-42...

Perhaps the Marines could have bypassed some of the stronger Japanese islands.

Production
I agree with tomtom22, the decision not to supplement the Shermans before 1944 was a tragic mistake, it condemned thousands of American and British tankers to death and maiming.

As early as March '43 the T23 prototype [a fore runner of the Pershing] was up and running, with a 90mm gun and 100mm of armour, even a limited number to assist the Shermans would have been a godsend to the outclassed tankers.

The army ordered some but unfortunately it was decided to just concentrate on the Sherman.
It took until the last few months of the war before the Pershing made an
appearance.

The daylight bombing raids on Europe without a suitable escort fighter.

Which was necessary because bombers are more accurate in the day time.

Remember America only had the P51 because Britain had laid down the specifications for this plane and paid for R&D costs. America made it quite plain to the manufactures that they were not interested in a aircraft with an inline engine, they only wanted planes with radial engines. Then America nicked the first hundred off the production lines that had already been paid for by Britain to replace it's loses in Hawaii.

The engine for the P51 was the RR Merlin.

Originally Posted by Ashes

Production
I agree with tomtom22, the decision not to supplement the Shermans before 1944 was a tragic mistake, it condemned thousands of American and British tankers to death and maiming.

As early as March '43 the T23 prototype [a fore runner of the Pershing] was up and running, with a 90mm gun and 100mm of armour, even a limited number to assist the Shermans would have been a godsend to the outclassed tankers.

The army ordered some but unfortunately it was decided to just concentrate on the Sherman.
It took until the last few months of the war before the Pershing made an
appearance.

I fully agree.

As I recall the US Army kept the M4 Sherman in production at the behest of Patton, who favoured fast, mobile armoured forces rather than heavier, 'battlefield superiority' tanks. Patton, in theory, was correct but of course the Sherman was just not good enough in any way, shape or form. But Patton, being the US Army tank expert however, got his way.

The following link is a real eye-opener and demonstrates what was one of the worst mistakes of the US in WW2.

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/a...ev/cooper.html

It should also be remembered that Britain upgraded the Sherman to take a 17 pounder anti tank gun. this gun could also deal with the Tiger Tank. Although Britain converted a number of Sherman tanks to take this gun America refused to take it up as it was not an American gun and refused to have any thing to do with it.

Originally Posted by LeEnfield

It should also be remembered that Britain upgraded the Sherman to take a 17 pounder anti tank gun. this gun could also deal with the Tiger Tank. Although Britain converted a number of Sherman tanks to take this gun America refused to take it up as it was not an American gun and refused to have any thing to do with it.

firefly tanks

Werent the soldiers that went to WWII put into trains and then killed by the orders of Stalin because of what they saw?

If its true, then Stalin would be haunted by this "purging" and he would be open for attack. And we could drop an atomic bomb at where he is.

Originally Posted by Obvious

Werent the soldiers that went to WWII put into trains and then killed by the orders of Stalin because of what they saw?

No.

If its true, then Stalin would be haunted by this "purging" and he would be open for attack. And we could drop an atomic bomb at where he is.

Words fail me

Originally Posted by Obvious

Werent the soldiers that went to WWII put into trains and then killed by the orders of Stalin because of what they saw?

If its true, then Stalin would be haunted by this "purging" and he would be open for attack. And we could drop an atomic bomb at where he is.

Many of the surviving Soviet POWs who returned to the Soviet Union were sent to the Gulags instead of to their families. I think that is what you mean. Hey, Stalin, that great lovable man, needed more hard labourers. And, he wanted to keep the effort "international".

The only "purging" that bothered Stalin were those groups he did not have time to purge. At the end of his life, for example, Stalin worried that his Jewish doctors were trying to poison him. Always thinking in grand terms, he was therefore planning to send all of the Jews within his reach to the Gulags. Hey, he wanted the Gulags to be a sort of "meltingpot" of cultures. Stalin died and is now sitting beside Hitler in Hell.
Fry, Uncle Joe, fry!