The Map Every Intelligence Analyst Should Have on His Wall, For Humility
I have been playing around with this DVD, which is a collection of high resolution situation maps from the European theater of war after D-Day in WWII. The maps are really interesting, though the interface is awful. Like something from the AOL era. I would play with this much more but it is just too kludgy.
This is probably my favorite map (click to enlarge)
Of course, on the very next day, the last great German attack on the Western Front came right out of that empty red circle.
In the software, one can zoom very deep into these maps, deeper than these images allow. So it's a shame that the interface is so bad.
PS - The Bulge is deservedly a part of American military mythology but we should remember that in many ways it was a small battle compared to any number in the East. This is one of those facts that always perplexes this libertarian, because there is no way the Western Democracies could have ever defeated Germany IMO. Only Stalin's willingness to soak up astounding losses really defeated Germany. German army casualties on the Eastern Front were nearly three times their combined casualties in Africa, Italy, France, and Benelux.
The flip side of this is that no one else other than the US could have defeated the Japanese, though again the Soviets would have given them real troubles in Manchuria. That war was more about projecting power across great distances than pure numbers. We did bravely soak up absurd casualties in short bursts. But again, the Russians were soaking up Bettio-level casualties every few hours, and sustained it day in and day out for years.
