With Germany and Japan, we were facing opponents that had, earlier in the war, proved quite capable of defeating us in battle. Not so with anyone we have faced off against since.
By D-Day, Germany's ability to make war was significantly diminished, and Japan was fighting a war of attrition in 1945, stalling the allied forces for as long as possible leading up to the anticipated invasion of the homeland, upon which eventuality, the Japanese government fully intended to turn out every living body for the fight.
Therefore, the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki came as complete surprises, and with Hirohito still reeling from the blows, President Truman announced the emperor had three days to surrender, or Tokyo would be the third target. Faced with certain death from a weapon he could only faintly imagine, Hirohito capitulated. Ironically, Truman's announcement was the greatest poker bluff ever played. We did not have a third bomb. Harry's bluff saved millions of Japanese lives, and his use of the two bombs saved the lives of millions on both sides, as a land invasion of the Japanese homeland would have dragged on for years.
Germany suspected D-Day was upon them, but could not guess where the sea-borne assault would come. Their confusion rendered them unable to get the upper hand, though as with any invasion from the sea, they made it extremely difficult for allied forces. Still, the Allies beat their own schedule by nearly 200 days in approaching the German border. Nonetheless, Germany was still strong enough that, even after the defeat at Normandy and the fall of France, the Reich was still able to mount an effective defense against the invasion of northern Europe and the attempted circumvention of the dreaded Siegfried Line.
All this to outline the effectiveness of our opponents in that war. Those we have engaged since have been weak, corrupt and unable to defend themselves effectively. In Vietnam, we gave away our advantage through idiotic decisions made not be military men, but by unschooled and foolish politicians, fueled by a public opinion shaped by a biased media. We have since vowed never to fight a war that way again, and we haven't. But if anything, our opponents have been weaker still, and are incapable of retaliating. In fact, whether one believes it or not, there is no nation, not even China or Russia, that could mount an effective war effort against us. China's only advantage, and it would not last long, would be manpower, being able to mobilize 100 million troops. The problem is the quality of those troops.
Give a commander two Apache helicopter and a well-trained platoon of U.S. Army Rangers, and there isn't a division in the world that could stand against them.
