During World War II, did the Allies pass up a realistic chance to end the war in 1944, by making peace with Germany?

by JournalofFailure

In this column, Eric Margolis writes, "if the US and Britain had agreed to talk peace terms with the German generals in 1944, or at least backed their coup against Hitler, the war might well have ended a year earlier."

Is there any historical validity to this?

pyrignis

In the spring of 1941 (before the invasion of the USSR) it is very likely that peace between the allies and the axis could have been found. The most notable example of that is the flight of the Reich's 3rd highest personality, Rudolf Hess, to England a week before Barbarossa as a last resort toward a peace agreement.