A corollary- Goering and other crackpots are not allowed to make military decisions.
But in that case you refer to point #1 … “Other crackpots”= Hitler
Goering was a total disaster… very smart man however…damm near genius, but his pride in all things destroyed anything that was possible for him.
However if they had someone like Reinhard Heydrich… that would have been scary for humanity as his brain served and toiled for destruction without reservations… He was the black prince of darkness if their ever was one. He would have “allowed” Germany to win the war without his personal interference.
The Germans lost WWII on every tactical front, for reasons that are blamed on der Furher to just dumb luck on the part of the Allies. They lost due to poor aircraft, they lost due to poor tanks, they lost due to poor shipbuilding, they lost due to poor logistical planning, they lost due to manufacturing bravado. Before anyone says “Hey the Tiger Tank kicks butt, or the Me262 was the best plane in the world” please note that mistakes related to those very items caused the failure that was in the works when the Invasion of France too place. Wrong conclusions were drawn from early victories and it cost them quite a bit.
Poor Aircraft - The Me109 was equal to the Spit I only at the beginning of the war. It was on its heels from that point on. German bombers were terrible. The Stuka was obsolete in 1939 (did you know it had a top speed of 187 MPH?).
Poor Armor - 37mm cannon on the PzKwIII couldnt not kill French Tanks. Only 40 tanks were upgraded to 50mm guns for the invasion of Russia. Tigers (PzKwVI), Panther PzKWV) were not tested properly and were trounced at operation Citadel (Kursk). Did you know Hitler demanded Tigers stick together with no infantry support? The Tigers also did not have MG’s on board at that time. The Panther had awful transmission issues early on. These problems were solved, but it was way too late.
Shipbuilding - Bismark, need I say more?
Logistics - Africa, Eastern Front (Stalingrad), Battle of the Bulge….common theme?
Manufacturing - War production was almost completely stopped in December 1941.
Many people take pride in what the Germans did, but the more I learn, the more embarassing it gets.
The RAF’s retention of downed pilots kept them in the fight as replacement fighters arrived from the US and Canada.
The US recovered pilots (US and Jap) after the Battle of the Coral Sea.
It became standard policy after Midway.
These pilots gained skill and kills and soon dominated the air. They were often outnumbered in the air in dogfights vs the Jap fighters. But these Jap fighters had only a fraction of the flight time of the Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, and Midway veterans. The inexperience resulted in loopsided defeats. The Jap commanders did not figure it out until it was too late.
Ger and Japan built thousands of fighters after the loss of skilled pilots, but the bulk pilot skill differential was soon set against them.
People are not born with wings, or 3-D maneuvering / positioning instincts.
The Axis leaders saw air power as only industrial output without factoring in the thousands of hours of flight time to adequately train pilots to be victorious over their enemies.
WWI was deadlocked in attritional ground warfare. WWII was won by mobility. Air mobility gave you local supremacy. Sea mobility gave you range. Ground mobility allows your troops to fight more efficiently. Both sea and ground mobility are subject to air supremacy.
The ability to build and sustain a rotating pilot base was one of many advantages that the U.S. enjoyed during the war. The ability to recover downed pilots is an inherent advantage of fighting either at sea or over your own territory. As an aggressor, Germany cannot expect to recover more than a slim percentage of its pilots shot down in action over enemy territory. That’s a factor Germany has to accept in its overall strategy.
The British where known for caring more about the loss of life than matterial. Hitler would ask “How many tanks did we loose?” Churchill would ask “How many men did we loose?”
Stalin would ask “How many divisions did we loose?”
I would say that Germany would have won the war by not Attacking both Russia and Poland. My reasons are simple. Germany had most of Europe locked down since he didn’t have to worry about his back with Russia and even if later he had to deal with Russia it would be only one or 2 fronts for Germany as oppose to many. Plus the world as a whole was still feeling the after shocks of The Great War that is one of the main reasons why America wanted to stay out of the “European Conflict”. plus attacking Poland brought more Nations into the war than when Germany invaded France. As far as Hitler’s sanity goes, it is a fact that his men were more afraid of him than anything else which in some Cases made them fight better, True he could’ve let his Generals do their job since he had some of the best. I know my reasons are not as informative as most of your but sometimes the simple or basics reasons are enough.
I would say that Germany would have won the war by not Attacking both Russia and Poland. My reasons are simple. Germany had most of Europe locked down since he didn’t have to worry about his back with Russia and even if later he had to deal with Russia it would be only one or 2 fronts for Germany as oppose to many. Plus the world as a whole was still feeling the after shocks of The Great War that is one of the main reasons why America wanted to stay out of the “European Conflict”. plus attacking Poland brought more Nations into the war than when Germany invaded France. As far as Hitler’s sanity goes, it is a fact that his men were more afraid of him than anything else which in some Cases made them fight better, True he could’ve let his Generals do their job since he had some of the best. I know my reasons are not as informative as most of your but sometimes the simple or basics reasons are enough.
I’m sorry but i disagree. If Germany didn’t attack Poland as you state then how was it even possible to win the war? Are you saying to leave Polands 1 million man army alone in Germany’s back while they attack France? Once France was taken out ( i think it was possible in 1939 to finish off the French as long as the germans used the same plan as they did in May 1940). They would now be at war with England, Poland, while Stalin would have a buffer state with a million men in front of the reorganizing Soviet Armies. Germany is such an insular position would now not have a partner in the Soviets to split up Poland. AS you may know Stalin knew that eventually Germany would be knocking on Stalins front door but had hoped to position her diplomacy in order to make Germany feel that it was free to attack France. Stalin felt that Germany’s strength would be sapped in another war of attrition with the western democracies and this satisfies the Soviet objectives by letting both her natural enemies destroy each other. This would have freed up Stalin to embark on attacking Finland with even greater resolve because Germany would conceivably be involved in western Europe for some time.
Stalin was preparing to attack Germanyy by the late 1941 at the earliest he authorized Zhukov to prepare the necessary planes and was building up for such an attack. That is an unstated reason in why German made plans for Barbarossa. Of course History books wont print that. Stalin latter decided that the preparations would take place in spring of 1942.
anyway The german plan was correct except they needed a plan to immediately invade England in late May 1940 before the allies could catch their collective breath. Uk was in total disarray and was in no position to thwart such an audacious plan. France was allready beaten after the BEF failed at Arras. It was a matter of time to finish off France. thus the emphasis was to build those landing craft and carry out the plan. With the BEF moving toward Dunkirk the Germans could have been in London eating at the Savoy with Oswald Mosley.
Germany could have won the war if…
They hadn’t started killing the Jews, it was wrong on so many levels: morally, economicly, and militarilly
They had invaded Britain in and gone through with Sealion to force Britain to the peace table, demanding that they turnover possession of Egypt and the Middle East so the Afrika Korp could attack through the Caucasus. In World War I Rommel was a skilled junior officer in a mountain division :-D
They had all generals ignore Hitler’s military strategy on any level lower than “Attack (insert country name)”.Â
They voided the alliance with Japan. The United States would have seen it as another European war. Do nothing to anger the US. If a ship is accidently sunk, pay for the ship and its cargo.
They should of firstly in britain not been bombing cities because that didnt have the desired effect. They should of continued to pummel the RAF’s bases and planes. There is a lot of speculation that if they had done this the battle for the skies would have been won.
Then dont invade England just contain it.
Could have gotten around 100,000 british troops at dunkirk if they would have kept up the attack. Should have in hindsight.
No playing in the big sandbox. Those resources should have been used in the push into the USSR.
Attack headlong into the USSR . Forget pushing the northern front. Just contain it. Forget leningrad, just let it be. Focus on taking moscow first. The germans used 3 armies, a north, center, and south army when they invaded. Should of had one huge army to smash into moscow deploying holding units on your flanks of the center front. As soon as moscow was reached, attack south to get the oil fields. If moscow were taken i would argue that stalin would have sued for peace as he moved the capital forther east. Maybe Omsk. Anyway, stalin believed in world communism and if he were smashed he would think world communism would fail and that couldnt happen on his watch. He would of tried to stay alive and in charge farther east to further try to change the world with more time.
Stalin did in fact send peace feelers to see what the German terms for surrender would be in oct 41
Germany would have won the war if Hitler had allowed his Generals more control over their own armies rather than Hitler pretend to be a General himself and make tactical decisions. Hitler not allowing General Paulus to break out of the Stalingrad pocket in time to save his army was disastrous. If he would have let his Generals do what they do best, perhaps Germany would have won. In the end, Hitler blamed his defeat on his “tools” (Generals) rather than himself.
Hitler at the begining drew up the plans himself for the attack into the lowlands and norway. I think, not sure, even france. The generals even saw how well it went and gave him huge credit and respect. Remember hitler did win the Iron Cross. It takes a badass.
I say, don’t forget to bring your heavy jackets to the russian front in the winter of 41/42!! It gets mighty cold up there. You don’t want to lose the initiative and have the russians counterattack while their dressed warmly, and your’e freezing your nuts off!
But that would not be necessary if Herr Hitler didn’t invade Yugoslavia or that nation didn’t throw out its pro-fascist government. Or even if Hitler made peace with his position in the fall of 1941.
Hitler’s plan was simple–to complete Fortress Europe. He wanted to blockade Britain to submission and crush the red armies so the US would face a Europe impossible to attack. However the U-boat menace was soon tamed, and the Soviets drove the Jerrys back at Stalingrad. Also, they developed the V-2s and Me 262s near at the end of the war. And they didn’t spend resources on nuclear weapons. So it was possible they could have won the war, but many factors contributed to their demise.
Hitler at the begining drew up the plans himself for the attack into the lowlands and norway. I think, not sure, even france. The generals even saw how well it went and gave him huge credit and respect. Remember hitler did win the Iron Cross. It takes a badass.
Im not saying that Hitler was a complete moron when it came to making tactical military decisions, he did plan some military operations that were highly sucessful as you have mentioned. But when he made a HUGE mistake (such as at Stalingrad), he blamed his Generals rather than his poor decisions. In the end thats what caused the downfall of Germany.
I believe that if Hitler would have went for the middle eastern oil maybe he could’ve help Japan with some of their resource issues and prolonged the attack on America keeping them from officially joining the War and let Japan move forward ion attacking Russia from behind.
With the UK garrisons in India, Germany would NEVER have been able to provide supplies to Japan. He could not suply his own units fully by mid-war, he certainly had none to spare, even if he COULD have somehow shipped the supplies.
@ncscswitch:
With the UK garrisons in India, Germany would NEVER have been able to provide supplies to Japan. He could not suply his own units fully by mid-war, he certainly had none to spare, even if he COULD have somehow shipped the supplies.
Thats not completely true. Yes, India was garrisoned pretty well, so Germany aiding Japan with supplies overland would have been impossible. However towards the end of the war, Germany was sending Japan their jet fighter technology via U-Boats through the Indian Ocean and did so quite succesfully. So sending supplys would have been a possiblity……but I highly doubt that the supply system beetween Germany and Japan would have lasted very long unscathed.
You are talking a COUPLE of disassenbled ME262’s and other tehcnological innovations via a couple of U-boats basically AFTER Germany had fallen.
BIG difference between that and full-scale supply runs from say Egypt to Burma…
And I am not just talking about land transfer… the UK (and US) both maintained effect air and naval superiority in the Indian Ocean for the duration of the war. Britain was never kicked out of Port Morresby, or Rangoon…
