26 January in the history: Battle of Nikolayewka, ITA-USSR

@CWO:

@Wolfshanze:

Amazing research, btw… Armschwimmfahigkeitgeratsamt…

One of my favourite non-invented German words is the term that Germany used in WWI to designate tanks: Schutzengrabenvernichtungspanzerkampfwagen, or, roughly, “trench-destroying armoured fighting car.”  German tanks of WWI were physically as cumbersome as that term, so in preparation for WWII Germany devised more practical tanks and a more practical designation (“Panzer”).  Unfortunately for Germany, the American, British and Russian words for this type of weapon – “tank” – consists of only one syllable, whereas “Panzer” has two syllables, so the US, UK and USSR armoured forces in principle had a 50% advantage over the German armoured forces in speed of pronunciation.  On the other hand, the French word “char” only consists of one syllable too, so in principle the French and German armoured forces should have fought each other to a draw in May-June 1940…so clearly this theory doesn’t hold up in reality as well as it ought to on paper.

ROFLOL :lol: :lol: :lol:

@ABWorsham:

……would Hitler reframed from invading the USSR in 1941?

No, I am pretty sure Adolf would have attacked Russia at some point no matter what. Living space in the East was the main objective of Hitlers master plan. He wrote about it in his book Mein Kampf as far back as the 1920 ies.  There are no way Hitler would have reframed from attacking USSR as soon as possible, and the reason he had to wait until 1941 was because France and UK messed up his plans.

Great points - this is not the version of history I was taught in school, but thankfully with access to the internet and the benefit of hindsight we are able to learn some of this untold history now.

Thank you for looking into that, Worsham.
I am aware Rommel was often short of good German tanks, that is why I made my comment.

Thank you Pacific War.
I do see your “draw” argument, but feel “to the death” is more fitting!
Hope you get to play again soon.

@Battlingmaxo:

Try Stalingrad, by Anthony Beevor….one of the best works on the subject (Penguin Books)

excellent book, i read it in a few stops at barns and noble.  i loved doing that, just read books over time there.

That’s a good read. Very much a worthy first effort.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=11744.0