• But there are so many what if’s and but’s that I just like to go along with what happened!


  • @cystic:

    Even if Germany had defeated Russia, then what?? How would they govern a nation 3-4 times its size? They would have needed to maintain a massive presence just to suppress a militant soviet union.

    With a different attitude of the german conquerors (in the beginning) they might have avoided that problem. In many places, like the baltic states, Belarus and the Ukraine, the germans were first seen as “liberators” from Stalin’s rule. Had the Germans lived up to that “hope” (of those people), they could have spared themsleves some guerilla action and drawn a lot more of support from there.
    But, having these eastern and slavic (that excludes the batlic people) people labeled as “unworthy” made this approach impossible (fortunately).


  • Hitler messed up Barbarossa. If he had let everything up to his generals and not interfered with their planning, the German advance would have been sucessful. Hitler was an absolute Retard when it came to war! He messed up the defense for D-Day too! (The position concering the Panzer divisons and reinforcements.)


  • Churchill had spies tell him not to send reenforcements… Hitler was not exactly a retard, he just overestimated his armies strenght!


  • Right MR. Hitler fought the war on his strategic map. Where he saw a strong fully equipped division, there was actually a force 1/4 of its usual size, underequipped and underarmed.

    The Panzer Lehr Divison, one of the most elite german divisions, after 50 days of fighting in Normandy, was reduced to 2,200men and 45 servicable tanks, it was ordered to hold a 3 mile stretch of land. It did not hold for long, but of course to Hitler it was a full strength division so he ordered a counter attack which destroyed pretty much what ever was left of the division.

    Just an example of Hitlers blind ignorance.


  • He also should have formed a winter line in Russia…


  • Hitler simply suffered from an overdose of hubris. Had he listened to his generals, not attacked Stalingrad, and attacked Russia earlier in the year (rather than help Italy in Greece) I’m convinced he could have won. As for holding the territory, I doubt that would have been much problem; I seriously doubt the Russians would have been anxious to get the Bolshevics back in power. In other words, if the attack had been totally different, it would have been perfect! :P


  • @Wargaming_nut:

    As for holding the territory, I doubt that would have been much problem; I seriously doubt the Russians would have been anxious to get the Bolshevics back in power. In other words, if the attack had been totally different, it would have been perfect! :P

    Ahm … you doubt holding “would have been” a problem without the condition that would have been needed. Pure hubris of Hitler in the military sense as you listed it can’t be the reason.
    Another thing: do not underestimate the power of patriotism.
    Would you as an USie welcome an international liberation force that freed you of your model of Oligarchie, and installed some proper Democracy? Surely not.


  • Very true F_alk! I’m glad someone revived this post, cause i love talking about it!

    Patriotism is something the Russians had in the ton Stalins country was just so willing to die for the motherland cough cough :lol:
    I also think Germany would have had trouble waging blitzkrieg in the siberian region! :-?


  • @MuthaRussia:

    Very true F_alk! I’m glad someone revived this post, cause i love talking about it!

    Patriotism is something the Russians had in the ton Stalins country was just so willing to die for the motherland cough cough :lol:
    I also think Germany would have had trouble waging blitzkrieg in the siberian region! :-?

    I don’t know, once you get the tanks outfitted for cold, it wouldn’t be too hard, of course I’m going without maps here, but IIRC Siberia is pretty flat, and good for blitzkriegs.


  • Well, a Blitzkrieg means that after breaking enemy lines you can exploit that breakthrough quickly.
    One option is to encircle the enemy, the otehr one is to go for strategically (and to a lesser degree: tactically) important points.
    And for both of these things: it has to happen quickly, thus the name “Blitz”.
    All of that is not problem in populated areas of the world. But in Siberia?
    Blitzing over 100s of kms is not blitzing anymore.


  • The Germans had too many types of tanks, sp’s as well as soft skin vehicles going at the same time that the logistics of getting all the spare parts together was a nightmare enough. Not to mention the fact that German supplies throughout the war were horsedrawn- not a big deal when you are close to Germany but a big pain in the neck when you’re fighting in Stalingrad. Top it off with an economy that wasn’t geared for total war until 1943…


  • @sherman28:

    Not to mention the fact that German supplies throughout the war were horsedrawn- not a big deal when you are close to Germany but a big pain in the neck when you’re fighting in Stalingrad.

    Ahm …
    the US had the only fully motorized army in that war. That doesn’t mean that all or even most of the supply was horsedrawn.
    I suppose that was just the last few kms in areas that had a crappy infrastructure (like parts of the USSR at that time). Otherwise, the main load of supply surey was moved by trains and lorries.


  • Surely one could move German trains into Poland until you got to the Bug River where they met trains of the USSR, which were a different gauge so, you must transfer from one train to the next. I honestly didn’t beleive it myself when I’d read the dreaded wermacht was still very horse dependent. This doesn’t mean they had no trucks carrying supplies just mostly horsedrawn. -especially in the east. In the West the Germans had captured a bunch of equipment from the French- as I understand it they put it to use there. Some of the captrured trucks and tanks ineveitably went East to cover demand. One of those “wow I never knew that” type of things


  • So far, I’m very disappointed with your opinion that operation barbarossa was wrong… So to prevent further altercations, I will probably withdraw from this discussion! :(


  • @MuthaRussia:

    So far, I’m very disappointed with your opinion that operation barbarossa was wrong… So to prevent further altercations, I will probably withdraw from this discussion! :(

    this is a weird thing to be disappointed about.


  • you didnt contribute much to the discussion anyway


  • @sherman28:

    Surely one could move German trains into Poland until you got to the Bug River where they met trains of the USSR, which were a different gauge so, you must transfer from one train to the next.

    Yes, except that would only get you so far until you ran into the scorched earth.


  • exactly- GI-

    To MR- I’m not sure that calling Barrbarossa a mistake is a big deal.

    It was a predetermined event, I think. Sooner or later the Soviets and the Nazi’s would have had it out.


  • When i said disappointed i meant i don’t agree with what you said, sorry if you thought i was angry!
    Also, I did contribute, I read everything, i just didn’t post! For once! :lol:

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