Could Germany have won "the Great Patriotic War?"


  • i’ve read that Hitler’s obsession with “the Final Solution” helped lead to the undoing of the Russian campaign (as well?). Basically supply lines ran short, trains were diverted, as were other tools and resources for the managment of the camps and keeping them to their full gruesome capacity. Basically their obsession with Jew/gay/disable/etc. slaughter kept the army from being up to snuff and was quite instrumental in the stalling of the Russian campaign.


  • @Yanny:

    Bossk, however, when Barbarossa failed, the Germans were not beaten. During the Spring and Summer months, Russia had problems fighting Germany, and were hanging on by their fingernails.

    The Russians may have had some stratigic difficulties early in the war, due to the purges mostly, but ultimately the Germans had not real chance against such immensely superior industrial capacity (which even if Germany had more aircraft on the front, they could never really touch) and sheer numbers. Stanlingrad was only threatened very seriously in the initial week or two, and even then a victory there would have been rather empty. Leningrad is basicly a completely flat marshland with rather nice weather (for Russia) and yet the germans couldn’t take it even after 900 days of seige. The Germans had lost momentum, after a few days of fighting an enemy that existed everywhere they turned German troops became severly demoralized and lost the will to win any sort of objective except perhaps getting home alive. If the Russians were just holding on with their fingernails, how did they come back mere months later to win such stunning victories as the encirclement of Stalingrad or the Battle of Kursk? Armor and numerical superiority, plus the vast expances the Russians could work with all gave them a definate edge on the Germans, after Barbarossa.


  • @bossk:

    … but ultimately the Germans had not real chance against such immensely superior industrial capacity (which even if Germany had more aircraft on the front, they could never really touch) and sheer numbers.

    about the “sheer numbers”: ok, about the immensly superior industrial capacity: i doubt that severely, i have to look it up.
    If the USSR had so much more resources, why did they ever have famines etc.? I will look that up though.

    If the Russians were just holding on with their fingernails, how did they come back mere months later to win such stunning victories as the encirclement of Stalingrad or the Battle of Kursk? Armor and numerical superiority, plus the vast expances the Russians could work with all gave them a definate edge on the Germans, after Barbarossa.

    Kursk was stupidity by the germans. You could easily see what they were buliding up, plus the USSR did a good job on providing false information for german spies.
    Stalingrad was a winter battle, and Yanny talked of summer battles.


  • Also, you cannot deny had it just been Germany vs Russia, well that war would of lasted for many years past 1945. The German Technological advantage was growing every day. It was only a matter of time before the Germans had the Long Ranged Bombers capable of hitting the Russian Industrial base east of the Urals.


  • Kursk was stupidity by the germans. You could easily see what they were buliding up, plus the USSR did a good job on providing false information for german spies.

    Even if the Germans won the battle and destroyed every Soviet tank without losing one of their own it wouldn’t have done much to change the overall war effort.

    about the “sheer numbers”: ok, about the immensly superior industrial capacity: i doubt that severely, i have to look it up.

    “By the Spring of 1943, the Russians were massing weapons systems that were outnumbering the Germans in the area of 10 to 1 for artillery, 5 to 1 for arm, 3 to 1 for Ftrs and Ground assault aircraft.”

    “By December 1941 the Russians were already starting to outproduce the Germans.”

    If the USSR had so much more resources, why did they ever have famines etc.? I will look that up though

    The stupidity of Stalin.

    The German Technological advantage was growing every day. It was only a matter of time before the Germans had the Long Ranged Bombers capable of hitting the Russian Industrial base east of the Urals.

    Long range bombing is based on air superiority… simply the Germans didn’t have it, even if they had tech breakthroughs in strategic bombing…
    Also you are forgeting that Russian Technological advantage was growing daily. The Russians AFV’s were far superior to what the Germans had, especially the JS series. Imagine if the JSIII had entered into service before the war had ended…


  • Yeah, but imagine if the German Industry had the chance to produce a large number of Tiger tanks. Those things are fearsome. So were the V2s and Jet Fighters. And hell, the Mg42 is still in use today. The Mp44 and Mp40 were great weapons. And the K43 matched pretty much any rifle the Russians had.


  • V2s

    Hahaha, you mean the V2’s that did more harm then good for Germany? Besides, the Russians were much smarter when it came to rocket technology. Maybe not smarter, but they knew how to put it to good use (Katyusha). Of course this has more to do with mircoeconomy. The V2 hardly carried a payload close enough to doing any real damage.

    The Mp44 and Mp40 were great weapons

    The Mp40 was not so great of a weapon. It had a tendency to jam and wasn’t very accurate. The STG44 was a good design but only 500,000 were produced and only a fraction of those actually made it to the front lines. Again this has too much to do with mircoeconomy.

    Yeah, but imagine if the German Industry had the chance to produce a large number of Tiger tanks

    Hahaha, by the time it took to produce one Tiger, The Russians could build 3-5 T-34’s. The Tiger tank was an inferior weapon.

    The Russian Department of Weaponry made note of the vehicle’s unreliability in 1944 when it wrote:

    “It is suggested to the Red Army to use such German tanks as the StuG III and Pz IV due to their reliability and the availability of spare parts. The new German Panther and Tiger can be used until they are broken down without trying to repair them. They have bad engines, transmission and suspension.”

    Due to its heavy armor and heavy 88mm gun, the engine was at its limit to move the tank more than 38kmh/24mph on roads. Also, its overlapping-wheel suspension liked to clog with mud. If the mud froze, the tank would be stranded. Logistically the Tiger was a nightmare – again it was another weapon that did more harm then good. And again, the Tiger tank was a response to Russian improvements in AFV technology.

    Macroeconomics was one level Germans could never hope to compete.


  • Germany’s main problem throughout the war was Hitler’s desire to destroy communism and the Russian people almost as much as Jews. Had he prehaps been overthrown not too late in the war, perhaps a better, more able person could become the next leader of Germany, such as Rommel, who the people already loved. He might have been able to convince the Russians into a peace favorable to Germany and create an actual “1000 year Reich”

    When discussing if Germany could defeat Russia in a one-front war, there are many different factors to take into consideration. It could depend on whether Britain simply made peace with Germany or if they were conquered by them in an alternate history where Operation Sealion is launched and suceeds. This would give the German’s the power of England’s Royal Navy and RAF.

    Either way, the war would have dragged on for many more years, perhaps even into the 50’s. By then, I believe the more advanced German technologies could give them what they need to win. Despite how dedicated many Russians were for defeating Germany, how willing would they be to fight after witnessing atomic bombs explode over them?


  • When discussing if Germany could defeat Russia in a one-front war, there are many different factors to take into consideration. It could depend on whether Britain simply made peace with Germany or if they were conquered by them in an alternate history where Operation Sealion is launched and suceeds. This would give the German’s the power of England’s Royal Navy and RAF.

    Either way, the war would have dragged on for many more years, perhaps even into the 50’s. By then, I believe the more advanced German technologies could give them what they need to win. Despite how dedicated many Russians were for defeating Germany, how willing would they be to fight after witnessing atomic bombs explode over them?

    Heh… pretty unlikely set of “what-if” problems. :-?


  • I say we come up with a set of rules and restart this topic (Its a fun topic).

    For Example:

    German Airforce still intact?
    German Navy and Uboats still intact?
    Egypt Conquered?
    What about Japan?

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