heck99
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Barbarossa-One of the Biggest Military Blunders in HistoryHitler was hell bent on taking down Uncle Joe and the land of the Hammer and Sickle (Russia). It was this obsession that lost what had been until its launch in June 1941 an almost complete victory in Europe (save Operation Sealion and the conquest of Britain, which is whole 'nother bag of beans in itself). The invasion of France and the lower countries was a stunning display of military strategy and might unleashing blitzkrieg across Europe. Hitler had it going pretty well until his twisted mind got the best of him and sealed Germany's fate in June 1941. Barbarossa was a foolish undertaking, with Hitler believing Russia could be overrun by the winter of 42 and 43. It was this undertaking that lost him the war in the end. If only he had listened to his generals ad admirals and attacked through Africa and the Middle East the war may have turned out very different. If he had taken control of the Mediterranean Sea he would have complete control of the Gibraltar straight and set his sights on the Suez Canal. Many things could have been different and this thread is for the discussion of what went wrong and could have happened. This is designed to be like my what-if discussion n the battle of midway in the WAS section and I'll hopefully have more ideas to discuss here too.
-heck
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Field Marshal PF
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Yes Barbarossa was a bad move but it could still have been won, if Hitler waited to completely seize Leningrad and instead going for Stalingrad, he should have concentrated on Moscow, instead of bypassing it. Hitler was a fool indeed.
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oifvet
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If Hitler truly wished success in Operation: Barbarossa, it would have been in his best interest to pacify the Mediterranean region. By using the Regina Imperia combined with the Kriegsmarine and focusing on Rommel's campaign in the desert, Hitler would have possessed the logistical supply lines necessary to conduct a successful land war in Asia.
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Colonel.Panic
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Hitler vs. StalinThe big issue was that at least Hitler knew that if he didnt strike fast enough, Stalin would strike first.
Reading the book by Pavel Sudaplov, intelligence head directly under Beria gave alot of insight in how the Soviets did think. Stalin was according to him planning to attack Germany around spring 1942, but due to the big sweep in the military to rid it of "politically incorrect elements", they were lagging behind in planning. Also, the order "stand and fight" that Hitler fell in love with caused millions of the trained Soviet troops to be surrounded and taken prisoners, instead of retreating fast and take up defences behind rivers, they defended open land and was surrounded.
The book by Hans vin Luck gives a good perspective from the German side of Barbarossa.
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The Mighty A
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I would say that Greece allowed the Soviet victory. After Italy got trounced by the Greeks, Hitler had to send some of his forces to help Italy. This delayed the German invasion causing them to invade Russia closer to winter. Once winter set in, the Germans lost momentum, and the Soviets had time to gather defenses.
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NeuralDream
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| The Mighty A wrote: | | I would say that Greece allowed the Soviet victory. After Italy got trounced by the Greeks, Hitler had to send some of his forces to help Italy. This delayed the German invasion causing them to invade Russia closer to winter. Once winter set in, the Germans lost momentum, and the Soviets had time to gather defenses. |
I wanted to say that, but they'd say I'm biased.
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The Mighty A
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| NeuralDream wrote: | | The Mighty A wrote: | | I would say that Greece allowed the Soviet victory. After Italy got trounced by the Greeks, Hitler had to send some of his forces to help Italy. This delayed the German invasion causing them to invade Russia closer to winter. Once winter set in, the Germans lost momentum, and the Soviets had time to gather defenses. |
I wanted to say that, but they'd say I'm biased. |
Glad to be of service  . I was surprised that nobody had brought it up. Mussolini was fond of starting wars that he couldn't win.
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lotharlutjens
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I will say that one of the biggest contributing factors to Germany doing as well as it did before that first winter was the officers purge conducted by Stalin a few years previously. The Russian officer corps was gutted at the highest levels and when the Germans struck they faced a relatively inexperienced Russian command system.
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