After reading The Devil's Virtuosos, I think Hitler could have actually crushed Soviet Union if he had allowed Manstein and Guderian do their jobs. See there were two main tactics proposed by the Wehrmacht: One was a more careful, methodical approach to strike the Soviet Union in three different points and destroy it one part at the time (proposed by the ever-so-careful German Supreme High Command) and the other being a all-or-nothing charge straight to Moscow (proposed by the combined mad genius of Manstein and Guderian, the men responsible for the defeat of France).
Hitler in his infinite wisdom chose not to favor one or the other, but instead favor both to the detriment of everyone. If even with such monumental tactical stupidity the Wehrmacht got as close as it got to beating the Soviet Union, imagine if he had simply sided with Manstein and Guderian. Moscow would have fallen and the Soviet Union would fall in utter chaos without its dear leader.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."I think that equating the potential capture of Moscow with the total defeat of the Soviet Union is wrong.
While,undoubtly, the fall of its capital & major railroad hub would be a serious blow to the USSR, it wouldn't be a fatal one.
By the time the Germans were outside Moscow, most of the Soviet government had evacuated to Kuybyshev note where they were planning to resume business as usual. The soviet (ever-growing) industry had also been moved beyond the Urals, where it was safe from German attacks & raids.
One must also not forget that a large chunk of the population of european USSR had also been forced into a mass exodus into Asia. Which would undoubtly bolster the already existing fresh, numerous & battle-ready Siberian divisions.
So Hitler finds himself in a situation where he's, at best, locked into endless guerilla war that's likely to bleed out him faster that it does the Soviets. Or, at worst, his troops are sitting in a ruined city, in the middle of winter, waiting for the inevitable Soviet counter-attack.note
edited 3rd Oct '14 10:38:08 AM by LogoP
It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.@Demarquis: That was the main excuse, but I'd say the main reason was Hitler not wanting competition and his intense hatred of Slavs and Socialism. There were other, easier sources of oil proposed by several officers (namely Rommel), though none come to mind right now.
@Logo P: The thing is, if Hitler followed Manstein's gambit, Moscow would have fallen a lot sooner (assuming Manstein's gambit would work as envisioned) and the Soviet government would have a lot less time to transfer its assets and members to other places.
It probably wouldn't earn Hitler victory either way, but after reading the Devil's Virtuosos, I'm of the opinion it'd have been a lot more succeful.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."Well, that and the fact Himmler had a bunch of Nordic runes everywhere, a Supervillain Lair for a castle, and practicsed pagan rituals in said castle.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."![]()
He kind of tried. There's a book called Hitler's Holy Relics that is very enlightening in how Hitler emplolyed old mysticism to help him up (though in a tangent, Hitler was more of a supertitious agnostic than anything. He asked for help of all pantheons and gods if he thought it would help him, but had loyalty and belief in no religion). Which is why he had the Spear of Longinus and the jewels of the Holy Roman Empire with him.
@Not Invading Poland: I'm not seeing it. As someone mentioned, not moving anywhere contradicts Hitler's plan to create Lebensraum and the public sure as hell wouldn't be interested with only what they had at the moment.
So, Hitler needed to have a clear back, so that he's not double-teamed once he tries to attack the other side. Since he was aware of Alliance's general passiveness it all came down to whether we're with him or against him.
So here's a thought: Poland does join The Anti-Comintern Pact, securing Hitler's rear and allowing him to attack West with impunity. How would this play out, assuming Germany has more time to tech up their army - say, up to 1940 - and French still practice Sitzkrieg doing nothing?
Depends on whether Stalin can be trusted or will he stab Germany in the back once he's fully engaged in the West? Hitler certainly assumed he would. If Hitler was right about Stalin, then a Russian/Polish alliance attacks Germany while Germany is fighting in France, or maybe during the Battle of Britain.
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.Lets see, the main barrier to the Poles joining an alliance with Germany is the number of German speakers within Polish territory, a result of the armistice that ended WWI. Germans still resented that very much in the late 1930's, and bringing the German nation together into one state was practically the entire basis of the Nazi's foreign policy. So there are some real challenges here. The only way I see this working is if Poland gives it's German majority territory to Germany in exchange for territory in Russia. Therefore, a German-Polish alliance attacks Russia almost immediately.
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.edited 19th Oct '14 10:46:35 AM by Antiteilchen

Pretty sure the same was true of Russia, though, and look how that worked out.
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