Still, I look at the big map and see the Russians have pushed back a little in the north and wonder what the hell the Germans were thinking putting all their offensive power in the south??? Another gift from that great military strategist Hitler, I guess.
I think Hitler was pushing for the oil fields as a first priority. And just because the Russians were yelling and crying for a second front, does not mean the rest of the world should hop to it. Seems like Stalin was bullying and putting undue pressure on the USA and the UK to help them out.
We were just not ready. We could have invaded France, but we did not have air superiority, we did not have the trained troops or equipment at this point in the war. It would have put our troops up for a slaughter.
If Stalin had not killed Generals and generally purged the military ranks, maybe he would have had experienced military leaders who could have made their fight less costly.
Besides, we already had our “second front” in the Pacific. I hate that so many Russians were killed, but it helped us, the UK and the rest of the world that Germany attacked Russia instead of the UK and that Hitler used so much of his resources (including about a million men lost) against Russia.
Those German forces in North Africa may not have seemed like a decisive distraction based upon raw numbers but in training and in equipment they were tops. It was a second front and by November of 1942 the Americans had joined the Brits in North Africa. The Germans sure could have used a few of Rommels batallions backing up the flanks of Stalingrad that November.