[dfwgator]

I always wondered if Hitler would have allowed the Russians to set up a puppet state, like Vichy, how many Russians would have gladly taken up the offer, to escape the Stalinist tyranny?

The Nazis didn’t leave the Russians any choice, but to fight back, even if it was for Comrade Stalin.

[Yorlik803]

Good point. Hitler was ham handed in his treatment of the Ukrainians and that was stupid because they hated Stalin as much if not more than the Germans.

[fso301]

I always wondered if Hitler would have allowed the Russians to set up a puppet state, like Vichy

Yes. When one looks at the objectives of Operation Barbarossa, the Germans were interested in a line from Archangel down the Volga to Stalingrad and the Caspian Sea. Hitler wanted the food and metals of the Ukraine, fish of the Black Sea and oil of the Caucases. The region between the Volga and Urals was generally regarded as German dominated but not necessarily part of the German Reich.