Posted on 03/22/2020 2:49:31 PM PDT by NorseViking
The USSR fought the Axis out of necessity; when given the choice, they had a non-aggression pact with Hitler, seized whole countries in the Baltics and parts of Finland and Poland, and brutally repressed the peoples there. They murdered the presidents of Latvia and Estonia in gulags, and eliminated their middle classes. Every country along their border sent volunteers to fight them; they knew what Soviet occupation meant, and most of Europe was dealing with communist revolutions within their own borders. Communism led to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini because the very way of life of those countries was endangered by communist revolution. The irony can’t be lost on people considering Stalin helped Hitler re-arm without detection.
It is a shame they weren’t destroyed along with Hitler; revisionist history won’t cleanse their bloody hands.
Just that they are referred to as “Russians” instead of “Soviets” shows the inroads they’ve made in re-writing history. They were primarily Russians at the top, subjugating numerous minorities along the borders where Russians lived.
All of Western world fought the Axis out of necessity.
Most of the Western world wasn’t in bed with Hitler before he kicked them out, and the US didn’t have to fight in the European theater - they could have just fought Japan (and let Hitler destroy communism once and for all before the British empire, unhindered by Japan, rolled over Germany).
The Panzer Lied scene was ok.
Almost every corporation in the U.S. and Western Europe were all to glad to business with the Germans. They were also glad to do business with the Russians.
What were we suppose to do about the Germans declaring war on us after Pearl Harbor, ignore them?
The British Empire lacked the manpower and the industrial capacity to deal with the Germans by themselves.
It took the combined manpower and industrial power of the United States, the British Empire and the Soviet Union to subdue Germany.
Britain was fighting Germany AND Japan AND Italy alone when they won the Battle of Britain; both the island itself and most of the empire was safely out of reach of all three of them. When Germany couldn’t win the Battle of Britain, it was clear their vaunted war machine was a short-range weapon for a short-term war (the early Blitz campaigns). With no aircraft carriers, no real long-range bombers to speak of beyond prototypes, it was clear they posed little threat outside of continental Europe.
It was Germany that lacked the manpower and industrial capacity to deal with Britain; that is why they needed Romanian and Libyan oil, Czech factories, countless foreign troops, etc.
So there would have been the island of Great Britain, and a completely German controlled Europe.
while that may have been a political solution, it did not fit with the agenda.
the einsatzgruppen aktions made it impossible to placate the citizens, even though many of them initially were happy to see the invasion.
But once the Red Army was defeated, Hitler could have then turned around and did whatever he wanted.
No, there would have been the island of Great Britain supported by the empire (especially that outside of the reach of Japan, like South Africa and the African colonies, Canada and the Western Hemisphere colonies, and the Middle Eastern colonies). Germany (and German-controlled Europe) had no means to reaching those vast resources supporting Britain. In the end, the Axis failed to take even Gibraltar or Malta.
True enough.
However, the Red Army was never really defeated, obviously..even with the massive attrition losses up to and including Operation typhoon, the reds were able to contain the Wehrmacht
by then, it was too late to placate.....the partisan movement was in full swing...including many red army soldiers that escaped the encirclements during the initial phases of barbarossa, and a citizenry that was more than willing to fight the germans, after witnessing the activities of the Einsaztgruppen, and the atrocities of the wehrmacht, in general.
it seems that the liquidation of the “useless eaters” and political enemies was more important to the nazis than winning over the population. In hindsight, a strategic blunder.
The end result, Germany controls all of Western Europe, except the British isles. There is nothing the Brits can do about it other than ankle bite the Germans if the opportunity arose. The Empire did not have the resources or manpower to retake Western Europe from the Germans.
Germany controlling all of Western Europe ends up a lot like Germany in early 1918 - “winning the war” while starving to death, fighting with old, worn weapons. The resources needed by continental Europe would be completely controlled by Britain - because the sun never set on the British Empire.
Except the Empire of the Rising Sun had crushed the British Empire East of India. Without American aid, the Brits lacked sufficient escort vessels for their convoys. Without American aid their ability to counter the U-boat threat was greatly reduced. Every gallon of oil or gasoline, 65% of the food, 100% strategic metals came to Britian in ships. Even with our aid, the Germans almost sealed off the British isles in 41 & 42.
The Japanese aspect was why I left Australia, New Zealand, Burma, India, Malaysia, etc. - they could do little to help.
After losing the Battle of Britain in 1940, Germany showed it had no way of winning the war. It couldn’t hold territory outside of the continent itself, and again - couldn’t even take Gibraltar.
couldn’t even take Gibraltar.
Operation Felix was cancelled because Franco didn’t want to get Spain involved in the war. The Germans really never tried to take Gibraltar.
Operation Felix was a pipe dream; Franco had nothing to contribute to the war at that point he told Hitler he couldn’t win anyway (in 1940), and Spain had no way to protect the Canary Islands or other outlying regions from seizure by the British.
Hitler couldn’t even take Gibraltar, and combined with Mussolini couldn’t even take Malta. They were a land-bound offensive force, unable to project force across bodies of water. Eventually their troops in Africa were abandoned to surrender, and within months Italy itself was invaded.
true, but the Germans dominated Europe. there was nothing the Brits could do about it. The lacked the power for a cross channel invasion without the United States.
They’d be starved of resources.
Germany dominated Europe in WWI; they surrendered while holding allied territory, with their homeland safely in their hands.
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