Posted on 08/01/2014 4:38:48 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
We saw the house in Amsterdam when my mom and I were there, also my ex-sister-in-law.
That was eerie, Homer.
I think Adolph Hitler had that feeling too, and tried to make it happen.
Normally, as a believer that military operations end when they reach thier logistic limit, I’d be inclined to believe that the Soviets were unable to assist the Poles. Rokossovsky’s armies covered hundreds of miles and participated in two major offensives, Bagation and Lvov-Sandomierz. Bagration had played out and other than grabbing a few bridgeheads in areas that were lightly defended, the Soviets were stopping at the Vistula. Repairing the road and rail network behind them, and getting supplies and new equipment to the front, wasn’t going to get done before the autumn rains. So for all practical purposes, the gigantic Soviet summer offensive is over on this part of the front.
However, what Stalin did at this point is proof that despite thses limitations, he welcomed the opportunity to watch the pro-western Poles and Nazi Germans kill each other. The fact that he incited the uprising, did absolutely nothing to help, and blocked Anglo-American attempts at help issufficient proof that he used this as an opportunity to exterminate potential anti-Soviet elements in Poland. He would have done this anyway, but this way he got Hitler to do it for him.
If Hitler had been a little more broad-minded, he could have used this situation as the one real chance to split the alliance arrayed against him. He could have withdrawn from the immediate area of Warsaw and allowed the Poles to set up their home government. Even better, he could have allowed safe passage of the London Poles to Warsaw to take over, forcing the Brits to recognize them as the official government. Can you imagine Stalin’s reaction to a hostile Polish government, recognized by Great Britain, interposed between his armies and the Germans? What do the allies do when the Poles deny access to the Soviets, as they probably would?
The diplomatic situation between the UK and USSR was dicey enough over the Polish Question. Had Hitler taken adavantage of it, it offered the only real chance to split the Grand Alliance and salvage something other than total defeat.
Don’t you love to see the good guys (us) doing the right thing and winning? Does my heart good.
Hitler knew the Poles would never go for that.
Ironically, one of the men Hitler most admired was Marshall Pilsudski. Even attended his funeral. And when the Nazis invaded in 1939, he had them send a guard detail to guard Pilsudski's tomb. In the early days, Hitler envisioned perhaps having Pilsudski as an ally against the Soviets, knowing full well of Pilsudski's hatred for all things Russian. Although by all accounts of the man, it would have been hard to imagine Pilsudski agreeing to be partners with Hitler.
One reason the Nazis opposed the Poles so much, was because of their racial theories, they surmised that since many Poles had at least some Germanic blood in them, that they would be a formidable foe, and therefore, unlike the other Slavs, that they considered untermenschen and didn't stand as much of a threat, the Germans genuinely saw the Poles as an enemy that had to be wiped out, or else they would always pose a threat to the Reich. It also explains why the Germans never allowed Poles to work as guards at the Death Camps....give a Pole a rifle, and the first thing they'll do with it is shoot the German.
The bad guys won't know what hit 'em. Lovin' it.
Anything in today’s news on Rommel or did I miss something? I don’t even know what happened to him.
For some reason, I’ve always felt like Rommel was a good guy inside (just happened to be on the wrong side outside).
The war of attrition has ground down the German units, who have no replacements. Meanwhile, the torrent of allied troops from Britain continues. Soon, they will have to cope with 9th Army.
This is what Von Runstedt and Rommel knew would result from a static, give no ground defense, but they could not persuade Hitler.
Runstedt and Guderian wanted to pull back in the east, too.
It’s a good thing Hitler was so incompetent, or the war might have lasted a lot longer.
It reminds me of a line in Casablanca where Captain Renault is commenting on Rick sending a girl packing who really, really wanted to party with him. To paraphrase:
How extravagant you are, throwing away soldiers like that. Someday they may be scarce.
I went ahead and deliberately violated henkster’s Law of Alternate History; the alternate history isn’t valid if it involves Hitler not being Hitler and the Germans not being tne Germans. My scenario certainly had Hitler not being Hitler. Whether or not the Poles would have gone for the gambit is irrelevant; to Hitler it was unthinkable.
The Poles were not in an enviable position. They were in the process of exchanging one oppressive occupying alien regime for another. Regardless of whether or not the Warsaw Underground rose up against the Nazis; regardless of the outcome of that uprising, that exchange was going to take place. Poland’s fate was sealed as early as Munich, but certainly no later than Stalingrad.
Rundstedt knew this back in June when he was sacked for telling Keitel "Make peace, you fools!"
Given Hitler's attitude, the disaster at Falaise is just a matter of time. When Cobra was launched, it pretty much meant that all of France was lost. But I can see why Hitler would continue to hold in Normandy as long as possible. The allies were confined to a small area with little room to maneuver, the Germans would never have that short a line to defend, and never have better terrain to defend than the bocage.
Interesting article about the ethnic POWs captured in Normandy. They will probably be sent to the USA, and repatriated across the Pacific. They will have an interesting story to tell.
Unfortunately for them, since they are being repatriated to Stalin’s USSR, they will be telling their stories to NKVD interrogators, and will most likely never be heard from again.
Heh, good example.
"Foyle's War" had an episode about Russian prisoners in England committing suicide rather than be sent back to Russia.
While we're looking at the onrushing Red Army and thinking that's good, it's edifying to remember what came after.
The repatriations to the Soviet Union were certainly not our finest hour. I suppose if we hadn't agreed to it, however, Stalin would not have sent home the British and American POW's they liberated.
Good point. No chance of Stalin’s doing the right thing just because it was the right thing.
I’ve been thinking about this all day. It’s so teenage! But also, she’s recognized the internal division St. Paul wrote about: the good I want to do, I do not do, while I do the evil I don’t want to do.
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