I never knew anyone to consider Hitler a tactical genius, considering that it was his biggest shortcoming as Nazi Overlord. By about three hundred miles.
I think Germany could have beaten the Soviets if three conditions were met:
1: Contain Britain as opposed to attempting an invasion. Britain could never invade the mainland by itself and was effectively neutered by mid-1940.
2: Concentrate forces more efficiently during Barbarossa and strike fast and hard directly at Moscow. A bureaucratic monstrosity such as Soviet Russia would be wrecked by the loss of its government (as much of it stuck around even when the Germans actually got within sight of the city). That would give the unified German forces time enough to secure much of western Russia, where most of the industry and population centers were.
3: Don't declare war on the United Fucking States of America just because Japan wanted to scrap with them. This was probably the worst mistake Hitler made, because it suddenly opened up worlds of possibility for a badly-beleaguered Allied force. The alternative was alienating an ally half a world away and of practically zero tactical importance.
It's a new thing lately to agree with the long-held Russian conceit that they could have handled Hitler by themselves, but the fact is that they only barely managed to do that even with the much-smaller German forces divided ultimately into three parts. They had the U.S.A. not only supplying the majority of two extra fronts, but the Soviets also relied heavily on American-subsidized equipment and matériel, as the Germans had effectively wrecked much of the Soviet's native manufacturing capacity.
The world tends to get upset when America reminds everyone that we won that war, but it's true. America turned the tide in Europe. While fighting a major war against Japan in the Pacific. By themselves. And all that without total mobilization and from a great geographical distance on both ends.
Maybe some people get tired of hearing it, but I don't. When it came to the second world war, America was totally fucking bad ass. :FuckYou:
I think Germany could have beaten the Soviets if three conditions were met:
1: Contain Britain as opposed to attempting an invasion. Britain could never invade the mainland by itself and was effectively neutered by mid-1940.
2: Concentrate forces more efficiently during Barbarossa and strike fast and hard directly at Moscow. A bureaucratic monstrosity such as Soviet Russia would be wrecked by the loss of its government (as much of it stuck around even when the Germans actually got within sight of the city). That would give the unified German forces time enough to secure much of western Russia, where most of the industry and population centers were.
3: Don't declare war on the United Fucking States of America just because Japan wanted to scrap with them. This was probably the worst mistake Hitler made, because it suddenly opened up worlds of possibility for a badly-beleaguered Allied force. The alternative was alienating an ally half a world away and of practically zero tactical importance.
It's a new thing lately to agree with the long-held Russian conceit that they could have handled Hitler by themselves, but the fact is that they only barely managed to do that even with the much-smaller German forces divided ultimately into three parts. They had the U.S.A. not only supplying the majority of two extra fronts, but the Soviets also relied heavily on American-subsidized equipment and matériel, as the Germans had effectively wrecked much of the Soviet's native manufacturing capacity.
The world tends to get upset when America reminds everyone that we won that war, but it's true. America turned the tide in Europe. While fighting a major war against Japan in the Pacific. By themselves. And all that without total mobilization and from a great geographical distance on both ends.
Maybe some people get tired of hearing it, but I don't. When it came to the second world war, America was totally fucking bad ass. :FuckYou:
YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER
WE STAND AT THE DOOR
WE STAND AT THE DOOR