Text 8180, 105 rader
Skriven 2005-01-29 15:21:31 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
   Kommentar till text 8164 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
Ärende: Ww 2
============
29 Jan 05 09:45, TIM RICHARDSON wrote to VERN HUMPHREY:

 TR> On 01-29-05, VERN HUMPHREY said to ED HULETT:

 EH>> VH> Oh, yeah!  Engine blocks cracked, or froze solid, weapons 
 EH>> VH> froze up, supplies couldn't get forward -- it was Napoleon's 
 EH>> VH> Retreat all over - except Hitler did't have the sense to get 
 EH>> VH> out while the getting was good.


 EH>>He was too obsessed with his dream of empire.


 VH>>He was also obsessed with "The Will."  He believed he could make 
 VH>>things happen by merely willing it hard enough.



 TR> For many years I read various books by different German military 
 TR> leaders, and
 TR> non-military authors, on the subject of Hitlers war in the Soviet 
 TR> Union. I
 TR> always wondered why Hitler didn't win that war with the Russians.


 TR> In the early 1990's I found a large map that included all of 
 TR> Europe, from the
 TR> coastal areas of Europe on the Atlantic Coast of France (including 
 TR> the
 TR> British Isles), all the way to the Eastern extreme of the 
 TR> Contintent. The
 TR> entire Soviet Union.


 TR> And when you look at the map, and see Germany, think about the 
 TR> military
 TR> allies Germany had at the time in Europe (Italy and Rumania); 
 TR> realize that
 TR> Germany had troops in North Africa fighting the English, troops in 
 TR> the
 TR> Northern Countries guarding their vital iron ore sources and 
 TR> keeping the
 TR> seaways safe for ore transports; troops occupying Western Europe 
 TR> and guarding
 TR> the Atlantic Coast; and then look at what was then `The Soviet 
 TR> Union', with
 TR> its *vast* interior, its many `Republics' under the domination of 
 TR> the
 TR> government in the Kremlin, its *huge* supply of natural resources, 
 TR> not to
 TR> mention its gigantic potential of overwhelming manpower; its a 
 TR> wonder one of
 TR> Hitler's generals didn't just put their Luger to Hitlers forehead 
 TR> and drop
 TR> him in one of his military conferences before the invasion of the 
 TR> Soviet
 TR> Union ever began.


 TR> No wonder Hitler didn't win; there was never a chance he would in 
 TR> the first
 TR> place. It was comparable to a man showing up for a gunfight, armed 
 TR> only with
 TR> a beanbag.


 TR> In size, Germany compared to the old Soviet Union like the state 
 TR> of Delaware
 TR> compares to the rest of the Continental United States.


 TR> I can't believe there weren't Generals in the German military that 
 TR> didn't
 TR> know there was no chance in the world to win a war against the 
 TR> Soviets, and
 TR> just shot Hitler out of hand.

Don't forget that Hitler had a bunch of fanatics around him who would take out
anybody who even looked like they might be thinking along those lines.  Then,
you have the old school Prussian aristocracy and its history of military duty
that went back hundreds of years.  They were no more capable of doing what you
suggest than our generals would be.  There were, despite all that, at least two
major attempts on his life, both of which failed miserably, and both of which
resulted in an almost Stalin-like purge of the military officer corps.

Regarding the Russia campaign, I've always thought that the Germans would've
had a good chance of winning it if they had bypassed and isolated the major
Russian cities, and concentrated on disabling the rail systems going east from
Moscow, Stalingrad, etc.  What kept Russia in the game aside from their winters
was the fact that they were able to dismantle their factories and haul them
deep into the interior of Russia where the Germans couldn't reach them.  When
they came rolling back, it was with thousands of T-34 tanks that were equal if
not better than anything the Germans had, and plenty of Ilyushin fighters that
were also excellent tank busters.  The great tank battle at Kursk broke the
back of the last chance Germany had, although the Russians absorbed horrendous
losses in doing it.


John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
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--- Msged/386 TE 05
 * Origin:  (1:379/1.99)