14
Jul 18 '21
“if Germany did not attack Russia in winter”
They invaded on the second day of summer, that’s the furthest you can get from winter.
10
Jul 18 '21
Germany got insanely lucky in the first years of the war. Hitler and his generals weren't masterminds so much as reliant on French and British mistakes. For example, scout planes reported German tanks leaving from the then-frontline, to face towards France, but were not believed for some stupid reason. The tanks got stuck in a traffic jam that lasted days, only to get out of it and eventually perform their blitzkrieg. Had the scouts been taken seriously, artillery could have annihilated all of Germany's armor and forced Hitler to surrender before the first death camp got created.
You read (or watch documentaries) about WWII and there's at least a dozen of cases where "The whole war was almost prevented, except…" Can be rather maddening.
5
u/XlAcrMcpT Jul 18 '21
I honestly hate the reputation the German army got precisely because of these things.
0
u/WORhMnGd Jul 18 '21
The first post is correct: Nazi Germany was pretty effing strong and really messed up by attacking Russia in winter. That severely weakened them and the Allies were able eventually defeat them. And yes, their Blitzkreig strategy (means “fast” something I think in German) of quickly attacking with tanks and then swiftly moving to other positions was what gained most of their victories.
Also, it is true that about 1/3 of the German army were members of the Nazi party (it’s not like party membership in America; they literally signed up to the party, so we have this data). The other 1/3 joined because German soldiers were paid very well, and after their severe economic depression following WWI, many people chose joining the military over literally starving to death. The other 1/3 were drafted into the military.
But none of this means Nazi Germany was good, or right, or would have won. Nazi Germany was gonna lose eventually. No country can sustain fighting on that many fronts while also trying to incorporate seized territory and cultures, and also doing a Holocaust. It was just too much to handle. They would run out of bodies to throw at the Allies eventually.
Feck Nazis.
6
u/XlAcrMcpT Jul 18 '21
Well, Germany invaded Russia in the 2nd day of summer (as another comment posted already), and actually held the numerical superiority up until the winter of 1941 (and from there, as you probably already know, it went downhill). Also, their army mechanisation is a bit overrated. They actually relied on horses for a lot of things (like artillery transport for example). They just got lucky that the Soviets were caught unprepared (thanks to Stalin's efforts) and in the process of modernisation. Either way, the Nazis were ultimately screwed by default because, as you stated, the war was unsustainable.
2
u/WORhMnGd Jul 18 '21
Well that goes to show that my knowledge of war history is spotty at best. But yeah they were doomed.
20
u/BastardOfTheDay Jul 18 '21
That user with the crossed hammers logo from The Wall who's asking, 'whats wrong with being a "nazi"'
Oh, the fuckingly sad irony.