re: OT - History Baws WW2 question

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Hitler was absolutely incorrect with this statement. He certainly kicked the door in with his push east, but much to his surprise the house absolutely did not come crashing down. Instead he kicked the hornets nest and shite got real. Realllllllll fast from that point on.

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"Within a single week, German forces advanced 200 miles into Soviet territory, destroyed nearly 4,000 aircraft, and killed, captured, or wounded some 600,000 Red Army troops. By December of 1941, German troops were within sight of Moscow, and they laid siege to the city. But, when the notorious Russian winter (nicknamed "General Winter") set in, German advances came to a halt. By the end of this, one of the largest, deadliest military operations in history, Germany had suffered some 775,000 casualties. More than 800,000 Soviets had been killed, and an additional 6 million Soviet soldiers had been wounded or captured." Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, July 24, 2011. Some Soviet sources claim that even Joe Steel had an emotional breakdown during the German onslaught.

Playing historical what if has often been compared to mental masturbation. It feels good, but accomplishes nothing! But what if Mussolini hadn't gotten his dumb arse kicked in Greece. Hitler was forced to intervene in the Balkans, and had to postpone the Soviet invasion from May 15, 1941 to June 22, 1941. What could have happened with an additional 37 days of fine offensive weather? Possibly the fall of Moscow and the end of the war. It was that close!

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Massive to us. Not massive to Russia. Russia simply had to outlast. "Victory the Germans to death" those massive victories early on were the exact undoing for them in the following years. Russia had the replacements. The Germans didn't.

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6.8 million casualties are massive to anyone. The Soviet population was about 197 million in 1941. The American population was about 133 million at this time. Imagine if we had taken the equivalent casualties (4.6 million) in the first 6 months! The Third Reich had a population of 90 million. 775 thousand is 0.86% of Germans. 6.8 million is 3.45% of Soviet population! The Germans inflicted over 4X the comparable casualties! And a percentage of the 775k German casualties were wounded who returned to the front, and even a cripple could contribute to the war effort. 0% of the 6 million POWs returned to aid the Soviets.

"The Victory the Germans to Death" didn't start until the following year (1942) when Hitler the "military genius" (sarcasm) wasted German offensive power in attacks into the vast and non strategic Soviet lands: Stalingrad 1942-1943 and Kursk 1943.

Finally, I didn't intend to imply that the Soviets maintained massive forces in Siberia. By "some" I ment land forces to guard the frontier, naval units to protect their Pacific coast, and enough air power to back them up. Yes the vast bulk of their eastern forces were sent west to participate in the 1941-42 Winter Offensives.