re: At full strength who was more powerful in ww2 Germany or US?

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The japs were masters of jungle fighting and it was as brutal as any, however, there weren’t long drawn out campaigns.

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The Japanese were outstanding in the jungle, but they had fought a prolonged war with the Chinese. The just hadn't had to deal with the production disadvantage they had against the U.S. And they were a small nation (for Asia). At a certain point, it wasn't even the production deficit. They could no longer sustain the losses they suffered at the hands of the United States, particularly naval aviation. During a 2-day period in June 1944, we shot down over 600 Japanese aircraft, effectively ending any effective air power the Japanese had for the remainder of the war in the Pacific. It wasn't just the aircraft losses. The loss of so many trained pilots was unrecoverable during the timeframe of the war.

Unpopular opinion - with zero disrespect to the vets of that war.

Our economy (manufacturing capability) won WWII.

Now think about what would happen today sans nukes.

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Our economy (manufacturing capability) won WWII.

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Exactly correct.

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The US could’ve defeated Germany at full strength and then taken on Russia at full strength and still won

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At full strength, Germany had more than 300 divisions.

We had less than 100.

It’s a totally different story if they’re fighting over here, of course.

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The Japanese were outstanding in the jungle, but they had fought a prolonged war with the Chinese. The just hadn't had to deal with the production disadvantage they had against the U.S. And they were a small nation (for Asia). At a certain point, it wasn't even the production deficit. They could no longer sustain the losses they suffered at the hands of the United States, particularly naval aviation. During a 2-day period in June 1944, we shot down over 600 Japanese aircraft, effectively ending any effective air power the Japanese had for the remainder of the war in the Pacific. It wasn't just the aircraft losses. The loss of so many trained pilots was unrecoverable during the timeframe of the war.

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Bingo. Most of the war dealt around naval actions. The losses at Midway, etc., put the Japs in a position that was unrecoverable. Island hopping was a brilliant strategy - why fight when starve them to death?

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Germany couldn't even conquer the UK in 41

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Man, I thought we were talking about the land war. We would’ve smoked everybody at sea.

But it’s foolish to think we stood a chance against the German armed forces on land.

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Their one mistake: switching from bombing RAF/military targets to cities. They had the RAF on the ropes and almost done for. Had that happened, England would have fallen.

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That was one of Gorings many mistakes but from what I’ve read they still didn’t have the capacity to launch operation sea lion (the invasion of Britain). Not enough surface ships to defend the convoy and I don’t think they had the necessary transport or assault boats.

Now, with British fighter cover eliminated I guess they could have just fire bombed London all day and night but not sure they could have launched a full fledged invasion

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Germany couldn't even conquer the UK in 41

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That is a completely different, un-comparable situation.

Our Army size was about 300k in 1940, and these were not highly trained guys. Germanys was 2.5m.

If we are invaded, it is over. If we are given time to mobilize like we were, we are unstoppable.

America never reached its' full strength in WW2. It didn't have to.

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Germany was never for a moment capable of invading, conquering, and successfully pacifying Britain.

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Had Germany adopted a policy of containment of UK power they could have waited until their nuclear program was succesful. It would have been game set match for the Brits.

Hitler's fixation on Russia is what destroyed his dreams. He had the manpower to win in Western Europe. He should have hit Africa to secure oil and waited patiently until 1947. Germany had a HUGE technological advantage that grew wider every year.