re: What was Axis end goal in WWII?

quote:

---

The second part is the assumption by the Germans that either Russia was just about to launch an attack or would ultimately, and a preemptive war made more sense.

---

From a practical standpoint, Hitler and Stalin weren't that far apart. The Soviets were in the process of standing up 10 Airborne divisions - military forces that have little utility in defense, but were very important during that era for offensive operations. There is little question that Stalin was planning an offensive operation headed somewhere - whether that was Asia or Central/Western Europe - we'll likely never know, but I believe he was planning to hit Hitler before Hitler hit him. He had already done the officer purge and that likely set him back enough to allow for Hitler's first strike.

Most of those units had to get converted to straight leg infantry and were wasted during the bloodletting on the Eastern Front.