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- #181
Elmas, I agree with those historians who say the French were capable of stoping the Germans. They just needed more agressivity. The Germans were lucky in the French campaign, not so superior.
About the Nazis and industry, well, something to think (including content for the question I addressed for Parsifal):
In the summer of 1940, when German raw materials crises and a potential collision with the Soviet Union over territory in the Balkans arose, an eventual invasion of the Soviet Union looked increasingly like Hitler's only solution.[40] While no concrete plans were made yet, Hitler told one of his generals in June that the victories in western Europe "finally freed his hands for his important real task: the showdown with Bolshevism",[41] though German generals told Hitler that occupying Western Russia would create "more of a drain than a relief for Germany's economic situation."[42] The Führer anticipated additional benefits:
When the Soviet Union was defeated, the labor shortage in German industry could be relieved by demobilization of many soldiers.
Ukraine would be a reliable source of agricultural products.
Having the Soviet Union as a source of forced labor under German rule would vastly improve Germany's geostrategic position.
Defeat of the Soviet Union would further isolate the Allies, especially the United Kingdom.
The German economy needed more oil and controlling the Baku Oilfields would achieve this; as Albert Speer, the German Minister for Armaments and War Production, later said in his interrogation, "the need for oil certainly was a prime motive" in the decision to invade.[43]
Weisung Nr. 21: Fall Barbarossa
On 5 December 1940, Hitler received military plans for the invasion, and approved them all, with the start scheduled for May 1941.[44] On 18 December, Hitler signed War Directive No. 21 to the German High Command for an operation now codenamed "Operation Barbarossa" stating: "The German Wehrmacht must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia in a quick campaign."[44][45] The operation was named after Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, a leader of the Third Crusade in the 12th century. The invasion was set for 15 May 1941.[45] In the Soviet Union, speaking to his generals in December, Stalin mentioned Hitler's references to an attack on the Soviet Union in Mein Kampf, and said they must always be ready to repulse a German attack, and that Hitler thought the Red Army would need four years to ready itself. Hence, "we must be ready much earlier" and "we will try to delay the war for another two years."[46]
In autumn 1940, high-ranking German officials drafted a memorandum on the dangers of an invasion of the Soviet Union. They said Ukraine, Belorussia and the Baltic States would end up as only a further economic burden for Germany.[47] Another German official argued that the Soviets in their current bureaucratic form were harmless, the occupation would not produce a gain for Germany and "why should it not stew next to us in its damp Bolshevism?"[47]
Hitler ignored German economic naysayers, and told Hermann Göring that "everyone on all sides was always raising economic misgivings against a threatening war with Russia. From now onwards he wasn't going to listen to any more of that kind of talk and from now on he was going to stop up his ears in order to get his peace of mind."[48] This was passed on to General Georg Thomas, who had been preparing reports on the negative economic consequences of an invasion of the Soviet Union — that it would be a net economic drain unless it was captured intact.[48]
Operation Barbarossa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not a very different idea from the Japanese: "the enemy will fight in the way I want". Of course, if the enemy didn't - and we all know it didn't - it happened in the way it happened.
About the Nazis and industry, well, something to think (including content for the question I addressed for Parsifal):
In the summer of 1940, when German raw materials crises and a potential collision with the Soviet Union over territory in the Balkans arose, an eventual invasion of the Soviet Union looked increasingly like Hitler's only solution.[40] While no concrete plans were made yet, Hitler told one of his generals in June that the victories in western Europe "finally freed his hands for his important real task: the showdown with Bolshevism",[41] though German generals told Hitler that occupying Western Russia would create "more of a drain than a relief for Germany's economic situation."[42] The Führer anticipated additional benefits:
When the Soviet Union was defeated, the labor shortage in German industry could be relieved by demobilization of many soldiers.
Ukraine would be a reliable source of agricultural products.
Having the Soviet Union as a source of forced labor under German rule would vastly improve Germany's geostrategic position.
Defeat of the Soviet Union would further isolate the Allies, especially the United Kingdom.
The German economy needed more oil and controlling the Baku Oilfields would achieve this; as Albert Speer, the German Minister for Armaments and War Production, later said in his interrogation, "the need for oil certainly was a prime motive" in the decision to invade.[43]
Weisung Nr. 21: Fall Barbarossa
On 5 December 1940, Hitler received military plans for the invasion, and approved them all, with the start scheduled for May 1941.[44] On 18 December, Hitler signed War Directive No. 21 to the German High Command for an operation now codenamed "Operation Barbarossa" stating: "The German Wehrmacht must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia in a quick campaign."[44][45] The operation was named after Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, a leader of the Third Crusade in the 12th century. The invasion was set for 15 May 1941.[45] In the Soviet Union, speaking to his generals in December, Stalin mentioned Hitler's references to an attack on the Soviet Union in Mein Kampf, and said they must always be ready to repulse a German attack, and that Hitler thought the Red Army would need four years to ready itself. Hence, "we must be ready much earlier" and "we will try to delay the war for another two years."[46]
In autumn 1940, high-ranking German officials drafted a memorandum on the dangers of an invasion of the Soviet Union. They said Ukraine, Belorussia and the Baltic States would end up as only a further economic burden for Germany.[47] Another German official argued that the Soviets in their current bureaucratic form were harmless, the occupation would not produce a gain for Germany and "why should it not stew next to us in its damp Bolshevism?"[47]
Hitler ignored German economic naysayers, and told Hermann Göring that "everyone on all sides was always raising economic misgivings against a threatening war with Russia. From now onwards he wasn't going to listen to any more of that kind of talk and from now on he was going to stop up his ears in order to get his peace of mind."[48] This was passed on to General Georg Thomas, who had been preparing reports on the negative economic consequences of an invasion of the Soviet Union — that it would be a net economic drain unless it was captured intact.[48]
Operation Barbarossa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not a very different idea from the Japanese: "the enemy will fight in the way I want". Of course, if the enemy didn't - and we all know it didn't - it happened in the way it happened.
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