16 Comments
тна Return to thread

Roosevelt was figuring out how to get America in the war. Hitler made it easy on Roosevelt. Hitler made many blunders but that was probably the most stupid.

Expand full comment

And he should have waited until spring to attack Russia.

Expand full comment

Bailing out el Duce in Greece got in the way of Hitler's plans. Hitler made mistake after mistake after 1940 fortunately.

Expand full comment

Yep. Some also think that the British provoked an anti-German coup in Yugoslavia to force the Germans to invade and so delay the USSR invasion by 6 weeks

Expand full comment

Where were Guy Burgess and Kim Philby at the time?

Expand full comment

They were moles in the UK, as I am sure you know, but if they had anything to do with that Yugoslavia policy they did it without the blessings of Moscow; remember, Stalin refused to believe Richard Sorge or any other intelligence source who reported the invasion was imminent.

Expand full comment

He should not have attacked Russia, period. Or if he was going to, wait until the UK is conquered and subjugated. He was a fool of fools to try to do both at once.

Expand full comment

I absolutely agree. There's really only been one successful invasion of Russia, and that was from the East, the Mongols.

Expand full comment

That's the interesting thing. The Russians, historically, aren't good at offensive campaigns. However, they are hell on defense. Combine motivated Russian boys with the winter, it is a nut tough to crack.

Expand full comment

Hitler need the oil only available to him from the Soviet Union due to the British naval blockade. Secondarily, he needed the wheat from the Ukraine also due to the blockade. Otherwise, Germany would be slowly ground down.

Once the R.A.F. saved Britain and the British navy, Hitler really had no reasonable choice except to attack the Soviet Union..

I used to teach history. I gave the three keys to allied victory as the R.A.F., the U.S. Navy, and Detroit.

Expand full comment

The USSR and Germany were allies, at least in the business of Poland. No reason Germany could no have obtained oil and wheat by plain old trade.

Expand full comment

Not likely. Hitler did not consider Stalin a reliable and trusted trade partner. Stalin could turn off the hose anytime he wanted.

Interestingly, Soviet trains reportedly rolled across the border with raw materials until the hour the invasion started.

Expand full comment

Hitler hated the communists too much to not want to attack them. And there was the racist in Hitler. He considered the Russians sub-human. Russia and the Ukraine offered Germany fields of wheat and living space.

Expand full comment

What Hitler considered turned out not to be wise. That's the point. He effed up.

Expand full comment

He came damned close to winning.

Expand full comment

But he did not win. If he had been smart and not tried to fight a two-front war (could have waited for one or the other), he might have indeed won.

Expand full comment