Kai, you hit on one of the more ineteresting side-notes here. Hitler did in fact have a decent picture of the economic/resource aspects. We have all probably read about Hitler constantly berating his generals about how they did not understand the economic aspects of the war. Hitler did have many correct ideas here- take the resources in the Ukraine, etc. Problem was, Hitler ignored the practical difficulties in actually obtaining said resources. It's not just "getting" the resources- it's actually being able to make use of them that's important. I remember Andreas mentioing this previously- you can easily capture the enemy's coal mine. But then you need manpower and machinery to run it, you need transport to get the coal back to germany, and you need extra facilties ot process the coal. Much more difficult than just getting it.
Also, Hitler often ignored the practical battlefield aspects of his resource-based campaigns. Again, it's much easier to plan on capturing an area, but then the troops on the ground (and in the air, etc.!) actually have to succeed.
This created kind of a catch-22... Hitler's armies needed more resources to continue the war, but the armies were too short on resources to capture new ones.
Does that make sense?
Hey, it's Friday. If not, that's my excuse...
