Indeed, these alternative strategies depend on Hitler not being in power really. A coo I suppose I could have added to my scenario. Peace in summer 42 would have been even better as Sebastopol did not fall til 42, but if a peace settlement had been arranged in Dec 41, the troops would not have froze. And the Navy could have gone back on offensive, the navy went on half rations,( fuel ), when Barbarossa started, so with Leningrad in tow, the navy could have not only resumed offensive, but could have had extra ships & the port facilities to build more subs or ships. The Navy was very vocal about its desire to posess the Russian Baltic facilities.