In the openning months of Barbarossa, Hitler decided to briefly stall his advance on Moscow and ordered the capture of Ukraine and Kiev and the destruction of the Red Army with in. Commanders such as Heinz Guderian strictly opposed such a decision as it would give much needed time for the Russians to build up their defenses at Moscow and risk attacking the Russian capital during winter.
Even today this is a hot topic for debate, as some consider this to be Hitler's biggest blunder which cost Germany the war. However there are also those who are not so quick to jump on the band wagon and there by defend Hitler's decision, as the right one.
So I am here, (following our very own Adam's advice) trying to prevent this thread from falling into the common abyss of the "what if" section by asking all of our members here a question.
Was Hitler's decision in attacking Ukraine and capturing Kiev with the complete destruction of 4 Soviet Armies with in, while at the same time halting the advance of Moscow, the right move or a catastrophic military blunder?
P.S.
My apologies, however since I was not sure as to this threads proper destintion I stuck it in "Russia at War" section. Moderators please feel free to move it accordingly.
I am also aware that this has been briefly discussed here in this forum but since I have stumbled upon this debate several times, perhaps this very topic deserves its own thread
