As I have continued to learn more and more about the logistics of the war that has previously only been about the battles for me, I am constantly suprised.

Germany was not at full war-time production during the entire period of WWII? This is both confusing, amazing and scary all at the same time.

There are so many parts to this to explore; Was this just Hitler's overconfidence? Was there a fear that the German people wouldn't support it? Did the rise of the Nazi party provide so much affluence to the country that there were still no people looking for work? Were the raw materials not available to support around-the-clock production? What would have been the outcome if they had seriously geared-up in the mid 1930s?(What If Forum, here I come)

I have had a serious misconception for many years and I now understand some of the posts that people made saying that Germany couldn't have won the war no matter how successful their military campaigns were.

Enlightenment and information requested.

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PEOPLE SLEEP PEACEABLY IN THEIR BEDS AT NIGHT ONLY BECAUSE ROUGH MEN STAND READY TO DO VIOLENCE ON THEIR BEHALF. GEORGE ORWELL

Not a question you can answer shortly, really.

The German production was at its highest in 1944, I suppose somewhere June-Aug 1944, in almost all areas ;planes, tanks, ammo,artillery etc.

The German arms production was even being closed down in 1941 as it was considered the war was over, which was more of a political view, I guess. But the fact is that production did not meet demands and the German attack especially in Russia suffered from this that year and later.

One reason next to the "war is over " theme was the German attitude of women not sent to work, they were meant to be house-wives instead. Also the "fun and games" were there for the ordinary people, dog racing, zoos etc that raised the morale of people. Keeping this cover up meant that a huge amount of possible workers did not take part in the arms production in Germany until late in the war. Mostly this took place after Stalingrad and the Göbbels´ call for "Total war".

Of course bigger numbers of slave workers were brought to the country (=Reich) so that also this increased production figures after 1942.

It seems Speer was one of the key figures to make the production go so high but cannot be sure how well for instance Todt would have made.

It´s hard to say whether bigger production figures earlier would have meant different success in warfare for the Axis, but at least I´d think the war would have lasted longer.

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