Hitler finds out about Khalkhin Gol

planning for a short campaign led them to classify much relevant information as worthless to 'requirements'. The arrogance of that approach came home to roost, as one piece of ignored intelligence after another began to mean something. When you plan in such a narrow way, you only have yourself to blame. Khalkin Ghol changed NOTHING in the descision making process....it was itself an IRRELEVANCEY.

 

Many modern historians and WWII buffs consider Khalkhin Gol one of the most decisive battles of the war that was fought before the traditional dating of the war. How it prompted the Japanese to sign a separete peace with the USSR so they can make war with British, French, American and Dutch territories. In fact the Imperial Army leaders wanted to invade Siberia for its vast natural resources, and why not? Japan defeated Russia in 1905 and I recall Japan having the numerical advantage over the Soviets. The battle ended all Japanese desires for Siberia and went for the southern strategy favored by the Navy.

I am not sure how German High Command felt about the Japanese military. They must have been impressed by how they managed to subdue China for the most part. I agree with posts above that The Winter War along with reports from the Russian end of the Invasion of Poland, where German soldiers reported how poorly equipped and disciplined the Red Army soldiers were convinced Germany to deliver a single knock-out blow against the Soviet Union. Barbarossa failed to deliver that blow but it cripped the Red Army until late 1943 when they were finally able to launch successful offensives to push the Germans out.

One thing the German High Command failed to see that The Red Army actually learned quickly from the blunders of the first offensive in The Winter War and the second was actually a success. Stalin's buddy Voroshilov went into Finland thinking the Finns will bend and they ended up slaughtering over a hundred thousand soldiers. He was replaced by Timoshenko who began the second offensive with an massive and accurate artillery barrage. Finland sued for peace though Stalin got little what he wanted. Mostly the coveted nickel mines. The Germans failed to see how quickly the Russians could adapt. They are willing to sacrifice thousands of soldiers, and learn from it. They don't care, it is a dictatorship and the Russian generals do not want to look stupid in front of Stalin or else they get executed. Guderian was among the first to learn this nasty surprise when during Barbarossa the Russians launched a daring counter offensive that he repulsed but with bloody results. That was one of the reasons why he wanted to take Moscow by October but Kiev was decided to be too important to ignore. By November it was too late. The Russians were studying the German tactics and the Germans were running out of ideas. It was over by Kursk when the Russians learned to stop a Blitzkrieg.

 

Not really the Gallup Polls of the period show that by November the majority of Americans were resigned to entering the war. As for those of Irish decent you might want to look at how many Irish joined the British Army to fight in WWII. Indeed there were a significant number that deserted from the Irish Army to do so. Given that I'm not sure how much of a problem it would have been (although Kennedy was certainly against getting into the war).