We all know there were volunteers from the countries occupied by Germany fighting in the East. If Hitler did not treat the occupied countries so harsly, particularly the East, he would have had more enthusiatic volunteers fighting against the Soviets. Afterall, were the Germans not welcomed as liberators. This was something my grandfather always could not figure out since he was a volunteer himself. Would Hitler have conquered the USSR if he was more sensitive to the people he conquered?

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Tschuss

Considering the number of volunteers who fought against the Russians even after the ungentle ministrations of the nazi einsatzgruppen, I'd say that an enthusistic welcome of volunteers in the days of Barbarossa, rather than " no thanks, but could you step into this mass grave we've dug for you..." would have gone a long way toward insuring victory for the Germans against Crazy Ivan in the first place.
I think the biggest problem facing the Germans would have been equipping these volunteers, perhaps not so much with arms, as plenty of Sov stuff had been captured in the rapid advance of Barbarossa, but more in the way of food, fuel ammo & such. Recall that a quick end to the campaign was sought by the nazis in order to keep the German economy as "cushy" to the citizens of the Reich as possible....

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Novus Ordo Seclorum

Killjoy, you make a good point. Had the High Command, treated the masses much better, it would be highly likely that they would have defeated Stalin. As for the weapons supply problems, its simple, they would have been armed with captured Russian arms. They would have been better than nothing.

Was this not the reason why the British sent the assasination team against Reinhard Heydrich because he was working with the Czech people and not against them? As Protector, he was solving the resistance problem not with brute force. Some what of a surprise coming from Heydrich but it did work. Imagine if Hans Frank did the same in Poland or Germany throughout occupied Europe.

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Tschuss

Pardon my french but Reinhard was assassinated because he was also such a pig, and he was #3 in Hitlers Reich. Personally, im glad they did get the pig in that way.

I agree about Heydrich being evil but the point I was attempting to make was how he was using the carrot on a stick method to appease the populace, enough to defeat the attempts by the resistance to turn the people against the Germans. In this, he was becoming successfull until his death. If this method was used throughout the Reich, I feel it would have impacted the outcome with the invasion of USSR.

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Tschuss

Heydrich, was probably having a good 'ol time at his being in charge of so many peoples lives. He should have stayed in the honorable-Kriegsmarine.

He was im sure enjoying his carrot on a stick playing role. Sounds like he was playing the cruel game of Teasing.