Axis

Members: 4,317
Threads: 15,303
Posts: 191,554
Online: 265

Newest Member:
norwaypegasus

 
 
 
Go Back   World War II Forums > General Discussion > What If?
Register FAQ Gallery Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


What If? Alternate History: Speculate about WWII battles that never were. Could the Axis have won? What if Hitler had the bomb?

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
  #1 (permalink)  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 04:06 PM
tikilal's Avatar
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 751
tikilal has a spectacular aura abouttikilal has a spectacular aura about
Default Overlord didnt happen.

Churchill never wanted to invade France untill Germany was on the brink of capitulation. If by some miraculous event Overloard had been canceled in favor of an ANglo-American invation of Greece or some other Med target, what would have happened to Europe.

IMO Russia would have continued to fight into Germany. Once Hitler Realized that the Brit-Amer invasion would come in the Med he would divert the forces in France to the east. Once Greece and Yugoslavia fell the Brits and Americans would still end up in Austria and perhaps Northern Italy. Would Germany have surrendered after the fall of Berlin? Would Russia have been given all of Europe? Would a war between Russia and the West been more probable with the lack of support from the Americans and British?
__________________
"What might work in New York City is certainly not going to work in Montana. So, for the federal government to be having any kind of, you know, blanket rules that they're going to try to impose, I think doesn't make sense." Hillary Clinton

(Photo removed for humanitarian reasons.)
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old January 22nd, 2008, 08:33 PM
Sloniksp's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hanging the flag on the Reichstag!
Posts: 3,353
Sloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

The proposed landing and the opening of the second front was discussed at Yalta.

Chruchill actually favored the Allied landings from Yugoslavia? Roosevelt immediately saw that Stalin was more then just uncomfortable with such a notion and France was given the final ok.

As for the Eastern Front. Operation Bagration was to coincide with the D-day landings as to put as much pressure on Germany as possible. After a slight delay the assault for the complete destruction of Army Groupe Centre coincidentally started on June 22, 1944 exactly 3 years after Barbarossa.

I believe that the Soviet plan for execution would not have changed?
__________________
The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

T-34/85
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 03:45 AM
Dishonorably Discharged
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 297
PactOfSteel has a little shameless behaviour in the past
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

yup, like I keep saying, Hitler should have never gone into Russia until he had all of his i's dotted and his t's crossed.
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 02:22 PM
Fallschirmjaeger's Avatar
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 55
Fallschirmjaeger is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Agreed
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 02:39 PM
Sloniksp's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hanging the flag on the Reichstag!
Posts: 3,353
Sloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PactOfSteel View Post
yup, like I keep saying, Hitler should have never gone into Russia until he had all of his i's dotted and his t's crossed.
According to Glantz, if Hitler had waited a until 42'-43' or attacked earlier in 38 the result would have been much more unpleasant for the Germans as they would have come up against a prepared and a much more capable adversary. Hitler, attacked the Soviet Union at her most vulnerable state, which ironically spelled the end of the 1000 year Reich in less then 13.
__________________
The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

T-34/85
Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 05:39 PM
Dishonorably Discharged
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 297
PactOfSteel has a little shameless behaviour in the past
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sloniksp View Post
According to Glantz, if Hitler had waited a until 42'-43' or attacked earlier in 38 the result would have been much more unpleasant for the Germans as they would have come up against a prepared and a much more capable adversary. Hitler, attacked the Soviet Union at her most vulnerable state, which ironically spelled the end of the 1000 year Reich in less then 13.
he should have waited until England had been annexed, however long that would take.
Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 05:43 PM
SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer's Avatar
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 166
SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

England would of never been annexed. Neither would Wales, Scotland or N.Ireland
__________________
Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 05:45 PM
Dishonorably Discharged
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 297
PactOfSteel has a little shameless behaviour in the past
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

even if they leveled London?
Reply With Quote
  #9 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 06:24 PM
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 269
Tony Williams has a spectacular aura aboutTony Williams has a spectacular aura about
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PactOfSteel View Post
even if they leveled London?
The British expected London to be levelled; that's why they evacuated most women and children, and all but essential personnel, in 1939. In the 1930s it was believed that the bombers would always get through, and would totally destroy cities.
__________________
Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website
Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 06:52 PM
solarfox's Avatar
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Atlantis
Posts: 40
solarfox is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

If we had lost England, at least as a staging point for overlord, then the landings definately would've occured in the Med, if at all. I don't know if the US could go it alone on the Western front and against Japan. It needed another stable, large military by it's side, and the USSR couldn't help. IF! England was knocked out of the runnings like france, they would supply any troops they had left to help the resistance in England and the rest would probably helpa the US where they could, but it would just be the US and Canada and USSR left.
__________________
Since no one has paid me to kill you, sleep well.
-Bobba Fett http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/man/index.html

Reply With Quote
  #11 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 07:19 PM
T. A. Gardner's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: U. S.
Posts: 3,025
T. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

The US represents the only modern nation that is both a sea power and a land power. No other nation can make such a claim since Rome in antiquity. China might have been able to in ancient times and may again at some point in the future but not today.

Anyway, the US had the where-with-all to produce an army of at least 200 and possibly as large as 300 divisions on the scale of equipage they historically had. If you look at building programs the US was planning and had ordered nearly 1000 anti-submarine ships of which almost half actually got built. The US also provided equipment to their allies that amounted to the rough equivalent of that necessary to equip about 40 divisions of their own.

Add in nuclear weapons to the mix and Germany is finished. The US could have just finished off Japan and then invaded Europe (or Britain) from the US using an amphibious assault. The width of the Atlantic was little obstacle to this as evidenced by US assaults in the Pacific. The Luftwaffe was not going to be able to obtain air superiority over a carrier force that could theoretically put well over 2,000 aircraft up and had those aircraft and skilled pilots to man them.
__________________
Truth is stranger than bullshit!
Reply With Quote
  #12 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 07:40 PM
Dishonorably Discharged
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 297
PactOfSteel has a little shameless behaviour in the past
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

USSR was so close to being defeated too, but the Germans had to divide their forces to France in the case of an Allied invasion and Africa, Stalin pressured England and the USA to make another front.
Reply With Quote
  #13 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 07:55 PM
Sloniksp's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hanging the flag on the Reichstag!
Posts: 3,353
Sloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PactOfSteel View Post
USSR was so close to being defeated too, but the Germans had to divide their forces to France in the case of an Allied invasion and Africa, Stalin pressured England and the USA to make another front.
This is simply and utterly false!

The Germans divided nothing. In fact they stripped Europe of all which can be used at the front and sent 80% of the German war machine to the East, leaving Europe with only a skeleton force.

The Germans also invaded with an additional 1 million of their allie.

I challenge you to prove me wrong backed up by actual facts and NOT personal opinions.
__________________
The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

T-34/85
Reply With Quote
  #14 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 08:09 PM
Dishonorably Discharged
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 297
PactOfSteel has a little shameless behaviour in the past
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sloniksp View Post
This is simply and utterly false!

The Germans divided nothing. In fact they stripped Europe of all which can be used at the front and sent 80% of the German war machine to the East, leaving Europe with only a skeleton force.

The Germans also invaded with an additional 1 million of their allie.

I challenge you to prove me wrong backed up by actual facts and NOT personal opinions.
allie ? whats that?

In November, 1943, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met together in Teheran, Iran, to discuss military strategy and post-war Europe. Ever since the Soviet Union had entered the war, Stalin had been demanding that the Allies open-up a second front in Europe. Churchill and Roosevelt argued that any attempt to land troops in Western Europe would result in heavy casualties. Until the Soviet's victory at Stalingrad in January, 1943, Stalin had feared that without a second front, Germany would defeat them. Its common knowledge my friend.

Second Front
Reply With Quote
  #15 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 08:49 PM
Sloniksp's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hanging the flag on the Reichstag!
Posts: 3,353
Sloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PactOfSteel View Post
allie ? whats that?

In November, 1943, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met together in Teheran, Iran, to discuss military strategy and post-war Europe. Ever since the Soviet Union had entered the war, Stalin had been demanding that the Allies open-up a second front in Europe. Churchill and Roosevelt argued that any attempt to land troops in Western Europe would result in heavy casualties. Until the Soviet's victory at Stalingrad in January, 1943, Stalin had feared that without a second front, Germany would defeat them. Its common knowledge my friend.

Second Front
I am quite familiar with this information Pact, notice how after Stalingrad the second front was no longer a priority to Stalin as it has been in the opening 6 moths of Barbarossa. As Stavka knew by now that they could defeat the Axis's without a second front.

But lets not forget that the Allies too needed Stalin's help and asked for it in 44'.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pactofsteel
USSR was so close to being defeated too, but the Germans had to divide their forces to France in the case of an Allied invasion and Africa
I was for you backing this statement up........

Also not sure what you mean by this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pactofsteel
allie ? whats that?
__________________
The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

T-34/85
Reply With Quote
  #16 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 08:51 PM
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 110
acker is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Wasn't the decisive battle Kursk, not Stalingrad?
Reply With Quote
  #17 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 08:57 PM
Sloniksp's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hanging the flag on the Reichstag!
Posts: 3,353
Sloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Stalingrad marked the turning point of the war in the East. By this time even Manstein stated that the war in Russian could not be won.

Kursk marked the end of German offensive capabilities in the East. From that point on they were strictly on the defensive. By this time the Soviet offensives started to resemble the German Blitzkrieg in the opening months of Barbarossa........
__________________
The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

T-34/85
Reply With Quote
  #18 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 08:59 PM
T. A. Gardner's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: U. S.
Posts: 3,025
T. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

A couple of points: I don't think "80%" of the German war machine went to the East. Note that the US and Britain bagged about the same number of PoWs in North Africa (Tunisa) as the Soviets did at Stalingrad. I would estimate that the ground force distribution was closer to 60 - 40 East - West. The bulk of the Luftwaffe remained in the West as well with the East Front being secondary for them for much of the war.
I also think that Stalin and Stavka recognized that the US and Britain did open a second front in their invasion of Vichy North Africa and then into Italy but, Stalin still agitiated for a larger ground committment on the continent and for good reason. It would take some pressure off the Soviets.
And, I would agree that Kursk was the truly decisive battle in the East. Germany's attack failed and the Soviet counter offensive was the first truly massive and successful one. Its scale makes the previous offensive against AGS and 6th Army at Stalingrad look pitifully small by comparison. It is also an indication of just how massively the Red Army had grown since its initial defeats in 1941.
__________________
Truth is stranger than bullshit!
Reply With Quote
  #19 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 09:08 PM
Sloniksp's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hanging the flag on the Reichstag!
Posts: 3,353
Sloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

I will try to find an article which ( our very own ZA posted here a while back ) it was written by David Glantz and had a break down of the German war machine in the East.

In there he states that the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union with 80% of its strength.....


I will try to find this article.
__________________
The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

T-34/85
Reply With Quote
  #20 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 09:09 PM
Dishonorably Discharged
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 297
PactOfSteel has a little shameless behaviour in the past
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

I don't think it was 80% either.
Reply With Quote
  #21 (permalink)  
Old January 25th, 2008, 09:11 PM
Sloniksp's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hanging the flag on the Reichstag!
Posts: 3,353
Sloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the roughSloniksp is a jewel in the rough
Default Re: Overlord didnt happen.

Ok I found it ( wasnt very long at all )

http://www.strom.clemson.edu/publica...g-war41-45.pdf

Page nine please.....

Throught the entire period from 22 June 1941 through 6 June 1944, Germany devoted its greatest strategic attention and the bulk of its military resources to action on its Easter Front. During this period, Hitler maintained a force of almost 4 million German and other Axis troops in the East fighting against a Red Army force that rose in strength from under 3 million men in June 1941 to over 6 million the summer of 1944. While over 80 percent of the Wehrmacht fought in the East during 1941 and 1942, over 60 percent continued to do so in 1943 and 1944.

Page 14 breaks down the German casualties.
__________________
The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

T-34/85
Reply With Quote
  #22 (permalink)  
Old January 26th, 2008, 12:21 AM
T. A. Gardner's Avatar
WW2F Veteran
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: U. S.
Posts: 3,025
T. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the roughT. A. Gardner is a jewel in the rough