Why with Austria and Sudetenland was Hitler in such a hurry for Poland? What was the reason for the timing. Givin England And Frances Apeasement would it not have been better to wait. For German army to have more time to build. The Omega

Hitler´s army was better prepared for war than other armies at that moment. Waiting would mean that the other armies would catch up.

Also Hitler´s Germany was going towards big trouble with finance as the money went into building the army and the only way to fix it was to get money by winning and robbing other countries.

__________________

Also he could only swallow one country at the time. If he pulled the string too far, France and England would have declared war on him in 1938. By taking one at the time he could then invade what was left of Tcechoslovaquia, Danzig and Memel in 1939, using the same promise everytime: "don't worry this is the last time, it won't happen again"

__________________

So money and time was against him,and Poland had to fall next. Trust me i am reading,(hate asking dumb questions)But his timing is what i couldn't understand. Thanks The Omega

I don't think that Hitler had to attack Poland when he did. The German economy was not the mess that you are being lead to believe. The idea too that Germany's enemies were getting strong faster than he was is also false. In 38 Germany was one of the weakest nations in Europe, not much had changed in 39.

It was just a choice that Hitler made, he thought that Poland would give in and give Germany the Danzig corridor and that would be that, but Poland did not yield and presto WW2.

__________________
The Muslim Brotherhood “must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands..." — Mohamed Akram. http://jihadwatch.org/

So you think that Hitler,cut his own throat by moving on Poland. I think if he had waited for better build up. He could had enjoyed a longer run.The 1st thing that comes to mind is the Navy. The Omega

Hitler wanted war. When the 1938 negotiations in Munich were over Hitler was furious because he could not get the war he wanted. He was never looking for peace, his ultimate goal was war and he wanted it sooner than later. So it could have happened as well from 1938 on.

__________________

As Kai has implied, if he'd waited any longer there's a very good chance that France and Great Britain would have been advanced enough in their military modernisation (which was proceeding at a good pace) to have actually halted him much quicker. The painful process of mechanisation, reorganisation etc. was at a turning point for those nations at the moment the inevitable war triggered by the Polish attack began. By either luck or judgement the ending of the phony war (known at the time as the 'bore war', 'phony war' appears to be a slightly later Americanism?) and Hitler's grim success was superbly timed. Seems there was a right time for the Blitzkrieg, and it was 1939/40.

Cheers,
Adam.

__________________
It's only the Internet.

I have to disagree with Tikilal and Omega. The facts remain that until the Fall of France there was an uninterrupted chain of brilliant victories. We amy question what came later, but this does not hide the previous fact.

We may also temper the former statement by discussing not why the Germans won but why the Poles, Danes, Belgians, French, etc. lost, but this is geting beside the point. Blitzkrieg worked perfectly here with this type of enemies, and it also worked very well later againts the Yugoslav army and against the Red Army when this was caught with its pants down.

__________________

March 7,1936 Germany occupy Rhineland
March 12,1938 Germany Annex Austria
Oct 15,1938 Germany occupies Sudentenland
March 15,1939 Czech is taken

From all I have read,Nazi Germany was not ready for war. If they could have delayed till say 1940/41. England signed mutual assistance with Poland in Aug 25,1939. Even then if England and France would have started military build-up. Nazi Germany would have had a large lead. Plus no one had yet seen Germany and the Blitz. France and Poland would have still fallen. With Russia's help with Poland. The Omega

Nobody's ever really as ready for a war as they'd like, even aggressors.

It's not so much a question of the physical military 'build-up' (France could always put an enormous army into the field), more one of the handling of those troops and usage of new materiel. The embryonic allies genuinely were on the cusp of a real leap forward in military thinking, Germany had leapt already and that advantage would not last long.

There's also the possibility that France/Belgium/Britain/Holland may have actually sorted out their crazy political situations by then. One example is even as the Blitzkrieg began to break onto their land Belgian customs officials were still making it difficult for French troops to cross the border to face the attack.
With more time, who knows? The diplomatic squabbling may have died down as the threat was taken more seriously by all parties (even overoptimistic neutrals) and a firmer defence against Hitler could have been laid than the hole-ridden extemporised confusion and botched nature of things like the Dyle plan.

As Za say's, the more illuminating question is usually why the defeated lost rather than why the victors won. The losing factors in this case had great potential for change over a relatively short time. Adolf and his boys would have been well aware of this.

Cheers,
Adam.

__________________
It's only the Internet.

For someone who wasn't ready they didn't do that bad

How was that again? Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Lybya and all the way to the gates of Alexandria, a huge chunk of the SU, with a few hiccups here and there. I wonder what they would have done if they were ready!

The Yamamoto Premonition should apply. "I'll run wild for the first six months, after that we're screwed."

Nice avatar, do you have a larger version, Big O?

__________________

Its hard, looking back 60+ years and 2nd guessing madmen.It like seeing a crazy guy on street but he still stops for all the cars at red light. So must not have been too crazy.LOL Yes I have large pic of avatar. My uncle collected Nazi Propganda posters most repro. If you would like I can send you larger pic I use it for screensaver. The Omega

I believe the Omega meant that the German army was not "completely" ready and that some units had still obsolete armament. There are always these cliché pictures with modern Panzers and aircraft raging Blitzkrieg, but these were the spear heads and many other troops followed on horses and bicycles. Not to mention that the Navy had not enough ships to challenge the British

__________________

Thanks much. I'll PM you my private email then

I agree, but even so with the kind of opposition they were facing that was more than enough. At least while the opposition had their pants down, when they pulled their pants up it was another story.

__________________

Well, at least those who didn't get their pants blown away by the Blitzkrieg.

__________________

It's all laid out in Hitler’s book (a bloody hard read) when AH wrote his book it was just a pipe dream back in the 1920's but that dream came true as AH came to power he wanted room for his people and Russia was the target. Poland was in the way so AH had to take Poland which was a risk leaving his backside exposed to the French, lucky for AH France made no move against Germany. In 1940 AH moved west to deal with the two front situation before turning on Russia in 1941, but for AH he got a two front situation in 1944 as well as the problems in Italy.

__________________
Regards, Richard

3 Fronts if you count Italy

__________________
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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Von Poop there's a very good chance that France and Great Britain would have been advanced enough in their military modernisation (which was proceeding at a good pace) to have actually halted him much quicker. The painful process of mechanisation, reorganisation etc. was at a turning point for those nations at the moment the inevitable war triggered by the Polish attack began

What are these changes that you allude to? Were the French building better tanks? The ones they had were better than anything Germany had. Were the British building better planes? The Hawker Hurricane held its own against the Me 109. Were mechanized divisions being created?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Za Rodinu I have to disagree with Tikilal and Omega. The facts remain that until the Fall of France there was an uninterrupted chain of brilliant victories. We amy question what came later, but this does not hide the previous fact.

How are you disagreeing with me?

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Omega Even then if England and France would have started military build-up. Nazi Germany would have had a large lead. Plus no one had yet seen Germany and the Blitz. France and Poland would have still fallen. With Russia's help with Poland. The Omega

Germany had a smaller army, fewer tanks, poorer tanks, and similar aircraft to the French. The only tank on tank battle that was fought in France in 40 was won by the French.

Britain with fewer men, and tanks still preformed well in actual fighting, the RAF was by far their biggest contribution to the fight and they preformed well.

Had France and Britain actually tried to help Poland, (not counting the poorly thought out French attack against the Siegfried line) Poland might not have fallen as it did.

What leaps forward were France and Britain on the brink of?

Even if the French troops were able to rush into Belgium and fight the Germans this was the plan. To lure as many of the French and British north to the low countries where they would be surrounded and destroyed. The real threat to France came through France at Sedan, not in Belgium or Holland. And why was the Dlye plan so bad?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Za Rodinu For someone who wasn't ready they didn't do that bad

I agree that the Germans did wonders with what they had. I can also see where you are at with the “Yamamoto Premonition” partially, I don’t think that in any case the Germans were ever as screwed as the Japanese were. Japan had trouble producing enough machine guns, not to mention airplanes and aircraft carriers.

Now just to reiterate my personal stance, if Hitler had wanted war then and now with Poland he would have simple invaded, no diplomatic threats no prior notification, just invasion, like in the case with Russia. Hitler at this time sided with most of his generals that they needed to wait for further action to consolidate Austrian and Czech territory and industry along with the production of armour that was requisite for a functioning army according to war plans at the time, ready dates from 41 to 43 were held by various General Officers.

The comment above is correct that the majority of material movement in the German army was done by horse and rail. This is also true for the wh