Could Germany have won the war?

Jarod said:
Depends on what you call a win, his military spending was unsustainable and he took too much territory all at once, he was spread so thin he never really controlled a lot of what he took.
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Quite right. Hitler quickly overextended himself.

The Panzer units were the only thing of any significant strength in that war, but they were few and far between. The Blitzkrieg technique that Hitler created depended on surprise. Once war had begun, that surprise was gone.
Most German troops were relatively weak. The air force that Hitler created was destroyed down to just a few planes by Allied action. It became useless.

In occupied France, Germans had little to do but congratulate themselves on being 'the best in the world', and sit around doing mostly nothing. The resources had been expended, including those looted from France. There were insufficient resources to invade Britain. Additionally, resources were being drained on the other battle fronts as well. Hitler lashed out with a very effective surprise attack, but after that, it was all over for Hitler. It was just a matter of time.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
In fighting France, the easiest way to envision the 1940 German offensive is this:

You have a chess game between Germany and France. Both have the same pieces, but Germany gets to make 2 moves to every one France makes. The result is obvious. As in late WW 1 with the Kaiser offensives, France in particular, and Britain to an extent, were not prepared to operate intellectually at the OODA loop speed the Germans were operating at. It wasn't superior technology or equipment that won for the Germans. It was being more flexible and able to think and react far, far faster than their opponents could that was getting them wins.

France stood no chance. Poland was simply overwhelmed. Britain hung on through tenacity but proved largely unable to pull out any sort of serious victories on their own.

You fight like you train. France's military doctrine in 1940 was called "Methodical Battle." It was a heavily orchestrated, micromanaged, system of top-down decision making. That inflexibility and rigid adherence to chain of command ensured that the Germans ran circles around the French. With the Germans, their tactics were simply an extension of their highly successful WW 1 Strosstruppen ones that decentralized command and control relying on leadership at all levels seeing what needed doing and carrying out a shared, flexible, plan of operations. Against militaries with poor levels of communication and rigid adherence to chains of command with top-down leadership, it was devastating.
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Do not belittle the Brits too much, dude. They pretty much decimated Hitler's air force. They were well into that task by the time the U.S. got involved.
The French? They have never won a war...not even their own civil war (both sides lost in that one!).
 
Into the Night said:
Quite right. Hitler quickly overextended himself.

The Panzer units were the only thing of any significant strength in that war, but they were few and far between. The Blitzkrieg technique that Hitler created depended on surprise. Once war had begun, that surprise was gone.
Most German troops were relatively weak. The air force that Hitler created was destroyed down to just a few planes by Allied action. It became useless.

In occupied France, Germans had little to do but congratulate themselves on being 'the best in the world', and sit around doing mostly nothing. The resources had been expended, including those looted from France. There were insufficient resources to invade Britain. Additionally, resources were being drained on the other battle fronts as well. Hitler lashed out with a very effective surprise attack, but after that, it was all over for Hitler. It was just a matter of time.
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I disagree with the resources.

Are you aware of how much invaded Russia?
 
Tinkerpeach said:
I am not a great chess player but I think the person making two moves is at the disadvantage
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You should try Speed Chess sometime.

One side (black) gets all of his pieces.
The other (white) gets the King, two bishops, and four pawns; but gets to move twice.

White usually wins.
 
Tinkerpeach said:
I disagree with the resources.

Are you aware of how much invaded Russia?
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I am fully aware how far the Nazis advanced into Russia. That front turned into a real misery for the Germans, who were inexperienced and ill equipped to handle the harsh weather there...which the Russians were used to, and which were fighting to protect their own homes.

That front was doomed to fail no matter what.

They had expended their resources. Fuel...supplies...munitions... Even the mighty Ruhr valley could not produce enough to keep up with it, particularly after a very successful raid by Britain, which destroyed much of it.
 
Into the Night said:
I am fully aware how far the Nazis advanced into Russia. That front turned into a real misery for the Germans, who were inexperienced and ill equipped to handle the harsh weather there...which the Russians were used to, and which were fighting to protect their own homes.

That front was doomed to fail no matter what.

They had expended their resources. Fuel...supplies...munitions... Even the mighty Ruhr valley could not produce enough to keep up with it, particularly after a very successful raid by Britain, which destroyed much of it.
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Had Hitler not turned his forces south and continued through Moscow to engage the Russians, who knows
 
Tinkerpeach said:
Had Hitler not turned his forces south and continued through Moscow to engage the Russians, who knows
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Hitler's war was doomed. He didn't have enough resources to take on so many opponents at once. Russia, in particular, is a harsh country, which the Russians are used to (the live there!). It's a huge country too...a lot bigger than tiny Germany, which was also fighting pretty much everyone else in Europe and North Africa at the same time.
 
Into the Night said:
Not possible. Russia is just too big. Hitler completely failed to realize what fighting Russia meant.
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They had already made it to Moscow but Hitler made a decision that Stalingrad had to be taken and it became a pissing contest between him and Stalin costing Hitler he’s entire 6th army, the best he had

Hitler didn’t need Stalingrad and he had already bombed out their factories
 
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