The Real Reason of Germany's defeat in the Second World War

[A1Kaid]

Hitler was the primary cause, he failed to adhere to the strategy and wisdom of his Generals. No force at that time could have stopped the Wehrmacht had that been the case.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

1.Fighting too many enemies at the same time,grand strategic blunder.Especially declaring war on USA madness.
2.Hitler's imposition of will on commanders,especially no retreat orders.
3.Underestimation of the soviet juggernaut and willpower of the russian people.
4.Not switching to a full war economy till late 1943.
5.Crushing allied material superiority.
6.Hindered by lack of fuel.
7.Wasted most of its pre war naval funds on uselss battleships,rather than u-boats.
8.The t-34 tank.
9.Racial background made opposition fight with fanaticism.
10.Partisans.
11.Bad infrastructure of russia and the mud and russian winter.

 

[Armstrong]

If only Rommel & the other - Professional Soldiers - were listened to, History may have been written today in a much different light !

 

[Yeti]

My understanding is that the Germans got bogged down in the cold Russian winter and had to many fronts open, the initial Blitzkrieg worked really well with the more lighter, faster German tanks but the supply lines were cut when they went too deep into the heartland of Russia. Stalin countered the German attack with massive numbers of men and tanks which sent the Germans in retreat.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

The Great Patriotic War.
And Nazis thought Slavs were inferior and subhuman and incapable of ruling themselves. PoorNazis!

They seriously underestimated the Russians.

I see Goebbels worked very well. His tales about aggressive Soviet Union and evil Stalin so popular and many believe in them even in our times.

There is no doubt that compared to Stalin, Hitler was a kid. But then again, Hitler and Stalin would certainly have clashed.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

If only Rommel & the other - Professional Soldiers - were listened to, History may have been written today in a much different light !

True. While Stalin became more and more open to suggestion, Hitler became more and more reserved and autocratic vis a vis military decisions. Hitler's personality still remains an enigma. Before launching Zitadelle(Battle of Kursk) he himself admitted to Guderian that the thought of it made his stomach turn. And yet he pressed ahead, instead of strengthening the OstWall.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

they should not have invaded france and russia - these were true crimes. they should not have let anything stop them from finishing the jews - these were true criminals who would later steal and convert russian victory into cruel jew vendetta.

Here also the Jews were the main enemy ?

 

[SarthakGanguly]

the actual reason of loosing war by Germany was that most of their wonder weapons came too late to change the course of the war.

if you see various tanks and tank destroyers and other equipment which came later part of the war,Elefant tank destroyer and King Tiger are almost invincible.same goes for V-1 and V-2 rockets,ME-262,new generations of submarines,anti aircraft shells etc.

some might think that invasion in USSR was the biggest mistake.its not.its inevitable.if Germany didn't invade USSR,USSR would invade Germany.it was inevitable.but loosing in USSR wasn't an option.its what changed the tide of war.the massive loss of manpower and weapons is hard to replace.another reason was,they expanded too much and fought so many wars at a time that they couldn't redirect troops which was much needed and even could save them from defeats.

The tigers were great, but the Elephant was just a modified Panzerjaeger(tank destroyer). Only a few were adapted late in the war. But V1 and V2, though spectacular had little strategic effect. The same resources could have been dedicated to rebuilding the Luftwaffe. The high quality fuel was diverted to bombing Antwerp in March 1945 when Berlin was being bombed daily!

 

[SarthakGanguly]

1.Fighting too many enemies at the same time,grand strategic blunder.Especially declaring war on USA madness.
2.Hitler's imposition of will on commanders,especially no retreat orders.
3.Underestimation of the soviet juggernaut and willpower of the russian people.
4.Not switching to a full war economy till late 1943.
5.Crushing allied material superiority.
6.Hindered by lack of fuel.
7.Wasted most of its pre war naval funds on uselss battleships,rather than u-boats.
8.The t-34 tank.
9.Racial background made opposition fight with fanaticism.
10.Partisans.
11.Bad infrastructure of russia and the mud and russian winter.

Exactly. Declaring war on US sealed Hitler's fate. And the lack of Total War. German wartime production reached highest levels only in 1944!

 

[SarthakGanguly]

When do you think Germany's fate was sealed on the Eastern front? Stalingrad was one defeat. But in my opinion one defeat should not have been the death knell for the Ost Heer. Even Kursk(esp Prokhorovka) devastated the Russian reserves. It was no tactical victory but it was a little better than a stalemate.
I think Bagration(1944) made it sure that The Bear would sweep Germany. What do you think?

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

When do you think Germany's fate was sealed on the Eastern front? Stalingrad was one defeat. But in my opinion one defeat should not have been the death knell for the Ost Heer. Even Kursk(esp Prokhorovka) devastated the Russian reserves. It was no tactical victory but it was a little better than a stalemate.
I think Bagration(1944) made it sure that The Bear would sweep Germany. What do you think?

I think the war was lost in winter 1941 when hitler failed to take moscow.The taking of moscow would not necessarily have defeated the soviets-after all it didn't help napoleon,but it would have divided their defensive infrastructure and the country in half and be a massive psycological blow.
The cream of the german armies-over 1 million men were lost in that battle and the winter campaign.After that they could never outlast the soviets-A key advantage for the soviets was that bulk of its population was young and eligible for frontline service-Even with loss of population from occupied areas,every year around 2.5 million young soviet males were becoming of age for military service.The germans simply couldn't keep on inflicting enough losses per year to keep the soviet armies from growing ever bigger after 1941.
Also german war economy seriously failed to press the gear till late 1943.What this meant was that once russian industries in the urals started pumping armour,this massive russian manpower now had material available to equip it from mid 1942.
Also the panther came only in mid late 1943,and by that time germany's manpower was exhausted-in the deciding early years they had no match for the t-34.And the tiger was too small in numbers to be of much consequence.

The only way hitler could have any way of victory after 1941 was the cut off russia's oil supply-and thus the 1942 operation blue had right objectives.But again blundered by first divding his forces in 2,one to pointlessly take stalingrad-a rubble ....aand the other sent to the caucasus.With the result that neither force was strong enough to accomplish its objective.One got stuck in stalingrad,the other halted in the caucasian mountains.

 

[MohitV]

Attacking Russia was his biggest mistake

 

[Hashshāshīn]

Breaking the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was the single biggest reason for Hitler's defeat.

 

[Hashshāshīn]

Attacking Russia was his biggest mistake

Mistake? So you wanted Hitler to take over the world?

 

[IndoUS]

In the end Hitler became too over confident. Their over confidence became their downfall.