Is war starting?
Some might say that the Second World War began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, with Britain's ultimatum that a State of War would exist without German withdrawal. It goes without saying that the Germans did not retreat and the Second World War began, with Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declaring war on September 3, 1939.
Others would argue that the second world war was just the second round of the first world war. Although the great powers had not yet realized this, continued warfare between the Axis Powers and the Allies would have resulted in the end of European domination of the world and the collapse of colonial empires. By renewing the war, they only ensured their own death, no matter who won the outcome.
Some argued that the Treaty of Versailles was "hard and unreasonable" and thus was the seed that guaranteed the second world war. Germany would try to right this wrong. In reality, the Treaty of Versailles was no harsher than the conditions the Germans tried to impose on the Russians in 1917/18, forcing Russia to separate large tracts of land and pay large reparations in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
In reality, the bigger cause of the second world war was the belief of many Germans that they never lost the first world war. German territory had not been occupied, the troops felt they had never lost. In reality, the military had to return to Germany to protect the state from social collapse, because Germany was in greater danger from internal enemies than from the threat posed by the Allies. "Hence" the belief that Germany lost the war only because of a back-stab at her country. But this collapse was the result of a state put under great pressure and succumbing to economic oppression and political phenomenon, to win a modern war it is no longer enough victory on the battlefield, but victory over the whole system of the other. nation. (i.e. it destroys the will to fight). Germany had lost the strategic war, its system had collapsed and therefore had lost the war. The British Navy had succeeded in keeping Germany's economy under siege, thus bringing its destruction and defeat (even if the Navy had not proven itself in open warfare).
Germany had lost its allies, Turkey and Austria, and had failed in production with fewer planes, fewer tanks and less manpower. Although Germany had not lost the war, it had lost the war.
However, this myth that he was truly undefeated leads to resentment at being labeled as losers. Soon every problem in Germany was about past wrongs. The Great Depression was the last straw. Mass unemployment and hyperinflation left the perfect environment for an extremist political party to gain enough support to take the stage. In this case, combining nationalism, racism, authoritarianism, and the promise of better times, the Nazis gained enough political power to begin the takeover and turn a democracy into a dictatorship. Carefully staged events, such as the burning of the Reichstag and the outright bullying tactics, led to complete dictatorship. Being the embodiment of the state, Hitler continued to expand, first through appeasement and then outright war, in order to continue to deliver on his promises.
The killing blow was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed on August 23, 1939, in which Hitler was free to break up Poland with the consent of the USSR.
Thanks to Bitzkrieg tactics and superior ammunition, the German army quickly defeated Poland. France and England disgrace themselves by doing nothing on the Western front.
When Poland ended, Germany solidified its position by invading Denmark and Norway on April 9, 1940, guaranteeing access to Swedish iron ore and opening up the North Atlantic. The invasion of France began on May 10, 1940, but also included a coordinated invasion of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium with careful German planning with brilliant results, which France failed before it even started. Lack of will only precipitates defeat. The beginning of Germany's final defeat was planted by failing to destroy the British at Dunkirk (who began evacuating on 26 May 1940) and capture the French Navy. This, coupled with oppressive occupations, produced a hardening determination. The victory had won Italy as a partner, but a deadly marriage to Italy was to prove more of a hindrance than a help. But for now, the Third Reich rejoiced at the collapse of France, and the French signed an armistice on June 22, 1940. In less than two months since the offensive began, Germany had defeated all its enemies except the British Empire.
Turning East:-
It is clear from the historical record that Germany did not have the capacity to invade Britain and that Hitler's current superior position did not have the patience to devote the time necessary to secure the situation and allow it to pay dividends to build the necessary naval supremacy and necessary naval superiority. A landing craft was necessary to invade Britain. Nor build the heavy bombers needed to seriously bomb England into oblivion. This lack of patience and overconfidence in what has already been achieved leads to the fateful decision to turn east and invade Russia.
This plan was further doomed by the unnecessary invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece on April 6, 1941, brought on by the failure of Italy and the subsequent liberation of Germany in North Africa. The delay of Operation Babarossa will be costly.
Operation Babarossa began on June 22, 1941. Three German army groups, an Axis force of more than four million soldiers, lay in wait to invade Russia, and Comrade Stalin was "sleeping at the wheel" for ignoring British intelligence about Hitler's invasion plans.
Germany's success was doomed within sight of the Kremlin, with the onset of winter and the confirmation to Stalin that Japan did not intend to invade, thus freeing the Siberian Army to be transferred to the defense of Moscow and the winter offensive launched by the Russians. A counterattack on December 5, 1941. The unprepared German army froze to death.
Russian Attack on Moscow
Stupidly on December 11, 1941, Germany declared war on the United States (after Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941). Unofficially, the countries were already at war with the US supplying weapons to Britain and the USSR, and US destroyers fighting in the Atlantic with U-Boats. But it was foolish for Hitler to formalize this with a declaration of war.
Second roll of the dice.
After failing to succeed in Moscow or take Leningrad and connect with the Finns, Hitler fired a shot at Stalingrad and the oil fields of the Caucasus on August 22, 1942. At first, Bitzkrieg tactics prevailed once again, and the Germans reached the Germans. Stalingrad on September 8th. Once again, Hitler failed, allowing his army to engage in an urban fire battle for which they were unsuitable, allowing the Russians to set up a giant trap and destroy an entire army (he surrendered on January 31, 1943), this compounded by Allied success in the North. Africa, which resulted in the destruction of another German army, caused an irreversible change in the course of the war with the doomed Germans.
Allies fight back.
With the increasing success in the Battle of the Atlantic and the victory at El Alamein on 4 November 1942, the Allies began to attack, with the start of the operating torch on 8 November 1942, the Allies began to crush the Germans. of North Africa. They then invaded Italy, starting with the invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943. They continued to Italy's boots, but this proved a costly exercise due to the terrain in the defender's favour, Rome was not liberated until 4 June 1944.
The true endgame began with the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 (D-Day). With the success of the Bocage invasion and breakout. Falaise pocket success and Kursk confirmed the fate of Germany.
Last game
Despite Hitler's gamble at the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944), the end was already on the way as the Allies devastated Germany from the air and the Russians devastated it with massive artillery and troops. The fall of Berlin and the death of Hitler (April 30, 1945) confirmed that all was over, V-E day was May 8, the day before the Germans surrendered.
Why did Germany lose the war?
He was unsuccessful in diplomatic warfare - he could not persuade Spain to join another fascist nation to join the cause. It failed to turn the occupied countries into allies. He was unable to have a unified plan with his allies. Imagine if Japan was persuaded to invade Russia instead of bombing Pearl Harbor. Imagine if the US were encouraged to stay out of the war for another year. In other words, Germany failed to win hearts and minds through the repressive actions of the SS and others in Poland and Russia, instead of winning the many who would happily participate in the overthrow of Stalinism and help ensure German victory. With its German nationalist roots and outright racism, Nazism offered nothing to non-Germans.
It failed in technological warfare – although Germany produced surprising new technological advances in rockets and the like, it either failed to produce the truly important technology, namely radar, nuclear weapons early enough, or failed to fully realize and exploit their potential advances that actually existed. made a difference, namely Jet power.
It failed to embrace Total War. It wasn't until late in the war that Albert Speer took over the economy that the Germans hadn't made full use of the available resources. Nazi philosophy about women prevented full labor and military use. The Russians had no such reservations, even with women who served in the active front troops. While slaughtering Jews and others undesirable, the Nazis wasted valuable military resources and valuable human resources that could be used for more beneficial purposes. While the Germans relied on slave labor to make up for the gap, Britain and the US had an army of willing workers in the "Riveter Rosie". The Germans further wasted their resources on futile projects such as the Atlantic wall (which failed to stop the Allies even for a day) and anti-aircraft guns that absorbed thousands of guns, would have been more useful at the front as anti-tank batteries. and the manpower needed to run them. It also diverted resources into unnecessary wars such as Greece and North Africa. He believed in his own propaganda and therefore made fatal mistakes. Some of these fatal mistakes included not realizing that the enigma machine had been compromised. The Nazis believed it was "unbreakable", so they wouldn't notice how the intelligence was leaking. Most German intelligence activities were insignificant compared to British Intelligence, apart from the notable success in jeopardizing the Dutch resistance and other fatal errors, including failure to succeed in the intelligence war. That doesn't mean British intelligence is perfect, but Churchill summed it up best as "truth is so valuable in war that it must be wrapped in a fabric of lies". Hitler was sold at Pas de Calais, the actual point of invasion. Moreover, he puts all his trust in the Führer, leading to the Stalingrad disaster, etc. Hitler may have thought of him as a Military Genius, but he made little successful contribution after the completion of the invasion of France. What would have happened if the German Generals were allowed to run the demonstration, one might ask.
If the German economy had been fully war-ready from the start and had addressed some of these factors above, there would have been any title they could have succeeded in. We should not think that the outcome of the Second World War was guaranteed, but the final victory was achieved by the allies with much sacrifice.
This article is dedicated to all who fought to destroy the evils of Nazism. Especially to my Great Uncle Ivan HARRIS, who died fighting for New Zealand in North Africa on Wednesday, July 22, 1942.
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