Avalancheon wrote: ↑29 Nov 2019 05:30Leaving aside the semantics for now, where are you getting your numbers from? You say that an encirclement of the Southwestern front couldn't net 600,000 men, because that is 3-4 times more troops than they had. Are you seriously implying that they only had 150,000 to 200,000 men? According to Robert Kirchubel [], Southwestern front had over 907,000 troops at the start of Barbarossa. Whether or not Army Group South could encircle 2/3rds of their forces is another matter, however.
''Kirponos commanded over 907,000 men. Three of his four armies and half of his eight mechanized corps defended the Lvov salient.'' -Operation Barbarossa 1941 (1): Army Group South By Robert Kirchubel.

Please try to keep up if you can.
TheMarcksPlan clearly identifies the geographical boundaries and time frame for his imaginary encirclement.
Within that boundary and timeframe, historically speaking, alot less than 600,000 Soviets were there.
The fantasy encirclement proposed by TheMarcksPlan did not, l repeat DID NOT, envisage encircling the entire Southwestern Front.
If TheMarcksPlan fantasy narrative is to be considered credible, TheMarcksPlan needs to consider how significantly more Soviet troops came to be in the encirclement than were their historically. No problem. It's an fantasy narrative with a fantasy Heer so why not a fantasy Red Army too. TheMarcksPlan can easily make up the numbers above 600,000 to whatever he/she wants depending upon how much leakage he/she factors in. The problem then comes in trying to ascertain how that greater fantasy Red Army force affects the outcome of the battle. Should we all just assume a fantasy Heer against a fantasy Red Army gives the exact same result as in real life or the perfect result desired by TheMarcksPlan?
Historical numbers are based upon data presented by Isaev.