glenn239 wrote: ↑11 Aug 2021 21:13
ljadw wrote: ↑11 Aug 2021 18:10
1 There was only one version of Barbarossa possible .
There were many versions, probably the best for Germany being a 2-season campaign built in. IMO, no conceivable variation of Barbarossa achieves the aim of the invasion in that Germany will be weaker off against the West in all cases than if Germany had not done it. Even if Germany somehow managed to recoup the resources spent in the invasion, the weakening of the USSR assisted the Anglo-Americans, not Germany.
2 Saying that Barbarossa was a bad decision is totally besides the question : in war you do not decide things because they are good or bad, but because they are possible .
Hitler invaded the SU because he thought it was a good decision. Had he thought it a bad decision, he'd not have done it.
There was no serious alternative for Barbarossa : the stupid proposals from Raeder would not help Germany .
There was no alternative strategy Germany could have selected that was worst than Barbarossa. All the alternatives were better.
Time was running against Germany . Only a short successful campaign in the East could eliminate Britain before the intervention from the US .
Only a German alliance with the Soviet Union could deter the United States from entering the war.
1 The reason for Barbarossa was not to defeat the USSR, but to force Britain to give up before the US would intervene .
A 2-season campaign would not convince Britain to give up .
Hitler attacked the USSR because the alternative was to remain idle and to wait till the US would intervene .
2 There was no alliance possible between Germany and the USSR ,because there was no benefit of such alliance . For both parties .The Soviets would not send 1 million men to defend the Atlantik Wall .
The USSR could do nothing against the US . And the US could do nothing against the USSR .
The policy of the USSR was to remain neutral ( neutrality is profitable during a war ) and, IF possible,to ''invade '' a part of Central/Eastern Europe at the end of the war .
Between October 1939 and May 1940,the German army was concentrated at Germany'western border,but Stalin did not use this opportunity to invade eastern Europe .
After the fall of France,Stalin could have invaded the ME, he did not do it .
Thus, why would he ally himself with Germany when this was losing the war ?
An alliance with the USSR would not help Germany and an alliance with Germany would not benefit the USSR .