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Greatest Axis Blunder

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Mark:
which contributed the most to the German defeat?

CHNfromG:
tough choice, really... but I voted for the Stalingrad / Caucasus disaster. The Germans never got the oil they were looking for in the first place. Conquering Stalingrad was a stupid idea too. Conquering Moscow and eliminating the bulk of the Red Army that ready for its defence would have been the most important job for the Germans in 1942.
The easy success in South Russia was a result of the mere fact, that the Russian were not expecting it. They thought Hitler would try to take Moscow. By invading Stalingrad and Caucasus, the already thin ressources were spread on a much longer frontline, causing the siege of Stalingrad and the hastily retreat from Caucasus.
Thus my vote for this campaign as the greatest of the many blunders of Hitler...
The other options:
Eliminating British troops at Dunkirk would not have taken Britain out of the war. Sea Lion was never a real option, as Hitler aimed at territories in the East and not at conquering London.
Given the bad weather in early summer (April/May) in Russia in 1941, Barbarossa would have faced big problems, if started earlier.
The conquest of Moscow in 1941 would have been a serious blow to Russia, but remember: Napoleon reached Moscow and still didn´t win. Same is true for Germany, Stalin would have continued fighting as all the factories were at the Urals.
Conquest of Malta instead of Crete: Yep, a big mistake, but even the conquest of Cairo wouldn´t have changed that much as the Allies still could have come back to North Africa via Marocco (as they did with operation Torch). Of course, if Turkey would have turned against Russia, things could have changed seriously.
Failure of sending tanks early on against D-Day. Due to their overwhelming air power I believe D-Day would still have been a success. A bloodier one for the Allies, but once started, there was hardly a way back to the landing crafts.

Just some thoughts on that vote. Curious about other opions.

Christoph

Imperious Leader:
Id have to say that any choice after the period of the fall of 1942 was largely outside of the European Axis grasp for eventual victory. The most favored period IMO or rather the closest to victory would be around August 1941, when in a number of theater's of war Germany was clearly dictating the course of the war. So that brings into play of your choices three namely: Dunkirk, Yugoslavia, and the change in assigning forces from army group central to help AGS envelop Kiev pocket (665,000 soviets prisoner).
   Id rank Dunkirk as the biggest prize because it represented a sizable portion of the the British army and whose capture would have led to a different result in Africa, plus might have allowed Hitler to pursue Sealion, or at least have another "window of time" to fight England because they needed themselves time to retrain a new army..etc
The second most blunder would be losing those 6 weeks in the balkans, bailing out IL Duce for his own blunder in Greece and fighting in Yugoslavia.
   The Kiev option lost some for Germany to be sure, but time was allready lost in the balkans, so id have to rank the Balkans higher on the blunder list.
The 1942 options were rather bleak for Germany because the strategic and economic reserves of the Soviet Union were having a toll on Hitlers armies, The whole goal was to win quick victory "on the cheap" without a full mobilization or "Total War" commitment back at home. This could only have been done in that first year, because the numbers were increasingly against the Reich after 1941.

CHNfromG:
Hi everybody,

after thinking it all over, the most obvious choice is missing: Starting Barbarossa at all!!!

The attack against USSR while still at war with Britain was an unforced error and opening the two-front-war, that could not be won. Of course, Hitler and his generals thougth to have an easy game with a terror-crippled Red Army, that hardly won against Finland the winter war of 1939/40. Nobody expected the quick and decisive defeat of France in 1940. This combination (german victory in France and weakness of Red Army) led to the worst blunder of all: Blitzkrieg against USSR.

Christoph

Uncle Joe:
Wasn't that the point of the whole war tho?  No Lebensraum, no destroy bolshevism = no war, right?

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