Germany biggest mistake

[NewDestroyer]

What do u think germany's biggest mistake was in ww2?

 

[tonberry]

They have been many thread about it. I'll go with the classic one: opening the east front.

 

[andvruss]

They have been many thread about it. I'll go with the classic one: opening the east front.

I agree fully with you tonberry. Opening a front with Russia..err.....the Soviet Union was Germany's biggest mistake.

 

[napoleon526]

I think that starting war in '39 was their biggest mistake. If Hitler had stopped his expansion with Czechoslovakia, and continued with his 'Z plan' for naval expansion, along with further development of the Luftwaffe, then the war may have been much different. If he had waited until 1944 or 1945 to initiate war, then we might all be speaking German right now.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

His racist policies. The Wehrmacht was being welcomed with open arms in Ukraine and elsewhere as the Germans marched into the Soviet Union, and with Soviet soldiers surrendering in the hundreds of thousands.

Had he kept a lid on his racial policies, the Germans would have conquered the Soviet Union easily, with help fr ex-Soviet soldiers who would probably be glad to turn against Stalin and his regime.

 

[Dark Ascendant]

Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
His racist policies. The Wehrmacht was being welcomed with open arms in Ukraine and elsewhere as the Germans marched into the Soviet Union, and with Soviet soldiers surrendering in the hundreds of thousands.

Had he kept a lid on his racial policies, the Germans would have conquered the Soviet Union easily, with help fr ex-Soviet soldiers who would probably be glad to turn against Stalin and his regime.

I agree, the Germans were seen as liberators at first by a lot of natives who lived under years of the Stalin regime. They failed to take advantage of it.

I don't think it was a mistake to open the Eastern front though, Stalin was planning to invade Eastern Europe and Germany. If the Nazis didn't strike first, then Stalin would have violated the non-aggression pact first. The real mistake was how Hitler handled the Eastern Front.

 

[lord_byron_nz]

Also sending troops to the Balkans to prop up Mussonlini.

 

[rilnator]

He had to invade Russia. Those two nations could not live side by side peacefully forever. He had to go to the Balkans, a hostile Ygoslavia on his southern flank would not have been helpful, especially with the British in Greece.
I think he started war at the right time, Germany may not have been ready but, she was more ready than the rest of Europe, as history shows. I don't beleive Germany having a bigger navy would have had an impact on the war.
To me his greatest mistake was not destroying the British at Dunkirk. This would have left the British with a very small army and they may have sued for peace. Oh, yeah, and having that fat idiot as commander of the airforce was a big mistake too.

 

[schmiddi]

There have been a lot of mistakes.

1: The LUFTWAFFE was prepared for tactical operations only.

2: The aims of military operations changed much to often

I also agree with knight-dragon

 

[Thadlerian]

Big mistake: Using Messerschmitt Me-262 as a bomber against Britain, instead of using its full potential as a jet fighter against the allied air forces.

 

[shak]

The biggest mistake: Keeping Hitler in power long enough for him to make many big mistakes.

 

[shak]

Thadlerian: It would have been interesting to see how Germanys Generals would have performed on the battlefield (strictly militarily) without Hitler’s insurmountable stupidity getting in the way.

Hitler just liked to micro-manage too much.

 

[ellie]

Biggest mistake?
allowing hitler to grab power

Ellie

 

[nixon]

Hitler and his dreamland. I think it speaks for itself.

 

[Suppersalmon]

allying with Japan

 

[Ancient Grudge]

not killing hitler off. if he was killed and say Hydreich took over the war would have turned out very differently IMHO

 

[Zcylen]

Originally posted by Suppersalmon
allying with Japan

I dont agree here.

It was worst to ally with Italy, they were more on osbtacle than a help.
if Japan was geographically in the place of italy, Europe had fallen easily against japan and germany fighting togheter.
italia was useless for Hitler.

 

[Cunobelin]

One could look at many different mistakes made during the war and say "oh we'd all be speaking german by now if hitler hadn't done x".

The truth is one cannot pin down one decision that would have been absolutely decisive

 

[NewDestroyer]

I think germany's biggest mistakes were:
1) Helping Itlay in balkans and in africa(rommel)
2) Not expecting such a risitance in england
3) attacking england then stopping then invading russia
4)Not adavancing all the way to moscow and not pushing foward.*

On a huge note germany would have kicked russia's ass if japan would have sticked to i tanaka plan* and invaded russia after china. Then siberian troops wouldn't have been able to kick germany out of west russia.

Tanaka plan was japan's plan to take over the world, first 5 steps were:
1)Take Manchura
2)Take Rest of China
3)Invade russia
4)Take south east asia(i.e. vietnam)
5)Invade usa

*

 

[Sayounara]

Originally posted by napoleon526
I think that starting war in '39 was their biggest mistake. If Hitler had stopped his expansion with Czechoslovakia, and continued with his 'Z plan' for naval expansion, along with further development of the Luftwaffe, then the war may have been much different. If he had waited until 1944 or 1945 to initiate war, then we might all be speaking German right now.

Right! We all speak German

By then, Germany would have

1. strong economy
2. 10000 fighters and bombers!
3. 70000 tanks!
4. More Roads built

He's racism is really sad...