D-Day: 1943

[ObssesedNuker]

Okay, fair enough... I still see it as a wash; if the Germans pull enough out of the east in (say) the spring of 1943 to make a difference in the summer in France, they've kind of opened the door to the Soviets to make some pretty significant gains at low costs in the summer and fall of 1943 in the east.

Entirely true.

By 1943, the Germans just didn't have enough resources to defend everything; arguably, the same held true in 1942, of course.

Of course! IOTL proved that well enough. The problem is Hitler refuses to believe that and no-one really is going to contradict him by this point.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Last eight posts lead fair directly to the difficult strategic situation the Axis were in by the start of 1943. Both attempts in latter 1942 to take the strategic initiative with aggressive operations - Plan Blue & the intervention in Tunisia - ended in catastrophic failures. The active defense attempted in 1943 did not work so well either. There were some tactical and a few operational successes, but overall there were few strategic successes.

The 1943 Overlord or invasion question is a subset of the larger question of how in 1943 the Allies could have applied better or more efficient pressure on the Axis.