Those stocks of supplies are gone by 41-42, consumed to keep the German war machine going. And Franco was perfectly aware of the attitude towards Spain, another reason he wouldn't join.
I completely agree. Nazis aren’t very good at long term planning. Nevertheless, there was a firm desire at last from the “Mediterraneanist” circles to occupy Spain for military/economic reasons.
The Reichsbahn could only be kept functioning in 1940 by looting rolling stock from the French. Again the point of the thread was Spain Joins the Axis, not gets conquered by Germany. By conquering Spain Germany gains, nothing. As a neutral nation Spain was one of the few places Germany could use as an intermediary for buying certain rare raw materials. As an occupied country its yet another place that has to be garrisoned and the fact that Hitler has turned on a fellow Fascist will not improve relations with Italy.
Is that true? I’d like to see that sourced. In any case, the DRB had already looted France and successfully supported AG-sized operations in Greece/Yugoslavia and 3 AGs in Russia up to a depth of 700-800km, after which of course it required extensive reorganization to support further operations in 1942-43. Your assertion that it couldn’t support a 15-division operation in Spain isn’t borne out by the facts. The Spanish Army isn’t the The GRT alone could provide motorized logistics up to a depth of 400km, more than sufficient to overrun Spain’s capital and destroy its armed forces. After that, an occupation of the remainder of the country doesn’t require intense munitions consumption.
I’m pointing out that the premise of this thread isn’t achievable, because Franco’s price for joining the Axis was too high in 1940 and after 1941 he very clearly saw the direction the war was going. The only way to achieve an Axis Spain is to have it be a puppet regime under occupation. The fact that the Nazis benefitted from a neutral Spain doesn’t mean they wanted a neutral Spain. Hitler actively courted Franck to enter the war, and both Ribbentrop and Goering wanted to simply send in the troops and stop wasting time negotiating.
The Germans didn't have enough Standard Gauge trains and rolling stock for adequate logistics in the East, and then you expect those same overworked RR workers to to jump over to Spain when there was still hundreds of miles of Soviet track to redo, plus you need more Trainset for Spain, once the rails are redone? Henschel can make Tanks, or they can make Trains.
Choose.
They didn’t have adequate material commensurate to their objectives, which were insane, or commensurate to the ability of their opponent to keep resisting after disastrous defeats. The DRB and GRT supported an advance of over 600km in less than a month by 3 AGs, after which a substantial operational paise was needed. They certainly could support 15 divisions in Spain over a similar distance with no immediate other commitments, which would be more than enough to occupy the majority of the country and destroy its military within weeks. In comparison to running the entire economy of the occupied USSR for 3 years and supporting hundreds of divisions, a couple standard gauge trunk lines and an occupation force of 15 divisions is a drop in the ocean.
These claims are really grasping at straws and don’t reflect what happened IOTL. The invasion of Spain would be a straightforward operation requiring 2-3 months tops. The long-run occupation would be a mess, which is of course very interesting to consider, but that doesn’t change Spain’s inability to resist say Fuhrer Goering’s desire to subjugate it.
