Alternate Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

[Ris4history]

Somewhere I read that originally the USSR was supposed to have gotten more territory. This additional
territory would have left Soviet forces more exposed and would have actually made it easier for Nazi forces to surround and destroy a larger chunk of the Red Army during Barbarossa. Does anyone know what I'm referring to? Thanks

 

[Deleted member 1487]

Somewhere I read that originally the USSR was supposed to have gotten more territory. This additional
territory would have left Soviet forces more exposed and would have actually made it easier for Nazi forces to surround and destroy a larger chunk of the Red Army during Barbarossa. Does anyone know what I'm referring to? Thanks

Not AFAIK. The Germans were supposed to get Lithuania, but traded it away for more territory East of the Vistula in Poland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German–Soviet_Frontier_Treaty

During the western invasion of Poland, the German Wehrmacht had taken control of the Lublin Voivodeship and eastern Warsaw Voivodeship - territories which according to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact were in the Soviet sphere of influence. To compensate the Soviet Union for this "loss", the treaty's secret attachment transferred Lithuania to the Soviet sphere of influence, with the exception of a small territory in the Suwałki Region, sometimes known as the Suwałki Triangle. After this transfer, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Lithuania, occupied it on June 15, 1940 and established the Lithuanian SSR.

If anything it made their forces in Belarus hard to pocket than it would have been had Lithuania been in the German sphere. Plus it probably saved Leningrad in 1941.


Final border agreement below, add Lithuania for the Germans and subtract the German held areas around Lublin for the ATL borders. The Soviets would have been further forward, but flanked from the north. I supposed you could say that the Bialystok area was easier to pocket from the south, but that leaves out the much easier time the Germans would have had in the north with Lithuania as a mobilizing area.

 

[Ris4history]

So...if Nazi Germany gets Lithuania as per original treaty then the panzers could strike toward Minsk . Wouldn't this give Germany a bigger opportunity to bag more of the Red Army. I'm not pro-Nazi Germany, just playing around with some different Barbarossas.

 

[Deleted member 1487]

So...if Nazi Germany gets Lithuania as per original treaty then the panzers could strike toward Minsk . Wouldn't this give Germany a bigger opportunity to bag more of the Red Army. I'm not pro-Nazi Germany, just playing around with some different Barbarossas.

No worries, this is an alternate history site where we discuss different way history could have gone, which includes alternate Barbarossas. This topic has been discussed pervious IIRC, so check the search function. I found a map of the differences, which I attached below.
Basically yes, the Germans could have used a stronger northern strike arm to encircle more Soviet troops in East Poland, while being able to push to Leningrad more quickly....but the question is what happens with the defenses and rail lines in the meantime. The Germans spent a lot upgrading Polish rail lines East of the Vistula, which they won't have to spend here, while also being able to integrate the Lithuanian lines more effectively earlier on, but then the Soviets start their defensive plans with the assumption that the Dvina will be defended from day 1, which makes breaching that line much more difficult than IOTL for the Germans (it was a highly formidable obstacle in WW1), while likely the Soviets will defend all the borders of Lithuania in anticipation of the Germans using it as a jump off point to encircle them. Also breeching the Vistula will be somewhat of a problem if the Soviets prepare defenses on it, while they likely will not upgrade the infrastructure, leaving and even bigger rail gap than the Germans had to deal with IOTL, which could have a lot of negative consequences for AG-Center. Maybe it might motivate the Germans to invest more in rail reconstruction efforts, maybe not. A huge part of the staging areas for AG-Center and South would be in Soviet hands ITTL: (warning massive map in Russian about OTL June 22nd force dispositions)
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/maps/other/Location_June_22_41.jpg

The short answer is that this really complicates things and dramatically changes plans for everyone, not necessarily to Germany's benefit.