Barbarossa

Being a new member, I would like to see what you think of my latest alt-history story. The premise is as such: Operation Barbarossa was orinally scheduled for May 1941, but the invasion took place in June. What would the war have been like if Barbarossa took place as originally planned?
Please comment.
 
Short story; the Germans still would have lost. Maybe they would have captured Moscow in 1941, but beyond that...
 
The spring rains ran long that year... I don't know much earlier they could have technically launched the invasion. Those last 8 weeks were critical for getting the divisions and aircraft which had fought in Yugoslavia and Greece into position to support Army Group South.

Assuming for whatever reason they could launch the invasion maybe 4 to 6 weeks early it might let them GET to Moscow... but there is no garauntee they could actually capture the city. Army Group Center in particular didn't have a whole lot of infantry reserves or the necessary amount of heavy artillery to capture Moscow (which was fortified on the level of Stalingrad)... you could very easily see the type of situation that Red and I have laid out in failure before Moscow
although we used a different POD
 
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CalBear

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Probably not that dramatic a difference in 1941. The Soviets had managed to construct a defensible position in front of Moscow and there is no reason to expect that it would be different if the operation had begun on time.

The proposition of a mad Blitz that took out the USSR didn't work because the Sovs had the distance to trade for time. An extra 30 days won't shrink the mileage.

Now, if the Heer took the extra 30 days once they hit the Moscow defenses in preparing winter quarters it might help, but there is no way they would use the time that profitably.
 
As Blair said the Germans could reach Moscow but what then? They arent prepared to fight for the capital and Zhukovs winter counter offenisve will still take place, maybe hammering Army Group Centre.
 
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