Ice-Titan
Banned
Stalin had much warnings about the German invasion long before it happen, so what if he acted on those warnings? The Soviet army is not ready to go on the offensive so it would be better to retreat and use the strategic depth of Russia its self to wear out the Germans. So what if most of the Red Army evacuated behind the Dvina-Dnieper before Barbarossa? Leaving only “poison pawn” units and trained partisans to stall there advance, giving most of the army time to prepare.
The Dvina-Dnieper line seems a perfect place to set up a defensive line, a lot better then standing out in the open and being surrounded and cut off. The natural terrain and rivers will make the Germans loose many advantages like manoeuvrability while the Soviets will have saved millions of trained soldiers from being surrounded and cut-off, millions of trained soldiers that could latter be used to counter-attack a La-Winter Offensive Kiev instead of Moscow.
The Red Army will be in much better shape, they will not have lost millions of trained-soldiers and would not be forced to throw un-trained conscripts into the meat grinder, they now have much time to train them. With millions of already trained soldiers and millions of trained ones about to join them, along with the Siberian divisions, the Red Army would be a beast by summer 1942.
The extremely important industrial sites in the Don basin and much of the population are saved from destruction has well.
Also if has part of preparations Stalin puts somebody competent in-charge - replacing Semyon Budyonny with Colonel General Kirponos months before Barbarossa?
Evacuating everything possible east (factories especially) and scorching the earth, before the war starts? This action would probably save millions more lives and important industrial sites, well denying the Germans anything of use. Setting up partisan units in areas expected to be occupied, would also be a great move for the Soviets.
If the Dvina-Dnieper line is unfeasible; what if they evacuated factories/people/agriculture east behind the Volga before the war started? The Soviet Union evacuated 15,000,000 people into Central Asia/Siberia during WW2 along with hundreds of factories; what if they started the evacuation before Barbarossa?
The Dvina-Dnieper line seems a perfect place to set up a defensive line, a lot better then standing out in the open and being surrounded and cut off. The natural terrain and rivers will make the Germans loose many advantages like manoeuvrability while the Soviets will have saved millions of trained soldiers from being surrounded and cut-off, millions of trained soldiers that could latter be used to counter-attack a La-Winter Offensive Kiev instead of Moscow.
The Red Army will be in much better shape, they will not have lost millions of trained-soldiers and would not be forced to throw un-trained conscripts into the meat grinder, they now have much time to train them. With millions of already trained soldiers and millions of trained ones about to join them, along with the Siberian divisions, the Red Army would be a beast by summer 1942.
The extremely important industrial sites in the Don basin and much of the population are saved from destruction has well.
Also if has part of preparations Stalin puts somebody competent in-charge - replacing Semyon Budyonny with Colonel General Kirponos months before Barbarossa?
Evacuating everything possible east (factories especially) and scorching the earth, before the war starts? This action would probably save millions more lives and important industrial sites, well denying the Germans anything of use. Setting up partisan units in areas expected to be occupied, would also be a great move for the Soviets.
If the Dvina-Dnieper line is unfeasible; what if they evacuated factories/people/agriculture east behind the Volga before the war started? The Soviet Union evacuated 15,000,000 people into Central Asia/Siberia during WW2 along with hundreds of factories; what if they started the evacuation before Barbarossa?