fighters are the priority

WI Germany had decided that fighters should take priority in production over bombers.

It wasn't until late 1943 that Germany decided to prioritise on fighter production.

What if they decided to prioritise on fighters in 1942 or even 1941?

Any thoughts?
 
They'd end up with an unbalanced Luftwaffe, and lose the war sooner perhaps. Germany's best bet to win WW2 lies in going to British-style total war producition in a similar timescale as the Brits. If German war production in all things peaked in 1941-2, and plateaued through 1943 they would win the war to all intents and purposes.
 

burmafrd

Banned
It is amazing how little the German economy was geared towards war when you compare it to Britain in 1941. With the resources and slave labor available to it in 1941, Germany should have been producing twice as much. Now If Speer had been apointed earlier and given full power that probably would have happened.
 

Markus

Banned
It is amazing how little the German economy was geared towards war when you compare it to Britain in 1941. With the resources and slave labor available to it in 1941, Germany should have been producing twice as much. Now If Speer had been apointed earlier and given full power that probably would have happened.


Why? At that time all the experts had regarded France the strongest military power in Europe, the UK never was much of a land-power and the USSR was utterly underestimated - with good reasons. So, without hindsight there is little reason to put the industry on a total war footing that early.
 
If France was the strongest land power and Britain was known to have great potential from WW1 and they were to eventually attack the SU simple prudence should lead German leaders to the conclusion that they should be as strong as possible from the minute they were at war.
 

Markus

Banned
great potential from WW1???

They have been kicked off the continent and this time a hunger blockade won´t work, so there is little they can do on their own.
And why put the industry on a higher war footing, when you defeated a seemingly stronger power with the current level of production?
 
great potential from WW1???

They have been kicked off the continent and this time a hunger blockade won´t work, so there is little they can do on their own.
And why put the industry on a higher war footing, when you defeated a seemingly stronger power with the current level of production?

Because you're planning to invade the Soviet Union in 1941, and Britain wasn't yet completely defeated when it was kicked out of Europe. The German decisions regarding war production were ill-advised to say the least.

I would also say that Germany would've been better off had they recruited women to work in war factories- patriotic women working for the fatherland to supply their husbands/brothers/fathers are going to work a lot more efficiently than slaves, no matter how coerced.

However, both problems essentially were rooted in the neuroses of Hitler and the Nazi ideology.
 
Britian didn't get kicked off the Continent for 9 months after the war started, so that's no excuse for moving toward greater production. And after they were ejected from the Continent they were still undefeated; they fought off the BoB and BoA, conducted peripheral campaigns in Africa, the Med and Greece. All the while Hitler was thinking of destroying the SU, so there really is no excuse for complacency in German war production.
 
Britian didn't get kicked off the Continent for 9 months after the war started, so that's no excuse for moving toward greater production. And after they were ejected from the Continent they were still undefeated; they fought off the BoB and BoA, conducted peripheral campaigns in Africa, the Med and Greece. All the while Hitler was thinking of destroying the SU, so there really is no excuse for complacency in German war production.

The reason why German war production was complacent was because Hitler was afraid of the impact on civilian morale. He was afraid that something similar to the collapse and revolution of 1918 would happen if he lowered German living standards. This was of course, a false fear and probably cost him any significant hope of victory.
 
Huitler agreed to end cosmetics production and re-allocate those resources elsewherein about 1941, but Eva Braun complained so he reversed that decision. That was typical of Hitlers lack of balls, fear even though he was hugely popular.
 

Markus

Banned
@Kaiser Kris: The USSR was regarded to be weaker than France even before 1939 and they had just screwed up badly in the Winter War.

@Riain: After France and the UK declared war on Germany, the production was adjusted in expectation of a long war and reduced after France was defeated. And what the Brits were doing in the Med was mere nibbling at the edges. Once again, they were easily chased of the continent in 1941. In 41 the USSR was the only power that could really hurt Germany in the forseeable future and once it´s been defeated provide/free up the resources for a prolonged war with the Anglo-Americans.
 
They'd end up with an unbalanced Luftwaffe, and lose the war sooner perhaps. Germany's best bet to win WW2 lies in going to British-style total war producition in a similar timescale as the Brits. If German war production in all things peaked in 1941-2, and plateaued through 1943 they would win the war to all intents and purposes.

German focus on war production always outmatches the UK:

1940 - Germany domestic spending on the war is 36% of GDP, UK 31%
1941 -Germany 44%, UK 41%
1942 (the year Speer takes over - Germany 52%, UK 43% (but USSR 66%)
 
Wazza, obviously Germany was getting robbed; a higher proportion of an economy which was 40% larger in 1938 and 70-80% larger in 1941 should equate to 40-80% more war materiel than Britain. A glance at the end production stats in key areas shows the opposite to be true, Britian outproduced Germany in the years where the war hung in the balance.The 1944 production stats show what the German war economy was capable of, that this peak wasn't reached in 1942 is the culpability of the Nazis.

Marcus, uboat production actually stopped for a short time between the invasions of Poland and France. And the stop-go nature of war production is precisely my point, even after France and the Balkans Hitler wanted to smash the SU but didn't make a concerted effort to have war production progressively increased.
 

Markus

Banned
... even after France and the Balkans Hitler wanted to smash the SU but didn't make a concerted effort to have war production progressively increased.

And my point is at that point he did not have to, at least he had very good reason for thinking so, because the most powerful enemy was already out of the war and the UK was once more defeated. Speaking of thinking so, the US government actually feared a soviet collapse in mid 1942. Yes, 1942, not 1941. So much about who knew what.
 
interesting, you see, fighters ARE capable of bombing, and are faster, easier to produce and piloted much more easily, but the drwaback is that fighters can only carry a fraction of what bombers can hold. they could simply bomb enemy positions quickly then roll in their tanks like before, but with more punch and enphasis on the fighters than the ground units. i'm stumped by this one.....
 
Markus, events proved that idea was wrong, that Germany should have been striving for ever greater war production in the first 3 years to ensure they had enough materiel to defeat the SU. To my mind it is simple prudence that you try as hard as you can until you've won.

Nolafia, bombers carry much greater bombloads to much further targets than any fighter-bomber can, and this make a much larger contribution to the war effort. A prime example of this was the intruder missions that the Luftwaffe flew to Britian on the heel of returning bombers, this was far more effective at destroying bombers than having night fighters operating in Germany itself. Similary it is easier and more effective to blow out a rail junction or bridge with bombers than it is to destroy the train's cargo in battle. Nobody questions the fact that the RAF Desert Airforce had lots of bombers.
 

Markus

Banned
Markus, events proved that idea was wrong, that Germany should have been striving for ever greater war production in the first 3 years to ensure they had enough materiel to defeat the SU.

Without the fast fall of France I´d agree it would have been simple prudence to gear up more, but things being as the were that would require hindsight in 1940/41.
 
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