Hitler dies January 1942, how much can Goring improve the German war effort?

Well if Hitler dies and Goering takes over, things would really change. First thing he does is solidify his position. Himmler and Bormann would both disappear, killed as heroes of the Reich by Allied agents or as a result of a bomber raid. He then does away with concentration camps, the prisoners and POWs winding up working for the greater good of the Reich, increasing war production. By throwing a million Russian POW's, and released camp victims, and going into 24/7 production, they produce the arms they need and get the extra man power released from the factories. The balance of Russians pow's (to be more accurate Ukrainians) are trained to fight for a "free" Ukraine. He increase resources for the Luftwaffe, his power base and for the army,to keep them on his side. The navy doesnt get any extra resources, as he's not fond of them. He does however use greater numbers of bombers to attack British shipping.
The German generals on the Eastern Front lobby for a united command, under Manstein. With Manstein in charge on the Eastern front, it's no longer going after economic goals, it becomes a mobile defence, designed to bleed the Russians dry. He reinstates Guderein, to run the army.
His friend, smiling Albert convinces Goering, to take out Malta, rather than let Rommel run things. With Malta gone, Rommels supplies improve. Goering knows economics. He knows he needs oil and with it out of reach in Russia, he reinforces Rommel, to go after middle east oil.
With Guderein and Manstein running things in Russia, they build a defence line, continue to hit the Russian's with strength sapping attacks.
Goering in effect, would probably be the worst one to take over for Hitler. He's want to control things but would be easier to mold by army generals.
 
The nazis conquering the middle east and setting up a oil infrastructure? With arms produced by magically fed slaves,produced from magically appearing ressources? A 180 degree turn of policy,and the SS is just fine with it? yeah ASB forum is right over there
 
I think that a pod of 1942 is too late for Goring to do much other than postpone the end..
A pod in 1941 before Germany declares war on America would be be better.
If Goring could avoid going to war on America he has a small chance of avoiding defeat.
If the pod was before Barbarossa he could avoid the invasion of soviet union. This could result in a Soviet invasion of germany later.
This at least has the advantage of shorter supply lines for the Germans and longer ones for the Soviets.
Probably the best to time for Goring would be after the 1937 deal on the Sudetenland.
I think Goring would not have gone to war or taken the rest of the Czechoslovakia.
If the Soviets later invaded Poland and Germany , Germany might even get help for the west.
 
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I think that a pod of 1942 is too late for Goring to do much other than postpone the end..
A pod in 1941 before Germany declares war on America would be be better.
If Goring could avoid going to war on America he has a small chance of avoiding defeat.
If the pod was before Barbarossa he could avoid the invasion of soviet union. This could result in a Soviet invasion of germany later.
This at least has the advantage of shorter supply lines for the Germans and longer ones for the Soviets.
Probably the best to time for Goring would be after the 1937 deal on the Sudetenland.
I think Goring would not have gone to war or taken the rest of the Czechoslovakia.
If the Soviets later invaded Poland and Germany , Germany might even get help for the west.

If we had a POD in the early months of 1941, prior to the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, then Germany might not end up going to war with Russia until much later (perhaps with a Soviet declaration of war, which, given Soviet organization, supplies and technological advancement compared to that of Germany, probably wouldn't go well and would allow Goering's Germany to bring about a semi-favourable peace). Many of the problems with defending Europe from British-American-allied invasion came from the lack of manpower on the French coast and in North Africa and the like, a lack of resources which came about primarily because so much attention was being placed on Barbarossa. Without a war with the Soviet Union, Germany would probably be able to effectively defend the French coast against the OTL allied invason, fight off the allies in Italy, and perhaps even win North Africa.
 
I think he could, if nothing else, rationalize things a bit, but really all it does is move the deck chairs on the Titanic

At this point Barbarossa has failed, the Japanese and Americans are in the war, and if nothing else by 1946 there are sufficient atomic weapons available to wreck Germany from end to end

You need an earlier POD to really change things around

of course my own theories on this are in my timeline, but I had that earlier POD
 
With a 1942 PoD I'm not so sure. Germany will not win the war in the sense of dictating the termes, but if they/Göring realise that and focus on preventing the allies from winning it, I a Nazi Germany actually could survive and even keep a lot of it loot.
Britain is still in,the US has entered the war,the Soviets have survived the initial onslaught of 1941...there are PODs to change these things,but its too late for them now. And with this things,german defeat is assured.
This. If you want to discuss some changes that are more than just rearanging the deck chairs on the Titanic, then you have to make the changes before Hitler dooms Germany by going to war with the USSR and USA.
 
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I think we're vastly overestimating Göring and what he was. Intellectually, Göring was an arena in search of a rodeo show to fill it. He did have rather impressive organizational skills and showed intelligence when it mattered to him (i.e., there was an audience). He particularly enjoyed having his IQ test taken and when placed in the Reichstag bothered to learn the subtle nuances of Parliamentary democracy and order (prior to the seizure of power). But those were flashes. Göring was as nearly as temperamental as Hitler and could not be counted on to do consistent work day-in-day-out. That is not say he was lazy. He was not, he was just... not consistent. There is also the question of how much he could have done had he even attempted.

Nazi Germany was a mess. I do not mean this just as a value judgement, though that is true as well, I mean it in every way possible regarding its governmental structures, even when compared to other totalitarian states. Hitler's Germany was a chaotic mess of overlapping bureaucracies and that's exactly how he wanted it. First, it allowed him to play off subordinates against each other. Second, it fit nicely into his warped philosophy of The-Leadership-Principle. All power derived from the Leader, the Leader then appointed Lesser Leaders to carry out his will. The Lesser Leaders were then given broad powers to carry out the will of the Leader. If one Lesser Leader's responsibility overlapped with that of another Lesser Leader, the Lesser Leader who showed more initiative and was more decisive received favor from the Leader and saw his power expand, the loser would have his power reduced, though not necessarily lose his position (as he would in Stalinist Russia or China). Nazi Germany's ideology was, in my view, less about Fascism and more about Hitlerism, he who is closest to Hitler wins. Exit Hitler. Enter Göring. What would be the basis for his authority?

To be sure, Göring's Nazi credentials were impeccable. He was an Old Fighter from the Days of Struggle, he was actually shot during the Putsch in Munich, and he was once the highest ranking Brown Shirt, but what did any of that mean in 1942? The power structures of the Party was by then littered by March Violets, men who had joined the Party when it was safe do so after the Seizure of Power. Oh to be sure the Golden Party Badge of Old Fighters was a mark of honor and denoted prestige, but prestige derived from the proximity the Badge implied to Hitler. The Badge meant its wearer could call upon the help of him in whose name he fought and by whose side he stood during the Days of Struggle. All power came from Hitler. And now he was gone. And in his place stood The Leader's designated successor, who could legitimately claim the title, but it wasn't exactly the same. Stalin pulled it off because he was Stalin and because while Bolshevism was by and large Leninism, it was a Leninist interpretation of Marxism. Soviet banners carried Marx, Engels and Lenin (and then Stalin). Upon whose historical fascist theory could Göring fall on and have the people not laugh in their sleeve? Mussolini? Hitler was Lennon-McCartney and Harrison. That made everyone else a Ringo.

Would the army follow Göring? Most of Göring's Air Force would follow him off a cliff in 1942, but not all, and when I say the army I do mean "the army." Göring, on paper, did outrank all other members of the German Armed Forces, and in 1942 his beloved Air Force was not yet humiliated when he (or rather one of his subordinates) claimed he could reinforce the trapped army at Stalingrad, nor was the bombing of German cities to the point where he was the butt of everyone's joke. But while some in the army still thought of him in positive terms as legitimate-right alternative to the Brown Shirts of Röhm, by 1942 he was already being seen as an out of touch gluttonous undependable fool. There were stories of fighter pilots having the Fat Man visit their cockpits and telling them the main thing about combat was not to get scared of the other fella's engines when he comes upon you (sage advice in World War One, but not so much in World War Two), his complete mishandling of German aircraft production (laid bare during the Battle of Britain) and then there was the Ernst Udet story. Göring blamed his former World War One Flying Circus pal for all the problems the German Air Force encountered in the War and the debonair Udet took it rather badly and offed himself. Not very comradely. To say nothing of Göring's role in the infamous Blomberg–Fritsch affair. The Fat Man presided over the kangaroo honor court. Would the army follow Göring? Maybe. Depending on who were the alternatives in the Nazi Game of Thrones. But there was no oath of loyalty to Göring. And there certainly would not have been the blind obedience had the Big Man took and held the power. The Armed Forces would expect to carry out their activities and if they met Göring's objectives so much the better, if not... well, that would be an interesting scenario.

If Göring installed himself into power, he would need to be legitimized by propaganda. Joey the Cripp and Göring did not have the warmest relations, but luckily for Göring, Joey didn't have a monopoly on propaganda in Nazi Germany. While Dr. Goebbels controlled the radio, but he did not have full control of the press, battling over that with the Press Chief of the Nazi Party Otto Dietrich and President of the Reich Media Chamber and Reich Press Leader Max Amann. Both men had a healthy dislike for the good doctor and incidentally, unlike him, were honorary SS-Generals.

Could
Göring purge SS? And would he? In January of 1942 Göring would have to face Himmler and Heydrich. He worked fine with both by this point, though animosity naturally seeped in when one never knew where one's power ended and began in Hitler's Germany and one was constantly elbowing a fellow colleague in the ribs while working and getting elbowed in return. Göring created the Gestapo and although Heydrich brought a Bavarian crew to transform Göring's Prussian institution after Göring traded away Gestapo to SS to help the purge of Röhm, the two men worked well together, for a time. Or rather Heydrich worked "well" in implementing the Holocaust using broad powers Göring gave him with Göring electing not to ask too many questions. But Heydrich aimed for the top and almost everyone knew it and if a Czech bullet would not have stopped him, one fired by a friend of Himmler of the Fat Man would have. Left alone with Himmler, Göring would have several common approaches with the crazed folk chicken farmer. SS would be weakened by the loss The Leader in the name of whose protection they came into existence. As would be Göring. Both could lean on each other. And then there was the German Army. In 1942, the German Army was still winning and their victories were wholly theirs. The Armed Forces of SS were the side show. And while the Air Force was showy and glamorous, and had a wonderful spokesman, the prestige of the war was falling on the Army more than on them. It would be in the best interest of both men to work together to curtail the power of the army and keep themselves occupied. Himmler and Göring could work together. Why would Göring wish to purge himself of Himmler? Over the camps? This is a man who boasted of taking responsibility for every gun fired in anger at the internal enemy. Göring's humanism extended to his appreciation of fine art and banning animal vivisection, but did not make many inroads past that. What reason would he have to close the camps? To help make peace with the Allies?

In January of 1942, with Germany fighting a war against the UK, US and USSR, it was not yet set in stone Germany had to lose. If Germany could knock out Stalinist Russia before the end of the year, it could be possible in theory to pivot all forces against the British and knock them out before US really entered the war in full force. It was, however, not likely. Göring was no master strategist. He would have gotten out of the way of the Armed Forces, or he might have interfered more. He was less likely to not talk to his generals for days over some perceived slight the way moody Hitler had done during crucial engagements, but neither could Göring hold a nation together spellbound and believing in wonder weapons coming and saving them all. I also do no think the German war machine would have been more likely to churn out jets faster and in greater numbers with Göring in charge, as he did not acquit himself well during plane production during the aforementioned Battle of Britain. Göring was an educated man, but economists (both bad and good) could bamboozle him with ease. Nor do I think it more likely Göring would usher in a Nazi A-Bomb. Could Göring negotiate a peace treaty? Maybe.

I do not think Göring could have won the War for Germany. And I am not sure what sort of Peace he could have made, but I can see him at least staggering through the corridors of power long enough to try to make a stab a Peace.
 
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