Macht des dritten Reich: What if Nazi Germany had more power to defend itself?

Geez, the guy is clearly the victim of some misinformation; no need to be snarky. There are a lot of bad history books out there that give completely the wrong impression about World War II in general, and the Eastern Front in particular.

For the most part, Nazi Germany's tactical choices were correct, all the way though.

Driving straight for Moscow was unrealistic. The Russian transport system, the lack of heavy transport vehicles like trucks (and even with those, the Germans didn't have competent drivers in a lot of cases), and the fact that it takes time and energy to supply a million troops along supply lines hundreds of miles long, made a direct thrust at the capital unrealistic, because you're bottlenecking more troops and supplies at one point. Furthermore, Moscow wasn't going to just fall; most likely it would be Stalingrad-style urban warfare, except with a bigger city, with the German troops in worse condition and the Russian troops getting reinforced with Siberian veterans.

It was a miracle that the German spearheads even got TO Moscow; they were a shell of their former selves by then. Getting their earlier doesn't change much.

Not exactly. The majority of Soviet troops in 1941 were in the Ukraine and the immense losses of the earlier battles meant that the Germans had a temporary numerical advantage over the Soviets in front of Moscow. If the Soviets had chosen to limit their winter 1941/2 offensive just to Army Group Center that part of the German military would have been destroyed, and the butterflies from that for the Axis-Soviet War as a whole would be rather considerable.
 
Lets say the Germans guess that the allies intend to partition Germany and the Western Allies will halt their advance somewhere in central Germany possibly the River Elbe so they pull all of their forces from the west(no Ruhr Pocket) and concentrate all forces around Berlin and on the Oder.
 
Originally posted by danwild6
Lets say the Germans guess that the allies intend to partition Germany and the Western Allies will halt their advance somewhere in central Germany possibly the River Elbe so they pull all of their forces from the west(no Ruhr Pocket) and concentrate all forces around Berlin and on the Oder.

According to "The Last Battle" by Cornelius Ryan, German HQ knew about occupation zones.
 

Typo

Banned
Lets say the Germans guess that the allies intend to partition Germany and the Western Allies will halt their advance somewhere in central Germany possibly the River Elbe so they pull all of their forces from the west(no Ruhr Pocket) and concentrate all forces around Berlin and on the Oder.

They knew all about this actually, and they actually made attempts to do just what you suggested
 
I guess what we need is a Western Alliance that wants to bleed the Soviets a little more maybe see a Soviet defeat followed by an Anglo-American push on Berlin.
 
Originally posted by danwild6
I guess what we need is a Western Alliance that wants to bleed the Soviets a little more maybe see a Soviet defeat followed by an Anglo-American push on Berlin.

So the Allies want to loose much more men as they did IOTL? If, the Germans repell the Soviets, they are very hard nut to crack. Also, USA wanted Stalin to join the war against Japan. That will not happen, if the Soviets are stopped in Europe.
OTOH, WI the Manhattan Project succeeded a year or just a few months earlier? Say, in February 1945?
Only it would require a new mindset in Washington: US government still believed at the time that the Soviets are actually pretty decent guys and Stalin is someone you can make a honest deal with.
 
Not exactly. The majority of Soviet troops in 1941 were in the Ukraine and the immense losses of the earlier battles meant that the Germans had a temporary numerical advantage over the Soviets in front of Moscow. If the Soviets had chosen to limit their winter 1941/2 offensive just to Army Group Center that part of the German military would have been destroyed, and the butterflies from that for the Axis-Soviet War as a whole would be rather considerable.

Well, keep in mind that if the plan is to go all out in a drive towards Moscow, that butterflies away the Kiev encirclement, which went a long way towards creating that numerical superiority. And I don't see how the transport and supply bottlenecks get solved, or how the Russians roll over and let Germany capture Moscow when the Red Army fought to the death over Stalingrad.

So the Allies want to loose much more men as they did IOTL? If, the Germans repell the Soviets, they are very hard nut to crack

Maybe if the Russians gave up and went home, then the Germans could move all those troops from the East to the West.
 
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