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In researching for my Stalingrad TL; I've been amazed that such a large and pivotal battle could have been drastically different on single decisions... namely 2 have come to mind

1. Hitler doesn't divert the 4th panzer army to Rostov, where they accomplished nothing except blocking the roads... had they stayed with army group B they would have captured Stalingrad off the march without fighting by August at the latest... Kleist and Hoth both lobbied against the 4th panzer army being relocated 1942 would have been vastly different if Hitler listened to them

2. Hans Valentine Hube reached the Volga at Rynok after crushing most of the defenses north of the city in September 1942, he sat there for 5 days waiting for the 14th panzer corps to catch up to his 16th panzer division. He mulled an immediate crossing to roll up all the artillery the soviets where stockpiling on the east bank of the Volga, but decided against it, fearing he could be cut off (although this likely would have compelled a general soviet withdrawal out of the city to avoid encirclement)


what other big and small battles of the 20th century turned so much on single decisions?
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