What are plausible decisions Nazi Germany could have made to improve their performance in the War?

Support the Irish Republican Army (IRA) financially and/ or with arms. This would certainly stall cross-Channel efforrts,...

Another plan was to convince Pope Pius XI that the war is a "Crusade Against Communism ", during the period, there were calls to "consecrate Russia" for the Virgin Mary, especially after the Fatima, Portugal sightings,...
 
Well, I have some scenarios in mind:

1) Get bold (more lol) at the Munich Agreement and flatout tell Chamberlian that Germany's ambition is to regain everything lost in Versailles minus Alsace-Lorraine (this one being excempt because it would never get accepted). You see, most of the West saw Germany as having the right to reclaim what was lost to Versailled, what really turned everyone against Germany was no the annexations themselves, but Hitler repeteadly going against his own word and violating international agreements. It is a long shot, but if the UK agrees to some sort of plan that they will keep themselves out of war if Germany only limits itself to Versailles gains then likely Germany can invade the Sudeteland and then Danzig with impunity. OTL Germany got a "free" invasion card when they invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia and got away with it until he broke its word once again and invaded Poland. Taking this in consideration, Germany can likely invade Czechoslovakia and then the USSR withut war in the West. Without the looting of France Germany would be weaker but so would the USSR and a 1 front war would help tremendously.

2) Similar to 1. Reach the original Munich agreement and respect Czechoslovakia, there was important industry and gold there, but going by some comments in a thread where this was discussed, the Czech government was already a quasy puppet to Germany and what they asked they got. Then use your "free invasion with war" car and attack Poland instead. The allies will be mad, but just like OTL they will not go to war. Then invade the USSR, the allies are not going to go to war over protecting the USSR, no way. One of their dream scenarios was to have the USSR and Germany duke it out and destroy themselves in the process. Hitler can invade the USSR now in 1939 or 1940. Again, without Czech industry (unless Germany can bully them into becoming an ally) and France looting Germany is weaker than OTL, but so is the USSR which went through the purges and having just a 1 front war would help a lot.

3) Go as OTL, with the exception you capture the British Army at Dunkirk. Then sue for peace publicily and officially. Churchill was already under tremendous pressure to agree to peace as it was, it was a very close call with Churchill having to promise Halifax scenarios in which he would agree to peace. A disaster at Dunkirk can likely shift the situation. Almost guarantee to succeed, if not just give generous enough peace terms until Britain agrees.

4) If things go per OTL and you can't crush Dunkirk, then offer Britain in a very public an official way that you will be withdrawing from everywhere minus Poland in exchange for peace. Harder to achieve without the Dunkirk card, but there is a shot it would work.

5) Accept the USSR into the Axis, shift Lebensraum to Africa instead. Stalin got very close to joining the Axis, he actually made a final proposal to do so, which Hitler alone vetoed against the advice of nearly everyone:


Give Stalin as a condition to join the Axis to declare war on Britain. A huge chank the sinks Britain's morale, fighting a Germany that controls everything from Calais to the Warsaw was already a daunting proposal. Having your only continental ally join your enemy, and now face a combined enemy that holds land from Calais to freaking Vladivostok would simply look impossible, even Roosevelt would likely begin sweating at the prospect of entering the war. If the UK refuse to make peace, then just pummel it in the Mediterranean until they agree or just fight a defensive war and keep killing British military and shooting down planes until they get tired. They will eventually HAVE to come to terms. This is in my opinion the 1 war winning strategy Germany could had, used that gives him a guaranteed victory.

6) If you must go for a 2 front war, then end the war quickly. There is evidence, albeit not very good that in 1941 Stalin was willing to come to terms with a Brest Litovsk style peace. Hitler of course would have nothing else but A-A line or the Urals. If Hitler or the military can appreciate just how bad the situation in the USSR can get, when you are rampaging through the USSR sue Stalin for peace with Brest Litovsk terms. While not guaranteed, there is a good chance he would accept. The effect of this would also be that it would cause a shock at Britain and worldwide, while Germany dodged a bullet, it would look to everyone that Germany defeated the USSR in less than 3 months (even less time that Hitler anticipated). It would look like a Battle of France victory on steroids. Now Britain's only potential ally on the continent has been crushed, Germany took out with utter ease 2 out of the 3 powers that could oppose it aside the USA. Sue for peace with Britain, if they refuse just fight a defensive war until they come to terms. To me this scenario is the second most likely victory chance for Germany.

7) Bomb and mine British ports in particular Liverpool. I am not really informed on the chances of this strategy, but I have seen it posted here as a way Germany could had used to defeat the UK.

8) Follow a Mediterranean strategy against Britain and scrap Barbarossa. Not sure how well this would work, but I think it has good chances of working.

9) Starve the USSR into submission. Again, I don't know how plausible is this, but I have seen people here claim that Germany OTL plummeted food production in the USSR by occupying some of its richest farmlands, and that had Germany just kept the occupation in those areas longer (the Kuban region I think) the USSR would had eventually starved out and be forced to give Hitler what he wants.

In all scenarios apply the rule: Avoid war with the USA at all costs.
Very interesting. I like the points you listed.
 
Some improvements Germans can do to their hardware - let's say they take a long & hard look at what they have now and what could be useful if the war prolongs from expected months into years. I will not add much, if anything, on the Kriegsmarine gear, there is a lot of people in the forum that are actually knowledgable in that field.
Delete the V2 program.
Luftwaffe: Outfit the V1 with radio-goniometer so it can home on radar stations. Same homing system install on free-fall bombs.
Trim down production of Bf 110, so you can ramp up production of Bf 109s without engines being that much of chokepoint; cancel the Me 210 and He 177 program. Bf 109 gets the drop tank installation at least 6 months earlier than it was historically so; try to make 90 rd drum for the MG FF(M) ASAP. Focke Wulf gets a contract to make prototype(s) of Fw 190 with DB 601 engine ASAP. Issue request for proposal for jet aircraft - 1-engined fighter, 2-engined multirole. Ju 288 remains not big, BMW 801 engines for it. Have Heinkel make He 219 as a bomber, not as a night-fighter.
Aero engine situation: once BMW 801C/D is working well, go with the 801E version (has a better supercharger). DB 601 and Jumo 211 with 2-stage supercharger. After that, only jets.
Guns for aircraft: belt-fed MG FFM (can go to a place where the MG 151/20 might not fit, like the outer wing position of the Bf 109; much lighter and with lighter ammo than MG 151/20); MG 151 as per OTL; a 'big MG FFM' at 25-30 mm of 50-70 kg and 700 m/s; tank busting guns.
AA defence: introduce 30mm AA gun ASAP, start thinking about proximity fuses and AA missiles.
Tanks: 40 tons is the limit past 1940.
Infatry armament: the 7.92 Kurz is excellent idea, don't stop with just assault gun with it, make the cartridge and weapons for it ASAP.
On the V1 front, Stephen E. Ambrose suggests in his D-Day book (2013 UK edition) that Hitler pointed them at the wrong targets; if he'd directed them at the Normandy beaches where the Allies were still bringing in troops and supplies when the original timeline V1 campaign kicked off, he might have managed to cause carnage. (page 482, chapter 25: "It Was Just Fantastic" Afternoon on Omaha Beach)
Ambrose also quotes a post-war report from Ralph Williams who had interviewed General Carl Spaatz who opined that if the Germans had had enough Me-262 fighters in Normandy in 1944, in a worst case scenario they might have prevented the Allies from achieving air superiority and forced the Allies to rely on working their way up the Italian peninsula, instead of risking landing on the north coast of France. (page 32, chapter 1: The Defenders)
 
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Support the Irish Republican Army (IRA) financially and/ or with arms. This would certainly stall cross-Channel efforrts,...
Not really no. The IRA of the time was in little state to significantly harm U.K. efforts and would have been dealt hard if they tried.
 
On the V1 front, Stephen E. Ambrose suggests in his D-Day book (2013 UK edition) that Hitler pointed them at the wrong targets; if he'd directed them at the Normandy beaches where the Allies were still bringing in troops and supplies when the original timeline V1 campaign kicked off, he might have managed to cause carnage. (page 482, chapter 25: "It Was Just Fantastic" Afternoon on Omaha Beach)
Ambrose also quotes a post-war report from Ralph Williams who had interviewed General Carl Spaatz who opined that if the Germans had had enough Me-262 fighters in Normandy in 1944, in a worst case scenario they might have prevented the Allies from achieving air superiority and forced the Allies to rely on working their way up the Italian peninsula, instead of risking landing on the north coast of France. (page 32, chapter 1: The Defenders)

It would give all of those AAA units something to shoot at

A similar situation might be the defense of Antwerp where only 1 in 20 or so V1s landed in the target area.

Seriously though - the more I read about Ambrose the further my opinion of him plummets
 
Support the Irish Republican Army (IRA) financially and/ or with arms. This would certainly stall cross-Channel efforrts,...

Another plan was to convince Pope Pius XI that the war is a "Crusade Against Communism ", during the period, there were calls to "consecrate Russia" for the Virgin Mary, especially after the Fatima, Portugal sightings,...

The Irish Government would simply hang more IRA members than OTL - it was far easier for Britain to supply the Irish Government with everything from arms, uniforms to actionable intelligence than it would be for the Germans to supply the IRA the same - and given German Intelligence failures I almost pity the poor Irish men involved in this.

Pope Pius XI trod a thin line during WW2 - he denounced the invasion of Poland as "An hour of Darkness" and I am under no illusion as him knowing exactly what the Nazis were.

Also European Catholics were almost entirely under the 'boot' of the Nazis throughout most of WW2 so in order to keep the church 'operating' it had to wind its neck in

I do not see him being 'hood winked' by such an idea.
 

thaddeus

Donor
on the "advanced weapons" the V-2 was certainly worth the research and testing as it seemed to give them a huge advantage, but to put it as priority production under their situation at the time was insane, it seized up their whole supply chain. so no 1944 production unless they were doing "better" and had more resources.

the V-1 was different case, with disposable jet variant and other schemes being prepared? if there had not been such chaos for the Axis side they might have been deployed in mass as was planned.
 
The Irish Government would simply hang more IRA members than OTL - it was far easier for Britain to supply the Irish Government with everything from arms, uniforms to actionable intelligence than it would be for the Germans to supply the IRA the same - and given German Intelligence failures I almost pity the poor Irish men involved in this.

Pope Pius XI trod a thin line during WW2 - he denounced the invasion of Poland as "An hour of Darkness" and I am under no illusion as him knowing exactly what the Nazis were.

Also European Catholics were almost entirely under the 'boot' of the Nazis throughout most of WW2 so in order to keep the church 'operating' it had to wind its neck in

I do not see him being 'hood winked' by such an idea.
Well for Ireland, Eamon de Valera actually was very much neutral with sympathies towards the Axis. In fact in one speech, de Valera warned Churchill against invading Ireland noting, "Mr. Churchill makes it clear that in certain circumstances he would have violated our neutrality and that he would justify his action by Britain's necessity. It seems strange to me that Mr. Churchill does not see that this, if accepted, would mean that Britain's necessity would become a moral code and that when this necessity became sufficiently great, other people's rights were not to count....this same code is precisely why we have the disastrous succession of wars... shall it be world war number three?"

Furthermore, United States Ambassador to Ireland, David Gray, stated that he once asked de Valera what he would do if German paratroopers "liberated Derry". According to Gray, de Valera was silent for a time and then replied "I don't know".
 
Well for Ireland, Eamon de Valera actually was very much neutral with sympathies towards the Axis. In fact in one speech, de Valera warned Churchill against invading Ireland noting, "Mr. Churchill makes it clear that in certain circumstances he would have violated our neutrality and that he would justify his action by Britain's necessity. It seems strange to me that Mr. Churchill does not see that this, if accepted, would mean that Britain's necessity would become a moral code and that when this necessity became sufficiently great, other people's rights were not to count....this same code is precisely why we have the disastrous succession of wars... shall it be world war number three?"

Furthermore, United States Ambassador to Ireland, David Gray, stated that he once asked de Valera what he would do if German paratroopers "liberated Derry". According to Gray, de Valera was silent for a time and then replied "I don't know".
Just no.
 
If there would be a German mole who could have pushed Operation Pike into action. British and French bombing Baku and destroying Russian oil supply for a long time. That could've been huge event in terms of Russian ability to wage war and even bigger in terms of diplomacy and trust between nations. Russia would've retaliated somehow and may even drift closer to Nazi Germany - for a while. Which in turn would've be a bigger betrayal when Barbarossa would start. Operation Pike would probably mean that Russia will lose to Germany. There will be butterflies what happens with the Western front.
 

Ian_W

Banned
If there would be a German mole who could have pushed Operation Pike into action. British and French bombing Baku and destroying Russian oil supply for a long time.

Err, no.

Even assuming they hit the right country - which is a big if with the bomber forces of that time - the payloads they can carry at the accuracy they can deliver them makes the likely damage equal to one minor Soviet industrial accident from a smoking worker.
 

Ian_W

Banned
Support the Irish Republican Army (IRA) financially and/ or with arms. This would certainly stall cross-Channel efforrts,...

At absolute worst for the Allies, this accelerates US forces being used to garrison Northern Ireland.

There is also the issue that this would be a project of the German Foriegn Intelligence service, who between 1939 and 1944 were the staunchest anti-Nazis on the entire European continent.
 
At absolute worst for the Allies, this accelerates US forces being used to garrison Northern Ireland.

There is also the issue that this would be a project of the German Foriegn Intelligence service, who between 1939 and 1944 were the staunchest anti-Nazis on the entire European continent.
I doubt it would even go to that stage, I mean Dublin was pretty robust in dealing with the IRA at the time and as mentioned the connections between Dublin and London are vastly superior to that between the IRA and German Intelligence.
 

marathag

Banned
Err, no.

Even assuming they hit the right country - which is a big if with the bomber forces of that time - the payloads they can carry at the accuracy they can deliver them makes the likely damage equal to one minor Soviet industrial accident from a smoking worker.
Except for Baku. Flare pipes burning 24/7, and a seaport.
Once over that area, you have oil being stored in open air pits and enough leaking pipes between thousands of derricks(some still wooden) to the refineries and loading terminal, you have ground saturated with hydrocarbons down to bedrock.
No better and easier place on Earth to use incendiary payloads on.
 

Ian_W

Banned
Except for Baku. Flare pipes burning 24/7, and a seaport.
Once over that area, you have oil being stored in open air pits and enough leaking pipes between thousands of derricks(some still wooden) to the refineries and loading terminal, you have ground saturated with hydrocarbons down to bedrock.
No better and easier place on Earth to use incendiary payloads on.

Getting crude to burn is a lot harder than people think.
 

Deleted member 1487

And we can tell how vulnerable Baku was to this, because it spent several years within JU-88 range of the Luftwaffe without ever mysteriously burning down.
Tell me how many times they tried.
Since they were trying to capture it, it wouldn't make sense to burn it down.
 
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