Could Hitler have won the war and why the Barbarossa plan failed

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Come, see, conquer. This was the main principle of action of Adolf Hitler and his army. If such a plan worked with a good half of Europe, then problems arose with the country of the Soviets. Lightning plan "Barbarossa" has since become a designation of failures and failures, with great ambitions and plans. What did the Fuhrer and his military leaders fail to take into account, what were the military miscalculations, that he could not work out of the USSR. And most importantly, did he have a chance of winning if the plan was better?

Hitler signed the Barbarossa plan at the end of 1940, its main advantage was lightning speed and the complete defeat of the Red Army. German soldiers were supposed to be in Moscow on the 40th day of the war. All resistance was to be suppressed in three, maximum four months. However, the conquest of the Union was only part of a further plan, in particular, the construction of the Arkhangelsk-Volga-Astrakhan barrier.

Features of the lightning plan. Why it had to work

Of course, by the time the plan for the capture of the USSR was created, Hitler already had many successful military operations behind his back and was very ambitious. But does this mean that the reason for the failure of his military plan was excessive self-confidence and a low assessment of the capabilities of the Red Army and the Soviet people as a whole? Probably both. However, first things first.

The lightning plan was to be carried out in three directions at once - in three main cities: Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev. In these directions, in total, more than 180 divisions and two dozen brigades were supposed to go. All together, this is about 5 million people. According to the estimates of the Germans, the Soviet army in these directions was to be represented by 3 million people.

Failures for the Germans occurred immediately after the attack, it became clear that the Barbarossa plan was failing, if not failure, then failure after failure. The Red Army was at a loss for literally a couple of weeks - the effect of surprise worked, then the defense managed to pull itself together and build competent defense tactics. The Germans' plan to cut off Moscow from industrial centers immediately failed. The Soviet leadership was able to evacuate enterprises, which at the same time continued to function and work for the good of the front. Since many enterprises were also quickly converted into the defense industry, there were technical capabilities.

The war dragged on from the very beginning, the troops of the Third Reich were not at all ready for such a situation, the technical equipment failed, even the weapon grease froze at low temperatures. The soldiers themselves were freezing, since the uniforms were not in any way intended for the harsh Russian winters. In addition, by this time the Third Reich did not have economic opportunities to strengthen its army, equipment was already at its limit.

A number of factors initially suggested to Hitler that the plan, ambitious and slender, which he liked so much, was not at all successful. But he was not going to retreat from his idea and stood his ground. After all, even the name of this military plan was thought out with love, everything had to turn out the way the Fuhrer imagined in his wet dreams.

General Friedrich Paulus worked on the plan, and the document was named in honor of the German king, who went down in history as a fearless warrior and a successful leader, who once managed to keep half of Europe under his rule. The emperor was called Barbarossa by his subjects, which means "red beard". Ironically, it was Paulus, who worked on Operation Barbarossa, who became the first field marshal to surrender. It happened during the battle of Stalingrad.

What Hitler Couldn't Consider

The document is of a certain historical value, and many specialists have already managed not only to carefully study it, but also to understand why it did not work. After all, it is worth paying tribute to Hitler and his military leaders, who were distinguished by thoughtfulness and audacity. Moreover, to create an operation to seize the USSR, huge forces were involved, even the mentality of the country was studied, what can be put on and how to make the Russians obey.

However, the Germans and the Soviet people are too different, apparently even German pedantry could not fully understand this issue. And it is quite likely that, on the contrary, it was she who prevented not only taking into account, but feeling some points. After all, how could the Germans assess the strength of the spirit of the people who were going to conquer from their bell tower? In addition, they could not reliably know about the mobilization and technical potential of the country.

They began to work on the plan of the capture in the summer of 1940, Hitler gave the appropriate instruction, but he himself had been hatching this idea for a very long time. Historical documents confirm that he wrote about it back in the 1920s.

1938-39, Germany annexed Czechoslovakia, thereby strengthening its combat potential, Poland was under occupation, and then half of Europe. Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Belgium - it took a matter of days to gain control over these countries. Hitler's interests extended to the East, the generals argued that the German army had every opportunity to start a war with the Union already in 1940, but Hitler was in no hurry, he preferred to gather troops near the borders of the USSR.

The main advantage of the operation was to be lightning speed and crushing, however, as in any blitzkrieg. A powerful blow was supposed to defeat the army of the country of the Soviets in the same way as it happened with the European countries. The advantage of the plan was surprise, the leadership of the Wehrmacht diligently misinformed Moscow. It was quite difficult to do this, given that Nazism marched across the planet with huge strides, leaving bloody footprints and getting close to the borders of the USSR, it was rather difficult to convince Stalin that his state was outside the interests of the Fuhrer.

Even among the Germans themselves, information was spread that troops in the east of Europe were being pulled together for action in Asia, and even on vacation. Meanwhile, the leadership of the Third Reich distracted the communists with various diplomatic proposals. The USSR was told that troops were being transferred to clash with Britain in the Balkans. Germany actively pretended that she was interested in the United Kingdom, which it seems she herself believed in.

Maps of Great Britain were printed one after another, rumors of forthcoming military operations were deliberately spread. Still, Soviet intelligence was working, and Hitler was unable to deceive it. Moscow knew about the upcoming war, but did not know about its scale and consequences. Stalin understood that in material and technical terms the country was not ready for war and in every possible way tried to delay the moment of its onset.

Without plan "B"

To select the beloved Fuhrer, the German military command prepared 12 plans for the capture of the USSR, while none of them had any reserve options, plans of retreat or reinforcements. This is perhaps all there is to know about the ambitions of the German invaders. However, they had something to consolidate their military ambitions - behind them was Europe.

A triple strike in three main directions was supposed to divide the forces of the Red Army and prevent them from interacting and coordinating their actions.

By the beginning of the summer of 1941, more than 4 million soldiers were concentrated near the Soviet borders, their numerical advantage was about one and a half times. However, not only German soldiers were here, but all the forces of Europe. And not only military and numerical forces, but also economic ones. The first strikes were actually powerful and disarming. The army already had combat experience.

The USSR managed to deploy army forces in some places, for example, in the Baltics and Ukraine, but not in Belarus, this led to negative results. The troops that already had combat experience (for example, after the battles with Japan and Finland) showed good results, the rest had a much harder time.

In August, the invaders reached Leningrad, but they failed to take it, then Hitler redirected all the main forces to Moscow. Ambitious plans to seize Crimea also failed, and reinforcements were brought in there too. Already in the summer of the same year, it became clear that the Barbarossa plan should not have had a B plan. By the end of August, the Nazis planned to reach Moscow, in the fall to cross the Volga and reach the Transcaucasus. Most of the ideas remained at the level of plans. Indeed, in the fall of 1941, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive. So much for the blitzkrieg.

However, modern historians unanimously agree that the German military leaders should be given their due. Without their experience and talent, the German army would not have been able to break into the country so deeply, because it was possible precisely thanks to the developed plan "Barbarossa".

Adventure or miscalculation?

Modern experts call Hitler's main mistake his belief in the universality of the German blitzkrieg. He was sure that if this method worked with sufficiently strong armies of France and Poland, then it should be suitable for the defeat of the USSR and did not take into account the difference between Europe and the USSR. Hitler was not ready for a protracted war and was not prepared for it, so he really risked, risked and lost.

Another miscalculation of the Fuhrer was that he did not believe the intelligence reports about the military and technical might of the USSR. He was also informed about the precise work of the state system of the country, on which the attack and the development of defense capabilities are planned, but all this seemed to him too insignificant to pay attention to it. By winter, the war was about to end. The German soldiers did not even have winter uniforms. Only every fifth soldier had ammunition for the cold season.

In the spring of 1941, the Russian military was on a visit to Germany, Hitler specially showed them tank schools and factories. But the Russians, examining the T-IV, were not that unimpressed, but continued to stubbornly disbelieve that this was the heaviest German tank. She was annoyed that the Germans were hiding their technologies from them, although they promised to show them. The German military leadership concluded that the Russians had a better tank. That is, by the time the war began, Hitler knew nothing about the T-34.

By that time, the USSR had anti-tank weapons at the level of its T-34, but they could only be used under certain conditions. Some historians point to the fact that Hitler's lack of objective information about the same Russian heavy tanks played a role in his desire to conquer the USSR. He allegedly confessed that if he knew about the number of tanks and their capabilities, he would not have started this war.

Weather and infrastructure against invaders

Did the talented German military commanders know about the winters in Russia? Of course, but why would they need winter if the war was supposed to end in the summer, besides, talking about some theoretical weather and snow while sitting in warm and cozy offices is not at all the same as kneading snow slurry and mud with boots, being dressed light.

As expected, the first snow fell in early October, it soon melted, but turned the roads into a mixture of mud and water, through which the German tanks drove with difficulty, moreover, this greatly increased the cost of spare equipment. German soldiers poured complaints about the lack of warm clothing, first of all, it was difficult without boots and underwear. They were in no hurry with the supply of spikes for tanks, so in some regions the German army was left without tanks at all. The optics were sweating, and the ointment was still on the way, the fuel was constantly freezing.

The command telegraphed Hitler that the soldiers of the Wehrmacht lack warm pants and much more. Although the uniform was sent, it was constantly stuck in Poland. This is because the compilers of the brilliant plan "Barbarossa" forgot to take into account the fact that single-track tracks would not at all withstand the ambitions of the Fuhrer. And so it happened.

The Germans immediately faced the fact that in Russia a different gauge of railway tracks. During the retreat, the Red Army blew up all the stations where it was possible to reinstall the chassis. A real road collapse began.

Hitler, meanwhile, was already working on another plan, despite the fact that "Barbarossa" actually failed, he was planning to take Moscow and "Typhoon" - again something quick, destructive and irrepressible, had to help in this. The generals, who knew much more about the real state of affairs than Hitler himself, dissuaded him from a new adventure. They believed that it was necessary to retreat to their previous positions, that the Soviet army would not yet be able to go on the offensive.

If Hitler then listened to his tired and not too ambitious generals, then the outcome of the Second World War would be roughly similar to the First. But that was Hitler and his ambitions were much stronger than reason. The positions of the German army were changing, Hitler could not help but understand that defeat was inevitable, but nevertheless continued the war. He was probably convinced that his surrender would mean the complete destruction of the Germans as a people. Therefore, he went to the last, trying to fix what he had done. Although, in principle, it is impossible to fix this.

So could the German army, backed by European might, defeat the Soviet people? Even without warm sheepskin coats, underwear and other details, which are, in fact, a trifle on the battlefield. Of course it could. And the plan to seize the Union was quite working and successful, if not for one "but" - the intention of the Soviet people to stand to the end. While the German soldiers suffered without warm socks, the Soviet people fought for life and freedom. The plan "Barbarossa" did not take into account only one thing, that the people who need Victory "will not stand up for the price."