Operation Barbarossa: Invasion of Russia June 22nd 1941

Lurker said, "The Germans would have had to leave more than half their Army in Russia in order to secure it."

Operation Barbarossa proved Adolf really didn't understand maps with regard to distances, that lines on the map indicating roads were not much more than dirt tracks unsuitable for fast mobile blitzkrieg, much less the necessary continued vastly stretched out supply tail, and was unaware of Russian winter conditions on the ground.

End of June was the delusional start of the Eastern Front campaign fueled by the rapid Western front conquests through well developed road and rail networks which were non-existent for all practical purposes beyond the Polish border in Russia. Even today the Russian paved road network is a joke compared to Western Europe.

Even in the event of success of establishing a defensible border for the occupied territories, his attitude towards the Poles and Slavs guaranteed wide spread insurgent within those boundaries requiring almost an equal amount of troops as needed to protect his new boundaries against Russian counter attacks. And then there remained the southern oilfields.

One has to wonder if he wasn't was using the same methamphetamines as issued to the Wehrmacht and SS troops. His explosive tirades, paranoia, and great delusions about the actual physical conditions of troops and the civilian population argue that drug abuse might well have driven him beyond real expectations.

I disagree: if he had gone for and sized the oil fields first. That would have shut the Russians down.

Understood but think about what a long exposed left flank he would have had.

Maikop had oil but only a taste.

Grozny had more but only an appetizer.

The real paydirt of oil was at Baku which was roughly 1,200 miles from the Rumanian border which is about the distance from Miami to new York City. 1,200 miles is a really long flank to leave exposed.

A little known fact: 8th Air Force, our heavy bomber command based in the UK, lost more aircrew KIA over Europe than the Marine Corps lost in battle during the entire Pacific war.

And RAF Bomber Command suffered even heavier casualties; 55,000 dead (out of 120,000 aircrew), an overall fatality rate of 46%. All were volunteers, and they never wavered. Read somewhere that the “average” American bomber crew finished six missions before they were killed, wounded, or captured. Survival rates about the same for their RAF counterparts.

The amount of men and material the russians used near the end and the brutality to the people in Berlin when the russians arrived.

The Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Battle-Classic-History-Berlin/dp/0684803291/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Fun fact: Stalin offered Hitler an ALLIANCE in early 1941. Basically all the oil and raw materials Germany could want with no invasion. Instead Hitler turned him down and green lit Barbarossa.

I take it that you aren't referring to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, in which Hitler and Stalin did, essentially, become allies (until Barbarossa)?

What was this other "offer" of which you speak?

Regards,

Per Wikipedia:
ccording to a study by Alexander Nekrich, on 25 November 1940, the Soviets presented a Stalin-drafted written counterproposal accepting the four power pact but including Soviet rights to Bulgaria and a world sphere of influence, to be centred on the area around Iraq and Iran.[4] Germany did not respond[5][6] and left the negotiations unresolved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Axis_talks

I also seem to recall reading about another, more generous, Soviet proposal in 1941. However, not sure where I read that. Hitler rejected that one because the invasion plans were pretty far advanced by that time.
How serious Stalin was is also open to interpretation. Stalin was well aware of what Hitler said in “Mein Kampf” and expected him to attack eventually.

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