Quote:
Originally posted by Dac@Aug 25 2005, 06:31 AM
I think once the German offensive in 1941 failed, any hope of a German victory on the Eastern Front ended. Like you said, there were too many Russians and too few Germans.
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That matches my thoughts too, though perhaps as much because there was too much Russia as too many Russians.
When Hitler invaded, he could scarcely have picked a weaker moment for the Soviets - army still depleted intellectually as well as in leadership and experience after Stalin's purges, new weaponry only just feeding through to production. But even the succession of catastrophic defeats inflicted still left them vast spaces to withdraw into.
Once Stalin began listening to his generals - at about the same time as Hitler began to stop - the 'schwerpunkt' technique became a liability. Any deep penetration of Soviet defences would have invited encirclement, and even reinforced by allies the German army was just not big enough to cover all the perimeters for that in sufficient strength.
If it hadn't been Stalingrad, it would have been somewhere else.
Regards,
MikB