Biggest Mistake of WWII

[Novaliee]

I think Hitler made two huge mistakes in World War II. One, the battle of Dunkirk. If he had attacked them immediatly he would have crushed them. Instead he decided to wait and they were ferried away to safety. Also, Hitler made a mistake when he attacked Russia. He abandoned his tactics of "blitzkrieg" and spread his forces way too thin. That's just my opinion though.
~Nova~

[philly cheez]

Hitler's invastion of Russia was not necessarily a mistake. Before invading Russia, Hitler took out Greece and others. That delayed Barbarossa 15 weeks. Winter struck Russia when Hitler was 50 mi. from Moscow. Had he those 15 weeks, Hitler probably could've taken Moscow. The mistake was the timing.

Also, Hitler's stubbornness at Stalingrad may have cost him big too. had he listened to his officers...

[spidge]

(Philly Cheez @ Feb 3 2006, 03:25 PM) [post=45207]Hitler's invastion of Russia was not necessarily a mistake. Before invading Russia, Hitler took out Greece and others. That delayed Barbarossa 15 weeks. Winter struck Russia when Hitler was 50 mi. from Moscow. Had he those 15 weeks, Hitler probably could've taken Moscow. The mistake was the timing.

Also, Hitler's stubbornness at Stalingrad may have cost him big too. had he listened to his officers...
[/b]

His mistake was before that by allowing the Italians into the Axis as an equal partner. Mussollini's attacks in Africa, the middle east and then Greece from Albania crippled Hitler's timing. This thrust forward was hindered further as he (Hitler) then had to put down the revolt in Yugoslavia after their government succumbed to the tripartite pact with the Germans & Italians.

I realise that Hitler pushed for or Mussollini convinced Hitler that he could conquer Greece however, it would have waited. Hitler would not have had a secure southern flank however Britain were not in a position to adequately support Greece and Metaxas did not want a war with Germany.

His biggest mistake and error in timing was made on December 11th 1941.

This was the only time Hitler declared war on any country.

How the face of the middle east and Africa would have changed if British & Commonwealth troops had not been sent to Greece & Crete is for another thread.

[Herroberst]

It's difficult to comment on the biggest mistake but I can mention some significant ones not in any particular order.

German Failure to provide Barbarossa forces with significant winter equipment...Stalingrad...Moscow

Rheinübung

German Failure to develop long range Strategic Bomber force instead they spent too much effort on developing the first cruise missile(v-1) and the first ICBM(v-2)

German Failure to get Me-262 into production as an interceptor. Hitler had ordered that it be used as a fighter-bomber.

German failure to mass produce and use the Stg-44/MP44 and equip troops on the Russian front due to Hitlers interference.

German failure to develop the Bomb

German failure to coordinate its arm forces from a supply, command and allocation standpoint.

Kriegsmarine/Luftwaffe conflicts SS/Heers conflicts SS infiltration of War production...Maus

No German Carriers...Specifically to protect supplies to North Afrika

Failure to crush Gibraltar then Malta.

British failure to finnish up in North Africa before siphoning off troops to the Balkans.

British at Dieppe...DD tank debacle

American failure to provide effective Combat Air Patrols around Pearl Harbor...failure to effectively use radar.

Japanese failure to destroy American Carriers at Pearl.

Russian failure to defeat Finns quickly, helped influence Hitler to attack Russia.

French failure to modernize their Army and relying on Maginot.

Daladier and Weygand lack of effective command.

[spidge]

(Herr Oberst @ Feb 4 2006, 01:42 PM) [post=45251]It's difficult to comment on the biggest mistake but I can mention some significant ones not in any particular order.

German Failure to provide Barbarossa forces with significant winter equipment...Stalingrad...Moscow

Rheinübung

German Failure to develop long range Strategic Bomber force instead they spent too much effort on developing the first cruise missile(v-1) and the first ICBM(v-2)

German Failure to get Me-262 into production as an interceptor. Hitler had ordered that it be used as a fighter-bomber.

German failure to mass produce and use the Stg-44/MP44 and equip troops on the Russian front due to Hitlers interference.

German failure to develop the Bomb

German failure to coordinate its arm forces from a supply, command and allocation standpoint.

Kriegsmarine/Luftwaffe conflicts SS/Heers conflicts SS infiltration of War production...Maus

No German Carriers...Specifically to protect supplies to North Afrika

Failure to crush Gibraltar then Malta.

British failure to finnish up in North Africa before siphoning off troops to the Balkans.

British at Dieppe...DD tank debacle

American failure to provide effective Combat Air Patrols around Pearl Harbor...failure to effectively use radar.

Japanese failure to destroy American Carriers at Pearl.

Russian failure to defeat Finns quickly, helped influence Hitler to attack Russia.

French failure to modernize their Army and relying on Maginot.

Daladier and Weygand lack of effective command.
[/b]

Failing that, it all went quite well don't you agree?

[jimbotosome]

Regardless of the biggest strategic or tactical mistake we come up with, I think the real answer to this question that we all are forced to agree upon is that the Biggest Mistake of WWII was invading Poland.

[Glider]

I agree with Jimbo. Starting something that you couldn't finish has to be the biggest mistake.

[Gnomey]

Agreed, but Hitler didn't know what he had got himself into and once he was in unless he beat everyone in Europe which as we know didn't happen.

[jimbotosome]

(Gnomey @ Feb 4 2006, 06:50 PM) [post=45289]Agreed, but Hitler didn't know what he had got himself into and once he was in unless he beat everyone in Europe which as we know didn't happen.
[/b]

But, isn't that the very definition of a mistake? Had Hitler have thought Britain and France were not going to wink at this antic, he wouldn't have done it. His mistake was understimating their intention of keeping their word to Poland. He thought it would be like Austria, Rhineland, and Czech.

[Gnomey]

You could say it is but perhaps the biggest mistake of the war was the failure of the French to attack into the Rhineland in 1936 or again in 1939 before the Phoney War started. The war also became a wider war than Hitler planned, as he only planned on going East, but the Western Allies declared war on him as a result of Poland which he did not expect.