I don't agree with those denigrating the Soviet army. While not the best in technology, Russia is famous for getting things done with nothing but brute force. They just threw bodies at the Nazi war machine and were absolutely ruthless.
Also, they had several designs of tanks superior to ours and, many believe, supiorior to the Nazis (and they had the fuel to power them). Finally, their rifles were considered vastly supiorior than the Nazis.
However, overall, the Russians beat them with supiorior resources and logistics.
Why did hitler wait? To consolidate his Western Europe resources, conquered lands and people, to apply to the war machine and the Russians superior resources.
TCM has been showing WWII training films, made by the US govt, to teach key concepts to their quickly expanding military.
A one to two hour plus film was about Russia, its military and its defense strategy.
IIRC, they showed maps of Western European countries' defense lines. They all tended to be concentrated along their borders.
The Nazi blitkreig attacks created a massive, highly mobile force at a weak point. Once they overwhelmed or bypassed the peripheral line, they raced to capture the capital.
This strategy worked well, in country after country.
The film said the Soviets created a different defense plan, against the Nazis. The Soviets massed 3 separate roughly parallel lines of defense.
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The Nazis attacked the first line of defense. When it was breached, as it had been in other countries, essentially the entire first line would fall back to double the strength of the second line.
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If that stronger second line was breached, those two remaining lines fell back to reinforce the third line.
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So the Nazis created a bubble, with their surge, but they didn't quickly break through, as they had throughout Europe. As they advanced, the Nazis continued to face even stronger forces.
That way the Soviets thwarted the quick strike advantage of the highly mobile Nazi mechanized forces.
The Soviets wanted to bog down the Nazis, force them to deal with long supply lines and a protracted conflict, where they also had to battle the Russian winter.
Then the Soviets chose to defend the cities. That was a huge equalizer, because it neutralized the Nazis quick strike mechanized attacks. They couldn't use their mobilized speed as an advantage in close urban fighting.
The Nazis were forced into more man-to-man and small group efforts in an urban setting. That put the forces on a much more level playing field, so to speak.
Whether that was a completely accurate description, it was part of US Defense Dept training of their own personnel.
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The segment on the Nazis strategy against Britain was also fascinating.
In brief, the Nazis sent in a huge initial air attack. But the Brits countered with a surprising air defense.
The Nazis lost far more planes in the first wave. But even worse for the Third Reich, they lost a significant percentage of their pilots and crews.
The Brits lost a lot of planes, but they were able to recover a significant number of their downed pilots and crews. That initial wave set back the Nazi forces, in ways that they did not expect.
Subsequent plans to attack Britain were also covered, as well as the brutal Nazi mass bombings, meant to kill all, even civilians. Much more to it, but the Brits first successful air defense was very important in the overall defense of Britain.
As always, any updates or comments are welcome.
and never got it..........One day he got pissed and invaded the largest country on earth.....but the first response is what I would go with........He thought England was doomed (Listened to his Air Marshall too much....thought he could bomb England into submission) He did not want a two front war.........but he got one anyway.
