azraelck -> RE: Wild Bill the Legend, when's the next shipment of goods due in? (5/22/2006 12:12:41 AM)
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Given that the Red Army had been going through systematic purges prior to Hitler making his first moves in the war; it's not suprising that the red Army was stronger. It actually had experienced officers at that point; whereas when Barbarrosa began, they had all been killed by Stalin. However, their victory in 1945 came less due to an actual increase in soviet strength; that was actually at such a point that if the Germans were able to hold out much longer, then the Soviet Union would not have had the manpower to continue the war; rather than a decrease in strength of the German military and production capability. This was due to heavy casualties in fighting on multiple fronts, loss of morale after over a year of setbacks and defeats; allied bombing which crippled German production of arms and ammunition; and serious shortages of manpower and material. The soviet Union only survived due to continual changes in orders for the German armies, their native climate; and the logistical nightmare of maintaining the German forces; especially since they kept changing the damn orders so much that the entire force was bogged down in confusion as to what the hell they were suppossed to be doing. If the germans had presented a unified force, and took Moscow first, rather than changing objectives to Kiev then back, then back to Kiev... then the Soviet Union, berfit of a head, would have found it's self at a severe disadvantage. It was luck, German inconsistancy and confusion, Hitlers lack of tactical capability that a retarded child could bring to beat, and "General winter" that saved the Bolshevik butt.
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