Haztoys
Senior Airman
The only one kidding oneself here is you Hazytoys. You're totally disregarding the amount of men material assigned to fighting the western allies and ho far the Germans actually came even without it. The mere addition of winterclothes would've secured Stalingrad, preventing some 300,000 men dying of cold.
The USSR would've fallen had it not been for the huge amount of men material needed on the western front, there's no doubt about it.
As noted had the German troops in Stalingrad merely had winterclothes then the city would've fallen, from which point on the German would have a strong foothold in the USSR from which to combat the remaining Soviet forces. And with the taking of Stalingrad the caucasus region was soon to follow, fueling the German army for the rest of the way through the USSR.
Stalin knew this, hence him being only a day away from negotiating truce terms with Hitler, being sure he would soon lose the city and the war with it.
Because of the western front.
Its one thing to sucker punch someone ...And its something else for the other guy to see it coming.. So he can defend him self..
Mother Russia has all the tools to win a war .. She would of negotiated a truce then geared up and push the Germans back to Germany..Taking over a country never works out ..Don't kid your self ..In the end the Germans would of lost ..They did not have the man power to do what they did ..Winter cloth or not .. They could of won ether the west front or the east ..But not both..
Luck sucker punch ..Is how I see it.. They did that a time or three in Europe two.. Not putting the Germans fighting machine down at all..They were the best in the world at the time .. But Soren's your the one kiding your self thinking they had the man power to keep what the took..
As the US is finding out .. They may have won some land for a time .. The Russians did not need help..The help shorten the war sure.. The Germans would of lost in the end ..
And Sorens.. Why did the german higher ups not get the cloths to the troops ..Offten wondered about that..I know there ago was that this was going to take six months ..But at some point they could see that a change in plans needed to be done...???