The battle of Stalingrad is the biggest in modern history. Both sides suffered massive casualties but the Germans never recovered from their losses for the remainder of the war.
Hitler’s order to halt the drive towards the Caucasus oil fields and capture the city was arguably his biggest error of all. It sealed Nazi Germany’s fate.
Even if Germany succeeded at Stalingrad and captured the Caucasus, there was no way Germany would have been able to maintain it. The entire campaign was doomed for failure.
The oil fields were sabotaged well in advance and weren’t able to produce notable amount for a good 6-9mo after. Allies had plans to bomb the crap out of them as well. Russia moved the majority of their industry further inland prior to the German’s arrival.
Put simply: Germany didn’t have the population or production capacity to win. It just wasn’t feasible. Could they have won “politically”? I suppose, but that’s like asking if Allied leadership would have sued for peace, which based on the personalities is pretty damn unlikely.
The battle of Stalingrad is the biggest in modern history. Both sides suffered massive casualties but the Germans never recovered from their losses for the remainder of the war.
Hitler’s order to halt the drive towards the Caucasus oil fields and capture the city was arguably his biggest error of all. It sealed Nazi Germany’s fate.
Even if Germany succeeded at Stalingrad and captured the Caucasus, there was no way Germany would have been able to maintain it. The entire campaign was doomed for failure.
The oil fields were sabotaged well in advance and weren’t able to produce notable amount for a good 6-9mo after. Allies had plans to bomb the crap out of them as well. Russia moved the majority of their industry further inland prior to the German’s arrival.
Put simply: Germany didn’t have the population or production capacity to win. It just wasn’t feasible. Could they have won “politically”? I suppose, but that’s like asking if Allied leadership would have sued for peace, which based on the personalities is pretty damn unlikely.