68 years ago.

[Teo Smith]

It's said that German secret service was feeding paranoid Stalin with information concerning that everyone wants to endanger him and so. He was so afraid, that killed anyone at least a bit suspicious, of course the main target of Hitler and company were Russian officiers:
Three of the five pre-war marshals and about two thirds of the corps and division commanders were shot. This often left younger, less experienced officers in their places; for example, in 1941, 75% of Red Army officers had held their posts for less than one year. The average Soviet corps commander was 12 years younger than the average German division commander. These officers tended to be very reluctant to take the initiative and often lacked the training necessary for their jobs.

 

[Marek Kris]

The Führer anticipated additional benefits:
- When the Soviet Union was defeated, the labour shortage in the German industry could be ended by the demobilization of many soldiers.
- Ukraine would be a reliable source of agriculture.
- Having the Soviet Union as a source of slave labour would vastly improve Germany's geostrategic position.
- Defeat of the Soviet Union would further isolate the Allies, especially the United Kingdom.
- The German economy needed access to more oil and controlling the Baku Oilfields would achieve this.

 

[Marek Kris]

Hitler told one of his generals in June that the victories in western Europe
"finally freed his hands for his important real task: the showdown with Bolshevism"

 

[Xenophon]

As promised, the thread I had intended for this:

http://www.usmessageboard.com/education-and-history/79657-operation-barbarossa-wwii-series.html

 

[Vaccum John]

Yep, Messershmidt was the fist fighter to use jet power, but HE162 was the best overall fighter-interceptor in World war II. It really doesn't matter now it wasn't used that time, cause in 45 Germans lost completely control of the air, comparing the quality, strength, and fire power this one was the TOP GUN!

 

[Vaccum John]

Me 163B/Komet was a cheaper version that ME 262, with a little fuel supply just to take off, shoot and land back.
DO335 was great too, where do you get all those beautiful pictures???

 

[Xenophon]

Me 163B/Komet was a cheaper version that ME 262, with a little fuel supply just to take off, shoot and land back.
DO335 was great too, where do you get all those beautiful pictures???

From a google image search, I know what i am looking for.

For example, you mention the rare DO 335 'arrow', I simple put that in an image serach, and you get:

 

[Teo Smith]

Looks like John has great knowledge of history but poor with computers, am I right?

 

[Teo Smith]

This is very interesting:

The Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention (1929). However, a month after the German invasion in 1941, an offer was made for a reciprocal adherence to the Hague convention. This 'note' was left unanswered by Third Reich officials.

 

[Teo Smith]

Hitler and his generals also researched Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia. At Hitler's insistence, the German High Command (OKW) began to develop a strategy to avoid repeating these mistakes.

I'm sure they were "very" surprised when Friedrich Paulus forbiden to sustain in those unhuman conditions and gave up to Russians. What do you think Xenophon, would Hitler hesitate a minute to run for a life when 40 subzero?

 

[Xenophon]

Hitler and his generals also researched Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia. At Hitler's insistence, the German High Command (OKW) began to develop a strategy to avoid repeating these mistakes.

I'm sure they were "very" surprised when Friedrich Paulus forbiden to sustain in those unhuman conditions and gave up to Russians. What do you think Xenophon, would Hitler hesitate a minute to run for a life when 40 subzero?

Hitler was not a coward, he in fact stayed in berlin and shot himself when he could have escaped.

His problem was he had the views of WWI infantryman, not a WWII stratagist and thus he lost his army foolishly time and time again.

 

[Vaccum John]

Yeah, Eva Braun came on the plane to rescue him, and begged him to escape with him, he said NO!

I agree, many battles were lost because Adolf just couldn't stand when his generals opposed him in strategic opinions, he thought of himself he's the cleverest something on this world and so on. He lost his army foolishly but also opportunity to end it sooner and escape problems with signing a temporary peaceful treaty to evade a disaster. Well, at the end of the day, he was the biggest disaster for his army and not Russian winter.

 

[Vaccum John]

Soviet potential was underestimated:
German war planners grossly underestimated the mobilization potential of the Red Army: its primary mobilisation size (i.e. the total of already trained units that could be put on a war-footing in short time) was about twice as large as they had expected. By early August, new armies had taken the place of the destroyed ones. This fact alone implied the failure of Operation Barbarossa, for the Germans now had to limit their operations for a month to bring up new supplies, leaving only six weeks to complete the battle before the start of the mud season, an impossible task.

 

[Vaccum John]

This is the cheap version as I did mention before:
https://www.fiddlersgreen.net/landing/komet/komet-google.php?gclid=CNjCiJ-2nZsCFcISzAodlDqQjw
The problem was also that Hitler believed in miracles and in stead of supplying notable weapons and those that could win the war like submarines and so, he just spend money on nonsense things, like scientific advance of arms that could never physically work. In 45 he ordered his scientists to develop aircraft with a vertical start (first to develop UFO). And here we basically go. Another mentionable notice is that scientists that he victimized and they had to emigrate to states, later on developed what we now know under the Manhattan Project.

 

[Xenophon]

The ME 163 Comet is NOT related to the Me 262 Interceptor.

They were seperate projects, the 'Comet' used volitile liquid fuel to power its rocket engine, and that fuel killed and maimed several Luftwaffe pilots, such as johannes Steinhoff.

The Me 262 'swallow' used a pair of turbojet engines and was a much more sucessful design.

ME 163

ME 262

 

[Vaccum John]

I know, also spitfire used special gas to power their engines, it was with 100 octanes.
That ME 163 is not related to 262, what I was trying to say was that it was easy to construct and was a jet type plane. 262 is a lot more all-purpose machine. 163 was not that universal but cheaper to build and deadly on its designated usage.
Well, after all it didn't make much difference when you had untrained and unexperienced 17 year old pilots, cause all your veterans were resting in the grave yard, am I right???

 

[Xenophon]

Germany still had a few Experten, Galland formed them into Jagdverband 44 to fly the 262 in combat, but this was in march of 1945 and the unit only fought for a month.

 

[editec]

The Allied powers owe a huge debt to Hitler's drug-induced grandiosity, folks.

I think we owe Hitler's Doctor, Karl Brandt, a medal for pumping the guy up with amphetemines for year after year.

By 1941 he was clinically insane, I suspect.

 

[midcan5]

It's said that German secret service was feeding paranoid Stalin with information concerning that everyone wants to endanger him and so. He was so afraid, that killed anyone at least a bit suspicious, of course the main target of Hitler and company were Russian officiers:
Three of the five pre-war marshals and about two thirds of the corps and division commanders were shot. This often left younger, less experienced officers in their places; for example, in 1941, 75% of Red Army officers had held their posts for less than one year. The average Soviet corps commander was 12 years younger than the average German division commander. These officers tended to be very reluctant to take the initiative and often lacked the training necessary for their jobs.

Why someone didn't kill Stalin is a bit baffling to me. After the war he even killed or watched closely any Russian who was a German prisoner of war thinking they would only survive if they agreed to be spies or whatever. The man was a nutcase.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Exactly on 22nd of June 1941 – World War II: As Nazi Germany began its invasion of the Soviet Union, the Lithuanian Activist Front took the opportunity to start an uprising to liberate Lithuania from Soviet occupation and establish a new government.

I appreciate the history that you bring in this thread. And, while most of the thread is concerned with military history, let us not neglect the geo-political that resonates today.

The true believers, the the millions of communists in the United States who infiltrated the government, who supported the Soviet Union, and organized protests and marches in support of isolation and keeping the United States out of the war, spun on their collective- pun intentional- heels on June 22, 1941, to become the most vociferous supporters of entry into a war to save Uncle Joe.