samneanderthal

Did Dowding's brilliant strategy factor in the number of Poles, Czechs, etc, that saved Britain? Had these men been tired of fightig a losing war, the BoB would have been lost, despite having excellent planes

How can it be a good strategy to waste a large number of pilots and mediocre planes so that the best planes have to fight alone, instead of using them all together? With the best pilots using the best planes and newer or less talented pilots the mediocre planes.

If France stayed in the war, Germany was bankrupt and could not fight a long war. It was Czech and Austrian resources that kept the German economy going, then Polish resources and then French, Dutch and Belgian resources. Moreover, Stalin was selling fuel, grain and metals to Hitler on credit, had Hitler´s invasion failed, then Stalin would not have continued financing a loser. Fighting against France, Belgium, Holland and Britain, with a very low production and limited resources would have driven German Generals to overthrow Hitler (many wanted to do it before the invasion of France, but changed their minds when France fell so rapidly).

Had the German invasion stalled, Mussolini would not have declared war on the allies and may have even joined them (Italy switched sides on WW I and joined the allies). With Germany busy in France, etc, Stalin would not only have stopped supplying Germany, but could have invaded the rest of Romania (he had invaded Bessarabia) and Poland, depriving Germany of their resources.