Hi. i wanted to comment on your reply to Earling.
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Originally Posted by lght1 Great Britain would have had zero chance against Nazi Germany had the USSR been liquidated, while the USA certainly could have. It had the population, the largest and most dynamic economy which alone, could have drowned the Soviet command style system in a flood of production. |
True regarding Great Britain but I think any war between Nazi Germany and the USA would have been another Cold War myself, with neither side being able to dominate the other. In fact, the US would have been at a disadvantage as German Occupied Europe plus German Occupied USSR would more than match any industrial resources and might the US had. Moreover, Germany was the leading chemical and scientific nation in the world and would have had a distinct advantage in jet engine propulsion and rocket technology amongst other things. Both sides would have nuclear weapons.
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Originally Posted by lght1 As for air power not being decisive? Can you imagine the massive "pin pricks" done to Soviet armoured forces caught out in the open by yet another "thousand plane raid"? Something by 1945, the Allies were more than capable of doing. |
Air power in itself is not decisive without other forces to consolidate. 2 Gulf Wars prove that.
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Originally Posted by lght1 You dodge the statement of " If the Soviets thought they could have done so, they would have." , by simply saying that they were too tired to conduct another massive campaign. |
Stalin had achieved (or had set in motion the plans to achieve) all the medium term objectives for the USSR by 1945. Why would he want to conduct another massive campaign? The topic of this thread is a
hypothetical question.
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Originally Posted by lght1 Remember, earliy in the Barbarossa campaign , the Wehrmacht was often greeted with open arms and flowers. No "rallying around the government" here. It was only went the SS and its "Einsatz Squads" began work that the oppressed peoples of the USSR was forced to confront the Nazis. |
Remember that it was mainly in the Ukraine that the Wehrmacht were greeted as liberators, as that country has long seen itself as independent from Russia. It was Nazi policy to treat all Soviets as 'untermensch' (subhuman) and so regular Heer units were sometimes just as brutal as their SS cousins. You should also make the distinction between the Security SS and the Waffen SS as they were quite different. Most of the 'oppressed peoples' fought incredibly hard against the Germans.
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Originally Posted by lght1 I have no doubts at all that in a contest between the USSR and the Allies ( USA and the British Empire) , that the USSR would be as badly defeated by 1948 at the latest, as Nazi Germany was in 1945. It may have taken a different path to defeat, but its destination was assured the moment it chose such an act. |
Once the Soviet Union puts it's hands on nukes it's a whole different ball game. BTW, Lght1 you should really put aside the rhetoric about the USSR and just concentrate on the military matters. I'm sure you're not so naive to believe that the USA is a shining beacon of goodness that can do no wrong. Every country is capable of committing evil in the name of foreign policy and what is perceived to be just.