Greatest waste of resources by Nazi Germany

Hi Captiva303,
Giving all of Poland to Stalin in 1939 would have brought the front closer to Germany and further from the production centers in the USSR. It is always better to fight with short supply lines that with long ones. It also further dilutes the strength of the red army by having to occupy a larger area. Germany can attack Poland from East Prussia, Slovakia and Prussia during Barbarossa so the occupying Soviet forces do not stand a chance (like those who were in 1/3 of Poland during Barbarossa).
From East Prussia, Slovakia and Romania Barbarossa starts in the same position so Germany need only unite the army groups center and north and make a stronger thrust along the Baltic coast and from Finland (supplied by ship) to capture Leningrad and Murmansk and then Moscow.

Another huge waste by the axis was the surprise factor in a coordinated action. Italy entered the war wasting the surprise factor, attacking an already defeated France and not even ready for war. Italian troops learnt about the war in Libya, etc, when the British attacked them and the Italian merchant ships were not warned , so that 1/3 of the fleet was captured by the allies at the outbreak of the war. Japan entered the war with Britain rather late and stupidly forced the US into the war.
Had Germany, Italy and Japan actually planned the war, they could have wiped out the allies. For example, lets say that on September 1, 1939 Italy has placed all its forces in Ethiopia, Libya, Sicily, etc, and has the support of 300 German planes and tanks and Rommel and Guderian (which are not really necessary in Poland) and invades Malta, Egypt, Sudan and Aden, which are very poorly defended and Japan invades South Africa and South ATlantic (long range Japanese submarines acting from South Africa), Madagascar, Abadan (Persia) and Ceylon which are also poorly defended. Britain is practically excluded from the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and has lost access to Persian oil, Indian and Australian troops and resources. In contrast, the axis has all the oil it needs and Japan is connected with Italy and Germany bythe Red Sea, so Britian has to capitulate.
Similarly, if Japan attacks the USSR in concert with all the other nations involved in Barbarossa, and captures Vladivostok and forces Zhukov to remain with his tanks and planes in the east, instead of reinforcing the defenses against Germany, Moscow falls.

I posted this what if in another forum that includes a lousy script for a movie with the scenario of a coordinated attack that includes even Argentina in the axis and eventual invasion of the US.
http://www.defence.pk/forums/military-history/136124-what-if-1939-a.html
 
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I think the waste of manpower hurt the most. From not allowing retreats in Russia to guarding jewish prisoners, the cost in manpower was unbeleivable. Germany didn't have the population for a war of attrition.
 
Surprisingly, Germany lost more people after the Stauffenberg assasination attempt in July 1944, than in all the previous years of the war, so most of the lives were wasted when the war was definitely lost already. Considering the huge Soviet territory conquered in 1941, the daunting numbers of Soviet tanks, planes, cannon, troops, the strong fortifications built over several years, Hitler's mistakes and changes of heart during Barbarossa, the bitter winter, poor supplies and the ridiculous amounts of German tanks, cannon, planes and trucks, it is surprising that so few Germans were killed that year. This says a lot about the high quality of the German generals and troops, the paramount importance of air superiority and the lousy Soviet leadership.
 
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True but without the holocaust the Nazi's lacked the unifying ability pre-war, basically they needed a scapegoat to get the Germans to feel like they were being attacked.
 
true though the holocaust was not invoked until wartime. certainly anti semitism was a central tenet of nazi theory whixh was also why it was a huge distraction
 
Surprisingly, Germany lost more people after the Stauffenberg assasination attempt in July 1944, than in all the previous years of the war, so most of the lives were wasted when the war was definitely lost already. Considering the huge Soviet territory conquered in 1941, the daunting numbers of Soviet tanks, planes, cannon, troops, the strong fortifications built over several years, Hitler's mistakes and changes of heart during Barbarossa, the bitter winter, poor supplies and the ridiculous amounts of German tanks, cannon, planes and trucks, it is surprising that so few Germans were killed that year. This says a lot about the high quality of the German generals and troops, the paramount importance of air superiority and the lousy Soviet leadership.
'Germany lost more people after the Stauffenberg assassination attempt in july 1944':the usual crap,nonsens,unlikely,questionable,unproved,unprovable statement .
1)There are no reliable figures about the total German military dead :is is something between 3 and 3.5 million(including the POW that died in custody after the war and including a lot of MIA who were declared dead after the war)
2)There are no reliable figures for 20 july 1944:the last "reliable " figures are for 31 may 1944:for the army in the east :763000 dead and 554000 MIA,of whom no one knew how much were dead/at live
3)There are no figures for 1945.
4)On 1 september 1944,the total number of dead was 1.78 million and the number of MIA 1.55 (the reliability of these figures is questionable)
5)A "figure" for 31 december 1944 is 1.86 million of dead and also 1.86 million of MIA(the reliability of these figures is questionable)
6)It is very possible that the number of dead on 20 july 1944 was some 2 million,which is more than 50 % of 3.5 million .
 
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