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View Poll Results :Most decisive battle in WW2? | |||
Battle of Stalingrad |
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34 | 33.33% |
Battle of Kursk (Operation Citadel) |
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15 | 14.71% |
Battle of Moscow |
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10 | 9.80% |
Battle of Leningrad |
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0 | 0% |
Battle of El Alamein |
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3 | 2.94% |
Operation Overlord (Battle of Normandy) |
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17 | 16.67% |
Battle of Midway |
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11 | 10.78% |
Other |
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12 | 11.76% |
Voters: 102. You may not vote on this poll |
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http://www.answers.com/topic/battle-of-kursk Those force ratio losses were more or less repeated almost right up until the end of the war. You're right about one thing though. The Germans could not afford even their modest losses without anything to show for it. Quote:
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I agree with those who say the Eastern front decided the war in Europe.
Up to 80% of total German casualties in the war occurred on the Eastern front. Probably the only chance the Germans had to defeat Russia was in the first 6 months of the war. It was logistically beyond them. The Cambridge History of Warfare said that the German military planning for Barbarossa was ''a mixture of tactical and operational genius, with woolly headed political optimism and logistical imbecility.'' After the Germans were fought to a standstill at Leningrad and then Moscow, and pushed back in the Russian counter attack, they were always going to struggle to defeat Russia. A simultaneous offensive by the 3 army groups was then out of the question. After that, Russia had the chance to build up and equip their massive reserve armies and outproduce Germany from new factories behind the Urals, plus Hitler declaring war on America, committing Germany to a war on two fronts. So my vote would go for the battle of Moscow, with the Stalingrad fiasco ruining their Southern offensive, and by Kursk, the largest tank battle of the war [Germany's last throw of the dice] starting so late, they were virtually kaput. Mansteins ''Backhand'' plan, although a brilliant concept on paper, might have had less chance of success then Manstein thought it would. The Americans were always going to defeat Japan once production was in full swing, even if they blundered along the way, and Germany had next to no chance of crossing the channel. |
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I'm a bit caught between the battles of Stalingrad and Moscow.
I'll plum for Moscow because it was the Germans first big reversal. The gateway to Moscow was wide open at one stage but was closed again in November/December 1941. The Germans had to make a major "strategic" retreat. It was a near collapse for a while (after the Russians counterattacked). The battle for Moscow gave the Russians more time. The Germans didn't have that luxury. They needed a quick win. I agree with Doppleganger that Lend Lease was critical for the Russians. |
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I've voted for the battle of Moscow, because to win in the Soviet Union the Germans needed to fight a short, quick campaign.
With the failure to take Moscow, Germany was commited to fighting a war for which she hadn't prepared, and in which the odds would eventually favour the Soviets. Moscow ensured that the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk would eventually be fought., |
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