How did Hitler stockpile so many munitions?

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: WT
Just finished reading 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' yesterday, and what Hitler did was sign a pact with Russia in which the Luftwaffe was basically moved and trained (in the mid to late 30's) in Russia, thereby loopholing the Versailles Treaty. He also set about creating the battle cruiser class of sea vessel, which was restricted to no larger than 11" guns and a gross weight of 10,000 tons. The ships weight was vastly underrated by German builders, again ignoring the Treaty stipulations. Submarines were not listed in the Versailles Treaty, so that left yet another loophole for Germany to exploit. No country used the subs to their true tactical advantage, save for Germany, so this fit into their plans of rearmament. Chamberlain really did get hoodwinked by Hitler when he returned from a conference in '39 with a non-aggression pact signed by Hitler, only to see the Germans invade Poland a few months later.

that is one serious book and a must read for any WWII buff.

I am still slowly reading my copy for the last 5 years.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Hindsight is always 20/20. At the time it probably didn't seem like a threat. He had to be doing something right if every major power tolerated his actions.

I think that's at least partly incorrect. Britain, in particular, was dealing with a lot internal issues and didn't believe they could commit to a land war in Europe. To a large extent, this may be true, Britain may have been unable to commit sufficient land forces to wage a war in Europe. France was unwilling to act without Britain's help. As much as France may have wanted to act, the country was not willing to engage in another war after the devastation the First World War brought to northern France.

At the same time, many in Europe also believed in the spirit of the Fourteen Points, which Hitler used to push his own agenda. He spoke of uniting the German people, which had been a main purpose behind the redrawing of borders under Versailles. Basically, he played everyone using a script they had already written.

One major reason for the "Appeasement" was that the victors of WWI had come to realize that the restrictions placed on Germany were too harsh to begin with. So you had a bad combo of one side feeling guilty about the harshness and wanting to lessen it, but ultimately not really doing anything about. Then you had the bitter Germans as a result of that harshness and the manipulative/charismatic Hitler with bitterness and plans of his own.

The Treaty of Versailles set the stage.

Certainly many of the victors thought that Germany should have some of the territory it demanded, but the reasons for appeasement were far more complicated and lay primarily in economic conditions in Britain. As I said above, Britain knew the empire would be unable to commit forces to Europe without doing near-critical damage to the empire's integrity. The choice to follow appeasement was one made in order to save the empire -- if Hitler could be appeased then Britain would not have to wage an expensive war in Europe and could concentrate on maintaining the empire. France, as stated before, would not act without Britain's help because they, too, feared a long protracted war waged on French soil.

While Versailles might have set the stage for Hitler, the depression that hit in 1929 through the mid-1930s was the catalyst for both Hitler's rise and the "Allies' / Entente's" unwillingness and to engage in a direct conflict with him.

 

[GooeyGUI]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: GooeyGUI
Some very good details have been brought up.

I would like to add that rockets weren't covered under the treaty, so these went through the loophole. The V1 and V2 (A4)

In 1931, the German military established a rocket research facility at Kummersdorf Weapons Range, near Berlin. The first civilian employee at this facility was Wernher von Braun. In 1937 the German rocket facility was moved to Peenemunde on the Baltic Coast. Starting with about 80 researchers in 1936, the facility comprised nearly 5000 personnel by late 1942.

The V1 wasn't a rocket, it was a cruise missile.

I knew this, but the source I was giving was more about the dates of armament and development before WWII. The Germans called it rocketry because that was where the beginnings were.

Jets were another thing that wasn't in the treaty.

One source
The V-2 was the first ballistic missile used in warfare and a significant advancement in rocket technology. Also known as the A4, it was developed by Nazi Germany during World War II and used against the Allies, primarily as a terror weapon. Because it was so inaccurate (it could barely hit a city-size target), it could not be used against specific military targets and was instead used against civilians who had no defense against it as it came screaming down from the upper atmosphere. Adolf Hitler named it his "Vengeance Weapon 2"or "V-2" because it wreaked vengeance upon a helpless population. (The "Vengeance Weapon 1," or "V-1", was a cruise missile.)

Wiki

The Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 1) was one of the first guided missiles used in war and the forerunner of today's cruise missile.

It is a common myth that the V-1's pulsejet engine needed a minimum airspeed of 150 mph (240 km/h) for operation as it is commonly confused with the Lorin ramjet. The V-1's Argus Schmidt pulsejet, also known as a resonant jet, could operate at zero airspeed owing to the nature of its intake vane system and acoustically tuned resonant combustion chamber. Film footage of the V-1 always shows the distinctive pulsating jet exhaust of a fully running engine before the catapult system is triggered. The engine would always be started first (using a compressed air line) while the craft was stationary on the ramp. The low static thrust of the jet engine and very high stall speed of the small wings meant that the craft could not take off under its own power in a practically short distance, and thus required an aircraft catapult launch or an airlaunch from a modified bomber aircraft