How I would have advised Hitler to successfully win WWII

[SaltyNuts]

Now, I think for the most part most will agree that Hitler losing WWII was a good thing (although not that Stalin was any better). But its fun to think about if he could have one if he actually thought like a rationale general! And he could have indeed...

Forget trying to invade England. Waste of time. You can stick it to the Brits elsewhere, as I'll show.

Forget invading the USSR for the near term. Stalin had no intention of ever attacking Germany. Germany could bide her time just fine.

Now, instead of invading England proper, as already discussed, attack her middle eastern possessions. Germany sent an absolutely minuscule force to Africa under Rommel, and damn near beat the Brits/Americans there despite the overwhelming material superiority of the latter. Imagine what he could have done with at least a proper force, never mind one even 25% as big as the magnificent one he had assembled for Operation Barbarrosa!

With a proper force in Africa, he easily kicks the Brits out of the middle east. Hell, he could press on to India if he wanted, and kick their butts there, but no real reason to (unless he wanted to link up with his allies the Japanese).

Instead, he occupies the middle east. Turkey, facing possible invasion from east and west, would have to join the Axis, or at least permit Axis troops to occupy their territory.

Now, what is Turkish territory right next to? THE SOVIETS' UNIONS' OIL FIELD IN THE CAUCAUSES. Germany could then with relative ease take out 90% of the Soviet's oil production, and render them basically ineffectual. However, he wouldn't even need to do that - he would have all the oil he would ever need from the middle east. And the SU would never act against him for fear he could strike them and their oil fields at any time.

He truly would have created Fortress Europe, and could consolidate his gains at will. There would be nothing we nor anyone else could do to stop him at that point.

 

[Annisman*]

Someone has been playing a bit too much Panzer General !

 

[WT]

If he were to launch Operation Barbarossa over a month earlier as planned, I honestly think Stalingrad would have fallen. Now, that being said, the USSR was such a vast expanse of land that even had Stalingrad fell, it would only delay an inevitable Soviet counteroffensive from the Siberian reserves once winter arrived. It was just too big of a territory to hold by the German forces.

What would REAALLLLY make this interesting was if Germany could persuade Japan to pressure the Soviets with a push through Manchuria, even if it stretched their resources elsewhere. Tying up those Siberian reserves would allow the Wermacht some breathing room at Stalingrad. Obviously, the first incursion into Russia went over very badly for the Japanese, but they were still very much a threat to Stalin's western border, and he could hardly afford to fight a war of attrition on both fronts.

 

[cbrunny]

But he would still be all bent out of shape by getting spanked in WWI.

Plus he obviously liked French art better than ME art.

 

[HeXen]

Tell Hitler to not take that heroin mixture his doctor always provided him with. That was the real start of his fall but they didn't realize how addictive it was then. Hitler thought it was a super drug that made him better.

 

[sdifox]

Op why didn't you double tap Hitler when you had the chance?

 

[brianmanahan]

"attack russia in the winter!"

 

[DigDog]

psstt... "radar"

psssttt.... "enigma"


pssssttt .... hey. "WINTER"

but really, any ONE good advice would have turned the tide. don't attack russia, don't get the americans involved, don't ally with the italians .. italy invading grece too soon caused hitler to have to send a relief force (italians suck at doing war stuff) which would otherwise have supported the push for moskow. also, don't go to stalingrad, stock oil and lubricants, russia isn't planning to invade you ...

the real game changer would have been to just wait one year and PR the brits to support them, some elements of the aristocracy were close to changing britain to an ally, which would have made WW2 a non-starter.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

First, why advise a mentally incompetent leader? But let us presume he wasn't so f'd up in the mental department. I would have been far easier to work the mental game by occupying all the capitals of Europe and threaten to not 'hold them' but to exterminate their populations. The west (ahem, USA and UK and Canada) would have a hard time trying to free a given capital if they knew their opponent would focus on civilian slaughter in gross as opposed to fighting like a civilized military.

Of course this kind of approach would have been difficult for the Nazi party to swallow as they weren't looking to set the world on fire. They wanted control, not absolute destruction.

 

[DrunkenSano]

Don't invade Russia until you finish off the British. Don't bomb London, focus all of your air power on the RAF bases and radar stations, their backs were almost broken until the attention shifted to civilian bombing. Don't invade Russia if you can't finish the campaign by Winter. Build up more U-Boats to keep the US out of Europe until you have finished fortifying Europe and finished off Russia.

 

[Anubis]

1) Dont attack Russia\
2) no Africa campaign
3) ...
2) Profit

 

[DrunkenSano]

Russia was eventually in their plans so that was inevitable, the timing was terrible though. They wanted Russia because they absolutely hated Commies and they wanted the land for their people.

 

[local]

Even before the war started Germany's position was unsustainable. Their economy was a fraud fueled by treasures confiscated from it's own people. After the war began it was fueled by the spoils of war, mostly from France. Much like the Roman Empire they relied on expansion to keep their growth going. Pausing for a year in 1941 would not have helped them in any way.

What they should have done was try to peace out with the UK after France fell. And definitely don't begin the bombing of civilians in London, there was no turning back once that began. Even Rudolph Hess, third in command of Germany, tried to make peace with the UK but was arrested instead.

From 1936 to 1940 the expansion of German power was absolutely insane. The political gains made up to the beginning of the war were brilliant. The first miscalculation Hitler made was assuming that the UK and France would roll over on Poland and give him Danzig just like they had done Czechoslovakia. The idea wasn't to avoid the war, that was inevitable, but to start it around 1941 when they figured Germany would be at it's peak compared to the Allies.

The second blunder and one I believe would have gone a ways to securing peace with the UK was letting the troops escape at Dunkirk. The loss of more than 300,000 troops that escaped would have made a big impact on the UK raising the specter of WWI which no one wanted to go through again. A peace with the UK that asked for no concessions would have been much more preferable than another half decade with millions of lives lost. From what we know Hitler didn't really have a problem with the UK at the time and his main targets were France and the Soviets.

And the third major failure before Hitler started going nuts was the redirection of forces in the Soviet Union in 1941. Hitler directly intervened in the strategy and redirected several divisions that were pushing on Moscow to the north and south. Has these forces continued to advance on the capitol it is possible they could have captured or at least encircled the city. The importance of this is that capturing the city would cut the main transportation hub leaving the Soviet forces in the north around Leningrad essentially cut off. There was also a large industrial presence in Moscow that would have been taken out of the war. If they could have knocked the Soviets out of the war the raw resources available to them would have allowed them to hold out much better against the allies and may have lead to an end to the war.

In the end though like all alternative history scenarios there is no telling if the end result would be any different. If the UK didn't accept peace and the Soviets survived through 1941 then the US entering the war would have as in history shored up all the other allies. Maybe it would have taken another couple years to end with a few million more dead. Or maybe we would be living in a different world today with a united German controlled superpower in Europe. Or we could be in a very similar world as today after an unsustainable German Reich collapsed just like the Soviet Union.

In case you didn't notice I greatly enjoy alternative history stuff.

 

[Exterous]

First, why advise a mentally incompetent leader?

His political successes were far from incompetent. One of the better pieces of advice he could have taken would be to let his generals (except Goering) fight the war and for him to stay out of strategy. Plenty of examples where he made directives on how\where to fight with notable negative consequences for Germany

 

[SKORPI0]

 

[OutHouse]

Russia was eventually in their plans so that was inevitable, the timing was terrible though. They wanted Russia because they absolutely hated Commies and they wanted the land for their people.

they needed the oil. the nazis didnt give a shit about the land or people.

 

[tynopik]

the only way Hitler could have won WWII was by not playing WWII

 

[Mai72]

What about the concentration camps? This was a terrible mistake that Hitler made. Instead of gassing millions of Jews he should had put them all to work at 100% peak performance. Yea, I know they were working but they were severely malnourished and mistreated. If they were working at 30% of their capability I would be surprised.

Now imagine is Hitler had his Jewish prisoners working in his camps around the clock 24/7/ Adequately clothed and feed. Spirits lifted. That would have been a huge boost to Germany's back end. They could had a hand in producing ammo, weapons and clothing for the soldiers.

 

[KLin]

the only way Hitler could have won WWII was by not playing WWII

Thanks, Joshua

 

[Jaepheth]

Germany was just too outnumbered to actually win a conventional war.

Now if they'd just played nice until they had nukes and jet bombers...

 

[John Connor]

Hitler should have never tried to fight a two sided front. If they stayed out of Russia for a few more years they could have had crushing power. They developed some awesome weapons and tactics.

And this is where this quote comes in.

Now if they'd just played nice until they had nukes and jet bombers...

I have read some of the uranium that Germany had was used in the bomb that hit Hiroshima. Mainly due because the stuff is so hard to make or something.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

If he had refrained from attacking Russia and would have convinced the Japanese not to attack the US neither of those would have joined in. The only reason the US joined WWI was because public opinion swayed after the Lusitania was sunk, the only reason the US joined WWII was because of Pearl Harbor, and as Japan was allied with Germany a declaration of war against Japan also was one against Germany.

If Russia and the US would not have joined much of Europe and Asia would have been under fascist occupation for many years to come.

And thanks to the competition between the US and the Soviet Union many (a whole bunch of Nazi 'scientists' and almost all Japanese fascists) got away without punishment.

Note: Without the US joining in Nazi Germany would most likely still have fallen (the Soviets, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many others fought them too), but I'm not sure Japan would have easily fallen if they hadn't attacked either the US or Russia.

 

[HeXen]

Germany had a lot of badass scientists back then. If they focused on technology instead of war, just imagine but no doubt they would have been first to the moon.

 

[tynopik]

Germany had a lot of badass scientists back then. If they focused on technology instead of war, just imagine but no doubt they would have been first to the moon.

but they were ::confused

 

[Mayne]

When I played Axis & Allies board game I always chose Germany and straight smashed thru Russia.