@real_thomas777
Additional thoughts
pre-Barbarossa: losing only 100k soldiers - Hitler achieved in 7 weeks what nobody else in history had done, not Napoleon, not Caesar
He had conquered & combined what is basically the modern day EU, relying on this new economic production
So Hitler's resource calculations relied on estimates of total production the army would depend on based upon each country's pre-war output
But countries did not come close to reaching these levels of production under coercion that they had achieved freely & individually
In less than 2 years, the entire European infrastructure CRUMBLED
CONSENSUS (pop at least) is the Nazis w/ their shiny boots and BLITZKRIEG were unstoppable
It's true pound for pound that this Prussian military tradition was ELITE
However, the other side of this, per vh
is less discussed, which is WTF happened to France, the GREAT TERROR of Europe?
The German army was ~3M
French army ~3M, allies ~4M
French char b tank >> anything Germany had at time
Similarly w/ fighters
On paper - this should've been a draw or close fight
What happened?
General Halder told Hitler is was horrible idea, General Beck resigned
Hitler: "I've seen them at Munich and they're worms"
Important lesson here about a nation's SPIRIT
France outlawed mentions of Verdun from school textbooks
Holland renamed destroyer 'flotilla leader'
(This is all from late 20s throughout 30s leading up to war)
Oxford debating society: "for King and Country I shall not fight"
WW1 victors tried to forget the great war, refashion language & attitudes
Meanwhile Germany was doing pushups in the parking lot...
allies overall sentiment of appeasement, belief in "soft power", every excuse the western democracies could think of to deceive themselves and blind their society to WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE
All resource & material advantages were sacrificed b/c of an unwillingness to FIGHT
However, the Prussian Spirit lives:
Bf-109 pilots - 5 missions per day vs 2 for French fighters
French tanks got to Meuse River to defend their civilization, asked where bridging equipment was, waited around 2 days for it
Rommel SWAM ACROSS THE RIVER
This was the difference
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