The articles listed here represent some of my thoughts on various aspects of World War II. Included are analysss of some of the major controversies surrounding the war effort as well as discussions of select battles and campaigns and technology.
A well established predictor of military victory in great power warfare is GDP. This analysis shows that while by 1942 there was a substantial Allied economic advantage, measured in GDP, this did not exist at the beginning of the war in 1939.
Stalin and Zhukov were both determined to capture Berlin. In April 1945 all that stood in the way of the mighty Soviet army was Colonel General Heinrici and Army Group Vistula. In this epic battle, Heinrici demonstrated that even in April 1945 the German army could put up a tough fight. An embarrassed Zhukov ended up racing Konev to Berlin because he failed to anticipate the strength of the German defense.
The Third Reich had to defeat its opponents before they could adapt to Blitzkrieg warfare but the Germans understood Blitzkrieg warfare as poorly as the Allies. Senior military commanders tolerated its best practitioners only so long as they were successful and sacked them thereafter.
German experience during the period leading up to the launch of their second summer offensive against the Soviet Union gave them reason to be optimistic. Their early success forced the Soviets to make a last stand at Stalingrad. Brilliant Soviet street fighting tactics, daring operational thinking and serious German errors combined to reverse Soviet fortune. By the end of November the Soviets had trapped the powerful German 6th Army inside Stalingrad - it was more than they expected.
German planning for the invasion of the USSR had inherently conflicting objectives. The German generals wanted to strike at Moscow. Hitler did not. This dispute over strategic direction ended with the Battle of Smolensk. Hitler won. Moscow was to be attacked only after the flanks were cleared. This delayed an offensive toward Moscow to the end of September 1941.
After the fall of France in 1940, Germany faced a difficult strategic choice between invading England or attacking the Soviet Union. The latter option proved preferable.
A brief history of tank design and development during WWII.
Goldhagen is readable only when he expresses his heartfelt moral outrage towards the "German" perpetrators of the Nazi genocide of European Jews during World War II. When he attempts to provide an analysis of those feelings, however, Goldhagen retreats into an ivory tower language that covers up his sophistry with syllables.
Did strategic bombing during World War II have a decisive impact on the outcome of the war?
There is no doubt that the war in Europe, for the most part, was fought and won on the Eastern Front. While the Soviet Union invested much more blood and treasure, it was the US and its allies that reaped the greatest benefits.
On December 7th, 1941, at 0755 local time, a Japanese force of carrier aircraft began a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. It was a brilliant tactical victory for Japan.
In September 1938, an international crisis developed around the future of a little known area of then Czechoslovakia, populated mostly by ethnic Germans, and known as Sudetenland. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, believed he could defuse this crisis through direct negotiations with Hitler.
One of the most important weaknesses inherent in the armed forces of the Third Reich lay in the peculiar military command structure that evolved during the course of the war. The Byzantine organization that developed under Hitler's leadership created the complete lack of strategic direction that became a hallmark of Nazi militarism.
Molotov, the Soviet Union's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, was in Berlin in mid-November 1940 to discuss a broad range of political and economic issues between the Third Reich and the USSR. During his interview with Hitler, the Soviet Union was invited to join the Tripartite Pact and share in the spoils of the British Empire. Molotov did not dismiss the idea outright.
The greatest tank battle in history occurred at Kursk. It began on July 5th, 1943 and it ended ignominiously eight days later. This was the last major offensive launched by the Germans on the Eastern Front.
According to Viktor Suvorov, Stalin masterminded the outbreak of World War II and he intended to attack Nazi Germany, probably on July 6, 1941.
During the latter days of the war, the Germans conducted a renewed terror bombing of London. This blitz was not carried out by waves of Heinkel, Junker and Stuka bombers, but by mindless robots, the Vergeltungswaffen -- vengeance weapons.
In the spring of 1942, Americans needed a victory -- no matter how slight. Nothing but continued losses were anticipated for the immediate future and thus emerged the daring plan to bomb Tokyo. Hollywood would immortalize this raid, the "Doolittle Raid," on film.
On the morning of June 6th an Allied armada arrived off the coast of Normandy and launched the largest amphibious assault in history. A coup de grâce had been delivered to the Third Reich. An Allied victory in Europe was now certain but that was not the case when the invasion was ordered.
America was engaged in a massive rearmament program, provided military aid to the British and their allies and generally provoked German, Italian and Japanese retaliation before their official entry into the war.
Combat experience on the Eastern Front during 1941-42 caused the German Army to reconsider the basic armament of an infantry soldier. What the German engineers eventually produced was the MP-44.
Copyright © 2018 Ralph Zuljan