Hitler's mistakes
Although hard to believe, but Germany could have won the second world war.
It is thanks to the many dumb mistakes made by Adolf Hitler himself, that the
allies were victorious. I shall list a few important ones that came back during the
entire war and then the rest in a fairly chronological order.
- First and foremost Hitler (as many other dictators) could not listen to his Generals,
although they posessed far more knowledge on the 'art' of war.
- He believed that the German soldier was unbeatable and never allowed retreat, even
when it was tacticly advisable.
- Because he didn't trusted his generals, he often made double command structures (example:
the Africa Korps under Rommel was part of the Medditeranian Army under Kesselring, but Rommel
reported directy to Berlin. So were Kesselring was Rommel superior, he was at the same time
his equal). Because of this nobody knew who could tell Hitler what to do, so they kept their
mound shut.
- Hitler supported Goering when designed the Luftwaffe (airforce). But Goering's airforce was a tactical one,
and had not a single four-engine bomber. So the English moved their factories to the Midlands, where the German
medium bombers could not come. the Russians moved theirs behind the Ural.
- In june 1940, Hitler's Panzers were at the English Channel, while the English Expeditionary
Army was still miles away. But in stead of ordering them to close the gap (by taking Dunkerque),
he holded them at Gravelines. Because of this the miracle of Dunkerque was possible. When he
saw his mistake and let the tanks go again, the allies had set up an artillery perimeter and
they didn't advance.
- A few months later, while he was winning the battle of Britain, he changed tactics. Because
the RAF had bombed Berlin, he ordered the Blitz on London. But the luftwaffe wasn't designed for
such an operation and the blitz was a relief for the RAF fighter pilots and their airfields.
- Together with the previous one is the fact that Hitler had canceled operation Seelowe, the
invasion of the UK. Because he failed this before he attacked Russia, he was force to fight on
two fronts. And if he had invaded the UK he had crippled the USA, bucause in those days it was
impossible to transport an invasion force over the Atlantic, not to mention air coverage.
- Due to the Italian fiasco with the Greeks, Hitler had to help his comrade Mussolini. But this caused
a hickup in the plans and operation Barbarrossa started one month to late. Instead of waiting a year,
Hitler wanted to strike Russia in 1941. Because of that month, the Germans weren't as far as they wanted
when the winter began.
- Hitler told his industry and army that work should be canceled at all project not finished befor 1942.
"They would not be needed after the war." This made that the Germans lost their technological advantage at the
end of the war. It's only because Willy Messerschmidt continued working on the
Me 262 in his own time that Germany had the first jet aircraft.
- During the later stages of the war, Hitler was addicted to sleeping pills. This caused
him to sleep untill 10 or 11 a.m. For example the Germans had a few Panzer devisions in
Normandy. But the order to use them could only come from Hitler. So when the allied forces
attacked around 6 a.m., it wasn't untill 11 before the Panzer began moving.
- Hitler also believed that the landing in Normandy was a decoy for a larger one later near
Calais (partly because of a big allied plan to keep as many troops away form Normandy as possible).
So he didn't allowed the 15th army to move units to Normandy.
- More to come...