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What was the main reason that Germany lost w.w.2?

 
 
Reply Mon 10 Jun, 2013 06:59 pm
Germany had the best army in europe and had the most advanced weapons at the time but still managed to lose.
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Type: Question • Score: 15 • Views: 11,356 • Replies: 197

 
Lordyaswas
 
  2  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 05:37 am
@count markovalley,
..........because they had a gang of sycophantic thugs at the top of their hierarchy, with a total nutter as leader.

It's slightly more complicated than that, but when all is said and done....
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  4  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 05:59 am
@count markovalley,
What ever the reason was - it was a good one!
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 06:16 am
@count markovalley,
Students of German will know that halb sechs means 5.30 not 6.30.
So when German Intelligence tapped Allied invasion signals and heard the words "half six" they got the timings wrong, turned up to intercept too early, and then went back to bed muttering and cursing.

This is clearly the reason why they lost the war ! Mr. Green
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 06:21 am
Lordy has summed it up pretty well--Hitler was the best friends the Allies had in Europe. He was an idiot.

But your question emobies a premise which just isn't true. The German army was not superior, neither in numbers nor in weaponry.The Tiger tank was superior to the Sherman tank, but the United States manufactured 50,000 Shermans, while the Germans manufactured a few thousand Tigers. The Russian T34 was only marginally inferior to the Tiger, and the Soviet Union manufactured almost 80,000 of them. The American Pershing tank which came into service in 1945 was a match for the Tiger tank.

Everybody had a better infantry rifle than the Germans did. Their "potato masher" grenade was useful to people who couldn't throw a baseball or a cricket ball, but it was not superior to the grenades used by the Americans and the British. Their machine guns were as good as anyone else's, but that's primarily a defensive weapon, and the Germans certainly manufactured a lot of them--after all, their infantry rifle sucked, so they needed that. Machine guns are not that useful for offensive warfare.

For transport they did not have a superior truck. and they just didn't have enough, nor enough fuel. They relied heavily on horses from the very beginning of the war. Their bombers were inferior the bombers the USAAF and RAF deployed. Their fighters were good, but the P51 Mustang was superior--it was the best propeller-driven fighter ever designed and flown. It's true that the Me262 jet fighter was superior, but Hitler's stupidity interfered with that, too. There was a prototype tested in March, 1943, but Hitler insisted on a bomber, so it was not until the spring of 1944 that they were deployed. The first air victory of a jet is claimed in July, 1944. The commander of the first squadron, Walter Nowotny allegedly accounted, along with his comrades, for 19 USAAF aircraft with a loss of only six jets. That's never been verified. Nowotny himself was shot down in November, 1944. So it was not until 1945 that the jet was deployed in any significant numbers--it was a case of too little, too late.

The real reason for the defeat, leaving aside Hitler's incredible stupidity, was that they had bitten off more than they could chew. They didn't the have the men, the industrial resources, the fuel or the food to take on the western Allies and the Soviet Union. Germany was starving by the beginning of 1945. Starving nations generally don't do well in wars.
Lordyaswas
 
  2  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 06:23 am
@fresco,
Added to that, it is a well known fact that Hitler only had one ball.

OK, OK.....so the Germans are very good at penalty shootouts in recent times, but having only one ball put them at a distinct disadvantage back then.
tsarstepan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 06:42 am
@count markovalley,
0 Replies
 
Setanta
 
  3  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 06:54 am
We don't get many of these idiotic Hitler/Nazi threads any longer, not as we used to do--thank Dog. But they almost all have this premise that the Germans had the best army, the best weapons . . . where do they come up with that ****? Are they actually being taught that in school?
DrewDad
 
  3  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 07:04 am
@Setanta,
3% of the US population believes we're being ruled by shape-changing lizard men.

The damned sexists.
Setanta
 
  2  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 07:05 am
Yeah, but i was talking about people who are deluded . . .
0 Replies
 
Lordyaswas
 
  2  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 07:06 am
@DrewDad,
I know quite a few lizard men and can confirm that only 3% of them are sexist.
0 Replies
 
Setanta
 
  2  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 07:15 am
Really, the Germans just didn't take it all seriously enough . . .

0 Replies
 
gungasnake
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 07:16 am
@count markovalley,
Invading Russia instead of England. Russia didn't NEED to be invaded, it would have collapsed of its own weight (just like the USA is now collapsing from the same kinds of policies) within five years and Hitler could have picked up whatever pieces of the mess he wanted for himself for free.
parados
 
  3  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 07:23 am
@gungasnake,
Quote:
just like the USA is now collapsing from the same kinds of policies


You must be talking about the government payments to Michelle Bachmann's farm, right? The government policy of controlling agriculture is destroying this country and we should stop it. I wonder when Michelle will demand we stop with the communist policy of government paying people to farm or not farm.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-16/bachmann-has-income-from-subsidized-farm.html
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 07:32 am
@gungasnake,
gungasnake wrote:

Invading Russia instead of England. Russia didn't NEED to be invaded, ...
In 1940/1941, Russia "needed" to be invaded, at least according to some "strategies" (from economic over military to Lebensraum Ost) by the Nazis.
Thomas
 
  2  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 08:16 am
@count markovalley,
count markovalley wrote:
Germany had the best army in europe and had the most advanced weapons at the time but still managed to lose.

Here's an exercise that you might find of help.

1) Find a globe or a world map.

2) Figure out the August 31, 1939 borders of Germany, and color the inside of them red.

3) Find the countries Germany declared war on, and color them blue. To save yourself time, concentrate on just Russia, the US, the British Empire, and France.

Can you guess the answer to your question now?
Lordyaswas
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 08:21 am
@Thomas,
Mind you, Germany did have Italy helping them, and after 1941, one or two Italian tanks actually had some forward gears fitted.
Lordyaswas
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 08:23 am
Pssst....I'm waiting for the po-faced brigade to arrive any minute now.

0 Replies
 
Thomas
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 08:23 am
@Lordyaswas,
Lordyaswas wrote:
Mind you, Germany did have Italy helping them, and after 1941, one or two Italian tanks actually had some forward gears fitted.

I'm not sure if "helping" is the right word. (Italy was pretty inept.) But even if it is, it doesn't change the picture much.

Edit: Sorry, I missed your sarcasm on first reading. Need more coffee.
Lordyaswas
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jun, 2013 08:25 am
@Thomas,
I did infer this if you read the back end of that post. (Smiley face)
 

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