What went "wrong" on the Eastern Front?

[big ned]

The reasons for the failure of Barbarossa are legion and far to many for me to contemplate a full opinion here. Suffice to say that Hitler's notorious and banal "One swift kick!" quote shows that he thought the operation could be accomplished quickly, and to be fair it was a close run thing, thanks to Stalin's self denial and his paralyzing of his generals by fear and mistrust.

The Soviet Union was supposed to collapse after the first blows. The blows were there, and they were massive, but the Red Army and the Soviet system as a whole didn't collapse as was expected. It was there where German planning stopped. And they still had three and a half years to go.....That is the bones of my argument.

Regards, Ned.

[Teutonicknights]

Its a BIGGGGGGG country, and its a COLDDDDD country. IMO even if they did capture all of it, maintaining it would have been the hard part, if not impossible. Not to mention taking on the whole other world at the same time.

[Datrus]

Thanks for your comment Ned and all others who have given their opinion on this topic. Yes Teutonicknight. I often wonder when driving here in Russia on the country side, how s... it must have been for the soldiers, and especially the Germans who did not have proper clothing part of the time. It's not only cold here, there is always a wind blowing.

[Teutonicknights]

Thanks for your comment Ned and all others who have given their opinion on this topic. Yes Teutonicknight. I often wonder when driving here in Russia on the country side, how s... it must have been for the soldiers, and especially the Germans who did not have proper clothing part of the time. It's not only cold here, there is always a wind blowing.

I don't think anyone would have a clue, unless they were there to experience it, I remember reading about some German soldiers talking about moving through Russia, and they often said, the hills and such seemed to never end. Bigger than people think. Mike

[Datrus]

Exactly. When you have reached Moscow, you have actually not gotten anywhere yet. Makes me wonder how the hell they thought it was possible. As lithgow i think it was, said, that the Germans been here in WW1. They should know what it was all about.

[ian]

as most generals always try to re fight the last war ,, rather than planing for ,and fighting the next one
hitler did not take history seriously
and basicly he made exsactly the same mistakes that NAPOLION made
histoty will repeet itself
the leson is if you wish to invade russia
start in the winter ,,,finnish in the summer
cheers ian

[ObKrieger]

the leson is if you wish to invade russia
start in the winter ,,,finnish in the summer
cheers ian

Better yet, don't ever try to invade the largest country in the world in the first place! History has proven time and time again that it doesn't go very well!

[Datrus]

as most generals always try to re fight the last war ,, rather than planing for ,and fighting the next one
hitler did not take history seriously
and basicly he made exsactly the same mistakes that NAPOLION made
histoty will repeet itself
the leson is if you wish to invade russia
start in the winter ,,,finnish in the summer
cheers ian

In some strange way this actually makes sense. Wonder if trying to invade Russia makes sense at all.

[ian]

well Dartus
its so true in history
the british expondinionary force in 1939 were orderd to dig trenches ???
a quote from a general ,as best i can
i would like to thenk the minister of war ,that there has been no interferance with the cavelry,when all the mechanised vehicles have brocken down ,and the tanks have run out of feul ,THEN the CAVELRY will come into there own again
yes that is a true quote from a british general
not word for word ,but as close as i remember it
generals dont win wars
captains ,and majors , they win the next wars ,cos they are new thinkers and the feuture generals
cheers ian

[Woolgar]

All good valid points

In a nutshell for me;

Timing
Complacency
Lack of resources/Equipment
Mad despot dictating to his experienced Generals

I appreciate there are many more reasons

Nick