Change one single event of the War...

MacArthur would be competently on duty and not at a party as the Philippines were bombed.
I will connect this to another post to be titled "July,1942, Five German Staff Officers ..."

 

How about this, MacArthur loses the confidence of the politians back home and decide to replace him with General George S Patton, who is ordered to shake up and shape up the US and Philipino armed forces.

 

What is with all the allied loseses as another member also pointed out? The invasion of Hawaii? The loss of Britain in the Battle of Britain? The defeat of Russia? Do any of you think this will mean the Germans win the war, somehow I don't think so. Just wait for the Yankees to join in, especially with the Germans in these scenario's still historically already having man shortages, now having to compensate with the men needed to Garrision all these new providences and cities, as well as the Altantic coast at two ends.

Well I think you all get the point.

I single event in history? I would not stop ww2 because that could change the current time, for now we all look back on ww2 and remember, it make us better people and a better nation. It gives us traditions, stories of hope and courage and of course our heroes.

But to change one, I would have to so to change Hitler and make him less sardistic, the war may have been longer with the help of the Jewish people now being in the armed forces, but I think we could all look back on ww2 and not resent the ww2 German Soldier as so many people think of them as Nazis.

 

From the overall loss of lives view, I wish that France and England would have attacked Hitler immediately after his assault on Poland - the WW2 as such would never have happened.

From a military point of view, I wish Hitler would have given the attack order on Dunkirk - No added forces in the Desert - The Suez and the access to the middle east oil would have been ours.

Regards
Kruska

 

hmmm... For Germany

Finish Dunkirk, and the war with Britain befor Barbarossa.

For Soviet Union

Allow the 3 Soviet army's escape from Kiev and fight another day.

 

The Japanese decide to "turn German" to paraphrase the song, and turn their submarines loose on the US West coast day one of the war. Also a good what if in general. I think someone should propose it.

 

For the Soviet Union, as the Germans launch Operation Barbarossa Stalin orders all the Soviet forces east, and as they withdraw they enact a scorched earth policy, destroy everything, leave nothing, not only this but it saves 6 to 7 million troops in the long run.

Add to this that the Japanese submarines begin a war on the mercantile marine transports within the western Pacific basin. Ensuing an crisis of ecconomics.

v.R

 

What would I change? One of two things:

October 7, 1916....Hitler would have taken a hit to the head instead of his leg in the Battle of the Somme WWI..........

September 1919....I would have caused a bee to fly into the driver's window of a bus in Munich, causing the bee to repeatedly sting the bus driver, the bus swerves out of control (the bus is empty of course), accidentally running over an Adolf Hitler on his way to check out this new German Worker's Party and killing him instantly. The bus driver, however, walks away unscathed. Hitler then would never have met Drexler and would never have had the opportunity to form the NSDAP. And if there were no buses...well then a man driving a horse!

Problem solved...no WWII...No Nazi's....No Holocaust!

lisa

 

Eurpoean Honey Bees can only sting once, as their sting enters the skin the barbs lock into the skin, then the bee pulls away and their internals are ripped out as well as the main muscle groups that is triggered to begin pumping the venom, the muscle groups that is invvolved also allows the barb to dig in further.

v.R

 

Okay...I rescind the "sting repeatedly". Let's change that to:

The bus driver is allergic to bees, he doesn't actually get stung, (let's save the bee, too...sounds like a gruesome death) but completely freaks out because the bee hit him and loses control of the bus, thus running over Hitler.

lisa

 

or we can just be simple and stick with the WWI death!

Lisa

 

Hello kimfdim,

Sounds very good to me

Regards
Kruska

 

As long as the bee is saved then and the bus driver is not hurt, i can live with it.

v.R

 

It's been a few years since John wrote this but I find myself agreeing with him. If Singapore had held longer, it would've been possible for US reinforcements to reach the Philippines. Who knows? It's still in the realm of possibility that if Singapore had held longer, a reinforced US force in the Philippines would've been strong enough to hold out and nip the overall early Japanese successes in the bud.
Without Singapore, there was little chance for a relief convoy from Australia to make it through.

 

I would like to see more cooperation between governments of Poland and Czechoslovakia. If in the beginning of 1930s they could form military alliance it is quite possible that armies of both participants were better equipped. Polish army lacked of technology, armoured cars, and better tank. Well maybe with the exception of 7TP. Eastern European countries never found the sense of collaborating with each other against treat from Communist Russia and Nazi Germany. They rather tried to deal with the problem on their own. I wish alliance could be formed much earlier and there was a proper trend to militarise Poland. Have you thought guys about pre-emptive strike on Germany? I would say that around 1935-1936 Poland and Czechoslovakia was in the position to overwhelm any German units and size East Prussia and Danzig (Gdansk). After all this is what if scenario.

Regards,
Jackal

 

I dunno, maybe Austria refuses to become part of Germany?

The Russian revolution dosent happen?

Im out of ideas.

 

Thinking about one single event that would have a wide reaching effect on World War II... one comes to mind. The Allied cracking of the Enigma code that led to ULTRA. I am fairly sure that if this wasn't cracked, probably the Germans might have performed better in some battles than they did historically. However, I am fairly sure that even without ULTRA, the Allies would have found some other way to adapt.

 

The Germans did have one very faulty machine called HITLER...

 

Hmmm... I was reviewing a book on Guadalcanal and I realized that some of the events there could fit Otto's thread.
First event: The landing of Marines and withdrawal of the Navy.
First off, the Navy had lost several ships and Australia a cruiser so the admiral decided to withdraw without completely landing the Marine division's equipment and supplies. The single event here was fortunately, the Marines were able to use the captured Japanese engineering equipment. If the Marines weren't able to, Henderson Field wouldn't be operational in time to receive the planes that were instrumental in helping ward the Japanese off.
Second event: The Japanese understanding of the Marine landing in Guadalcanal. They thought it was just a raid and that there were at most 2,000 Marines on the island. This underestimation of US strength there led to many miscalculations and resulted in piecemeal attacks. Had the Japanese properly estimated the US strength, it is within the realm of possibility that they could have reacted with enough force before US strength peaked. That period would've been when Henderson Field wasn't fully operational and the Marines were subsisting on the little supplies they had been able to get onshore besides the captured Japanese supplies.

 

Two events that I think could have altered the outcome of the second World War are:

1) Einstein's letter to FDR - Had FDR not acted on the concerns and cautions of Einstein perhaps the fighting in the Pacific might have lasted several more years with many more fatalities in Operation Olympic (Japan invasion). Here's a link to the letter:
Einstein's letter to Roosevelt, August 2, 1939

2) Hitler's Decision to use the Me262 as a fighter-bomber - Had Hitler allowed Goering to use the Me-262 as a pure fighter and devoted more resources to it production (probably preventing further development and manufacturing of the V-2 and follow ons) the US bombing campaign might have been seriously extended.
HowStuffWorks "Messerschmitt Me 262"