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Stalin's lack of response to Barbarossa

Discussion in 'WWII General' started by bedhead, Feb 9, 2017.

  1. JZResearch

    JZResearch New Member

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    A reference that Hitler believed that Britain would fold? Just because some may think he actually had no way of directly defeating the British doesn't mean he didn't think, in his own mind, they(the Brits) were done for. Hitler believed the democratic nations weak and vulnerable, as evidenced by the fact that he had no reservations on acquiring and reacquiring foreign land and building up the German military directly against the treaty of Versailles. He assumed no direct military action would be taken and until Poland was invaded, he was correct. His quick work of the British expeditionary force and the French forces only had to reinforce his mind that defeating the democratic nations was just a matter of time. Also, isn't attacking the red army without Britain defeated evidence enough that he was not worried about Britain as a true problem?

    I will cite the documentary I posted above again but this time clip 9:37-10:01. Weather or not it is credible I suppose is debatable. If you deem the documentary "World War II in Colour" by Martin not accurate. I would love to see your sources that contradict what is discussed as that is the point of me being involved in these forums in the first place.
     
  2. freebird

    freebird Member

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    Yes it is largely incorrect, of the four RAF Fighter Command groups in Britain, the Germans could only attack 11 group, and parts of 12 group. None of the fighter airfields were disabled for more than a few hours, and fighter production and pilot training kept pace with losses.

    Even if the LW had somehow managed to destroy the dozen or more airfields of 11 group, incoming LW bombers could still be attacked by fighters from 10 and 12 group airfields, which were largely out of range of Me109 escort
     
  3. lwd

    lwd Ace

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    Not tactics they didn't have the tools.

    They lacked both the capability and the Intel to do so.

    Again they lacked the capability (equipment and forces) to do so. The LW started the Battle of Britain with a significant edge in numbers of fighter aircraft, pilots, and skill. Within a couple of weeks those edges were either gone or rapidly eroding. Even if they hadn't Fighter Command planned to withdraw from SE England rather than allow its destruction. The Germans were having a hard time destroying airfields in any case. I think I've read that they never put one out of service for more than 24 hours. Much of the infrastructure and indeed much of fighter command was beyond the range of Me109s and so rather problematic to destroy.
     
  4. JZResearch

    JZResearch New Member

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    Source?
     
  5. lwd

    lwd Ace

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    That's pretty consistent with what I've read. Are there any particular details you have questions about? Maps for instance are available with the coverage of the various fighter groups and the range of the Me109. The LW did have planes with more range but didn't have an escort fighter that was worth much other than the Me109. As for the effect on airfields you can look up the individual fields for example Biggin field was hit pretty hard a number of times but if you look at the details at:
    http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/world-war-two-in-western-europe/battle-of-britain/raf-biggin-hill/
    It's pretty clear that they were back in business the next day after each raid. Maybe not up to 100% but able to function.

    Here's another source that mentions the damage to the airfields in some detail. It also points out that even the heavily damaged ones were back in service sometime the next day if not over night. Dirt runways are pretty easy to repair.
     

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