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Originally Posted by mazzab  Would Germany have had a better chance of winning the war if it had the support of the people in the occupied territories?This is NOT a discussion on the morality of Nazi Germany. |
When the Germans arrived in 1941 in the Ukraine and the Baltics, a large part of the population welcomed them with open arms. Over time however, due to certain harsh and repressive policies adopted by various Gauliters and other party officials, Germany lost a lot of the local support it initially had. Another important point to take note of is that a very large number of foreigners, including many from German occupied countries in Western Europe, served in the Heer and Waffen SS as combat volunteers. Not to mention the thousands of volunteers from the Soviet Union who served in the Heer as 'Hiwis' and as 'flakhelpers' and searchlight operators in the Luftwaffe.
In the long run, IMO the eventual outcome of the war would have been the same irrespective of how many foreigners served alongside the Germans and whether or not the Germans had adopted a different policy in the occupied eastern territories, as the minute the U.S. declared war on Germany the war for Germany was lost. There was no way that Germany would have been able to compete with the industrial and economic might of both the British Empire and the U.S.,whilst still engaged in the Soviet Union.
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Originally Posted by GermanHerman IF nazi germany would have statisfied the hopes of the people and supported them, the SU would have propably collapsed before the russian winter leaving the wehrmacht mainly unharmed and nazi germany in control of the huge industrial capabilitys and ressources of the SU. |
The fall of Moscow who have been a great loss to the Soviet Union but it would not have led to its collapse and would not have given the Germans control of Soviet industrial resources. Even if Moscow had fallen say in December, the Germans would not have been able to exploit it as losses in both men and equipment at this point were horrendous, not to mention the logistical difficulties they were experiencing.
In anticipation of the loss of Moscow and a large part of the western portion of the Soviet Union, Soviet heavy industry was moved east of the Urals and elsewhere, far beyond the reach of the Germans. The loss of Moscow would have made no difference with regards to damaging Soviet industrial capability and it still in my opinion, would have ended with the Soviets in the streets of Berlin.
