Successful evacuation of Allied troops in Dunkirk

The Battle of Dunkirk lasted from around May 25 to June 3, 1940. This time included the Allied Operation Dynamo to evacuate troops from Dunkirk. German troops crushed the main resistance in Dunkirk and captured more than 320 000 men. This onslaught was successful till May 29, when the Panzer armor divisions were ordered to stop their advance. The Allied Forces successfully evacuated more than 337 000 troops because of Hitler’s strategy.

These soldiers were from Belgian, France, a small amount from Dutch and the heart and joy of Britain, the British Expeditionary Force. The rescue of allied troops at Dunkirk might have assisted in repelling a Nazi invasion and thus a more difficult time in fighting England.

If Hitler had ordered the total annihilation of the armies at Dunkirk, he would have paralysed Britain and France with the lack of people to carry out plans. He could have stopped the western front attacks and the Africa resistance. This implies the gaining of fuel in Africa and the ability to concentrate on USSR alone without the interference of Britain and France.

The Battle of Britain

Had Germany won the Battle of Britain, the bulk of the British Royal Air Force would be destroyed. At the start of the Battle, the RAF was outnumbered 3 to 1 in favour for Germany. Although they possessed better planes in dogfights, the RAF was almost always forced to fight at a disadvantage. One example of this is their being forced to engage their opponents from a lower altitude. . The difference in altitude meant a difference in ability to quickly gain speed and in dogfights speed determines life or death.

German victory was almost certain, until 2 turns in events occurred. One was that a group of JU-88 bombers got lost in a cloud cover and accidentally bombed a residential area, causing a reprisal bombing attack on German houses. This outraged Hitler and caused him to order the redirection of attacks against English civilians, away from bombing the airfields and to bombing London. The RAF could then be able to reload and refuel safely and be able to launch a counter-offensive. The second reason was that Herman Goering, the commander of the Luftwaffe, felt that the bombers were taking too many preventable losses and ordered the German escort fighters to fly lower with the bombers.

While this did lower the number of bombers lost, it also forced the German fighter pilots to sacrifice much of their altitude advantage. Before this order, the rate of fighters lost was about 3 to 1 in favour of the Germans. After that, it began to even out and eventually turned in favour of the British.

Had British lost her air cover, her Royal Navy would be vulnerable to bombings by the Luftwaffe, shown by the sinking of the ” Prince of Wales” and “Repulse” warships by the Japanese in Singapore at that time. She would have fallen due to such raids.

With France fallen and America in isolation, Britain was the only country standing against Germany in Europe. If she fell, Germany would control the entire Europe. Hitler would then have been free to push all available resources towards Russia. With no help from the Allies and under the full weight of the German army, Russia would most certainly have fallen.

From another perspective, if Germany had occupied England, Germany would possess the largest fleet in the world, the Royal Navy. Also, Germany could have made the Atomic Bomb as early as 1942, previously thwarted by the efforts of Norwegian and British commandoes. She would also be in possession of Middle East oil, and hence no fuel shortages on the Russian front. All the men that was on the Western front, including British troops, would be concentrated on the Eastern Front.

On both accounts, America would not be willing to come out from her isolation due to the lack of allies and the strength of the Axis powers. Her leaders would most probably propose agreements to them and they would have dominated the world in essence.

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa in itself is not a mistake considering that Stalin planned to attack in the first place. Hitler’s mistake was that he did not end his campaign after 3-4 months. His war machine was not ready to withstand the winter. Operation Barbarossa was originally about a) a short-term operation, lasting about a few months only b) secure oil and other resources c) crush Stalin’s offensive war machine in a pre-emptive strike. Because 2 of the 3 goals were reached (a and c) well before the end of the year 1941, it will be to Hitler’s benefit to agree to the USSR’s several requests for peace negotiations.

Germany was in such a favourable position in 1941 that they could have dictated all terms to USSR. Hitler could even have demanded oil and other resources in the negotiations.

It may be Hitler’s ambition to destroy communist USSR but even a temporary peace would have helped him a lot, in that he could crush the resistance at the Western Front first before concentrating his resources on the Eastern Front. Hitler could also provide more men to support operations in the Middle East and Africa, obtaining valuable fuel useful for the war effort.

If Hitler was so disgusted by communism, he would have continued his campaign well above the 4 months. However, Hitler turned away from Moscow once the operation in the east was under way. Taking Moscow then would’ve hurt the Russians greatly, possibly just forcing them to surrender. Hitler also failed to take the Soviet Union in time. If he had taken Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad sooner, the Soviets would most likely have surrendered and Hitler would have had more troops to deploy in Western Europe.

Fighting on too many fronts

Germany had lost World War 2 due to Hitler’s mistake of invading the Soviet Union and fighting a war on three fronts (West Europe, East Europe, and Africa). He engaged war with Britain and America in West Europe, USSR in East Europe and Britain in Africa. He stretched his resources and supplies over these three fronts, eventually costing him a lot. Example of this is seen in the 20:1 tank advantage Britain Montgomery had over Germany Rommel in North Africa.

Hitler could have won the war by not engaging USSR in war and declaring war on America. All his resources could be then concentrated on France and Britain and most likely spell the end of the Western Front. He could have pick out Russia and America one by one and thus win the war.

The holocaust.

Hitler had so many supplies and men committed to carrying out the Final Solution that he could otherwise have used in the war effort.

This could have changed the entire war. More men implies the quicker capture of USSR and the victory in Africa. More supplies indicate that there will be no thin supply lines and more adequately prepared infantry. Overall, it would possibly have ended the war in Germany’s favour.

Losing of the war in Northern Africa.

When the Germans and Italians lost the war in Africa, they lost a major source of fuel for their armored forces. Tanks without fuel will not move. The loss of the war in Africa also gave the Allied nations a good point to gather forces to invade Southern Europe.

Had Hitler done more to win the war in African war, such as sending more tanks, supplies and troops there, he would gain valuable fuel and also depriving Britain of what was to be their fuel. The British needed a lot of fuel to power their Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Such deprivation of fuel would force Britain to not use several of their air or sea units and an easier time for Germany in the Western Front.

Bombing of Germany

Unlike the Germany bombing of residential areas, the Allies bombed German industries and oil production plants and hampered their production of war materials.

During bombing raids from May to September 1944, Germany’s synthetic fuel plants were wiped out. Germany’s ability to a powerful army rapidly declined. Albert Speer, Nazi Minister of Production, also said that this was the single most critical blow to Germany.

If Hitler had done more to protect those areas, such as the deployment of anti-aircraft guns, he could have produced or replaced his army. He would then be more able to match up with USSR’s and America’s production capabilities.

Misuse of the Luftwaffe

Britain was an island, similar to Japan. America would later mine the waterways off the coast of Japan using bombers, together with ferocious US submarine warfare, causing Japan to nearly starve to death. Completely eliminating supplies of oil to Japan was also fatal. Britain at the time also had no oil fields, and was dependent on oil from the Middle East. Strategic bombing and mining of its harbours would have produced a similar effect on Britain as the US air attack did with Japan later.

Had Hitler done that with Britain after the fall of France, Britain would be forced to surrender and thus the end of the Western Front. Note that America was supposedly neutral then and would not have helped Britain.

Hitler had no strategic vision. He emphasises attacks on battlefields and failed to understand that the best targets for attack were far away from the battlefield, which are the industries and supply lines. If he did, he could have paralysed production in Britain and USSR. America was out of the question as it would be vulnerable to attacks due to the long distance and the lack of fighter escorts(fighters could not fly that far).

The bombing raids could also target various airfields and communication and radar centres of England, a strategy that could have hampered British air operations severely.

Extra tidbits

Hitler was a terrible leader. Germany had plenty of good military commanders such as Rommel, generals who led German troops to victory during the early years. It is unlikely that the allies could have managed to stop the German expansion by 1942 had Hitler stopped dismissing his commanders over minor problems. Germany could have won the war if Hitler let the outstanding generals do their job without his interference.

In North Africa, instead of capturing small towns, Hitler’s Afrikakorps should have dashed for the oilfields of Iraq and Iran, providing Germany with large oil supplies that could be used for the war effort.

Hitler chose to make enemies instead of allies with conquered people. He then had to spend supplies and men to settle the hostile population, implying less of men and supplies for the war effort. Things could have changed if Hitler was to be allies with the people.

Conclusion

The above mentioned are the key points in the German defeat. Had Hitler not commit them, the war may have turned out much differently.