HItlers MIstake during WW2?

Question

What were Hitlers mistakes that eventually led to his downfall in WW2.

Answer 1

1. Started too late in the year (1941), by the time they reached Moscow, the coldest winter in years hit and the Werhmact was totally unprepared.

2. Guderian's Panzers were diverted south at the gates to Moscow in 1941.

3. Again in 1942, the Germans made the fatal mistake of splitting Army Group South in two culminating in the debacle at Stalingrad and the failure to reach to Caucasus oil fields.

4. The Soviets were into a mindset of ordering important and troop saving withdrawals. At Stalingrad the Germans lost 25% of their entire operational strength in the Eastern Front, a heavy blow by all accounts but NOT decisive. It would however be the main factor for Germany's not being able to complete the conquest of Russia.

5. The Germans blew another chance during their offensive in the summer of 1943. Against Guderian's opinion that the production of Tiger and Panther tanks should be up to operational standards, Hitler launched the ill fated offensive at Kursk. The results being the destruction of the panzer armies. The fact that the German still had the capability to launch an offensive of this magnitude in 1943 proves that Stalingrad was not a decisive turning point in the war. From then on, it was just a delaying tactical war against the Red Army.

6. On the western front, two mistakes come to mind: stopping his tanks and allowing the BEF to escape to Britain via Dunkirk, and switching from the bombing of airfields and radar stations to London and other cities....the RAF was nearly brought to its knees before that 'miracle.'

7. Hitler made the mistake of diverting resources to multiple designs, rather than picking the best and staying with it... example is the multiple tank designs.

8. Hitler kept tactical control of the Panzer reserves (prior to the Normandy invasion) at OKH rather than local control under Rommel. The 21st Panzer Division was the only armoured force near D-Day, while the 12th SS, Ist SS, 2nd SS, Panzer Lehr and the Frundsberg and Hoenstofen panzer divisions sat idly by waiting for a Pas de Calais landing...during the first critical hours of the invasion.

9. The Russians were resilient, as one German officer stated, "attacking Russia was like an elephant stamping out ants, you killed thousands, maybe millions, but in the end their number told and you were eaten to the bone."

Answer 2

In WW2 Hitler made many mistakes, one was not listening to his generals enough, he was not the military strategist he thought he was. Opening up a second front on Soviet soil proved to be a disaster that cost men and resources that could have been used elsewhere. On D Day Hitler refused to wake when he was urged to do something about an attack, leaving the reserve panzer division where they where. Another blunder was going for the Soviet city of Stalingrad instead of the oil rich region of Kursk

Answer 3

Purely militarily - obviously no rational person could justify anything he did domestically, he was a brutal murderer:

After taking Poland and France he should have focused on consolidating his positions there, possibly including select French colonies - extracting resources needed to further prosecute the war. You could have used the U-boats to defend a few of those positions basically forever.

Russia I would have waited until I had long range bombing capability and then attacked Moscow and the other major cities directly, from Poland or, if possible, Norway. Then I'd have bombed the supplies and artillery along the border, also from the air. That would have given me more time to consolidate Greece / Balkans (trusting the Italians was another problem - I'd have just made sure they had Italy itself covered, it's a lot of coastline) and THEN you could walk in and take the Ukrainian oil fields.

I would have waited on England. What was the hurry, if you can keep them from landing on Europe, which consolidating France and the Balkans would have accomplished?

Hindsight is 20/20 but that's what I would have done. Especially w/ Russia.

Answer 4

Hitler's biggest mistakes were the extermination of the Jews and expanding too far too quickly. Even though they were allied with Italy and Japan they were at war with the U.S., Soviet Union and Great Britain.

Hitler didn't have the resources to hold into most of Europe and North Africa. Because of his strategies and policies it was inevitable Germany was going to lose the war. If Hitler had contained his expansion to Austria and some of Southeastern Europe Germany would be far more influential and powerful than they are today.

Answer 5

Taking on Russia and The USA. Don't know how he could have avoided fighting The US after his ally bombed Pearl Harbor, but invading The USSR was his decision and it was very costly.

Letting the British escape was a military mistake also, but there was more to the British Empire/Commonwealth than Britain alone. Canada, Australia and others might have refused to give up the fight. They and the resistance movements in France and other parts of Europe might have worn Hitler's Armies down to the point where more German Generals would have joined Rommel's efforts to get rid of him.

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Answer 6

Hitler's greatest mistake was breaking the non-aggression pact he had with Stalin. If Hitler had not pressed into Russia Stalin would have sat the war out, which means Hitler could have used his entire strength to consolidate the hold he had on Western Europe. And if that happened we would still be dealing with the Reich today. Russia bled the German army dry. The weather, the size of the country, the tactics, and the siege of Stalingrad combined to whittle away Hitler's forces to the point that they couldn't attack, couldn't defend, and couldn't hold on to what they had taken.

Answer 7

Hitler had too few allies. Japan couldn't help being half a world away and Italy got taken out early. Hungary and the other eastern european states were too weak and divided to hold up against a Red Army incursion. Put that on top of angering a majority of nations on the planet and he was doomed to get defeated.

Answer 8

Not destroying the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk, which probably would have forced Britain to sue for a separate peace. This would have allowed Germany to invade North Africa and the Soviet Union without the threat of Britain.

But by allowing those troops to escape, it kept Britain in the war.

Answer 9

Declaring war on Russia before defeating England. Changing tactics at the battle of Britain, he switched from focusing on air fields to focusing on cities. Gave the British Military time to regroup, permitted Japan to drag the USA into it , this revived shipping and production of armament to all of the allies. After the US entered the war that was it, they simply couldn't produce enough guns tanks or planes. Russia also produced the T-51 Tank Probably the best made Tank of the war, this was devastating to Panzer Tanks. Yea know all these answers are right, put them all together and you have the answer (ONE CRAZYGUY)

Answer 10

His biggest mistake was not listening to his

Command General Staff

the people with the knowledge. Hitler fancied himself a strategist, which he was not.

What idiot would attack Russia just before winter time and not have proper, or enough winter clothing for the troops?