If Hitler had won the battle of Stalingrad......?

Question

Would it have any real impact on the eventual outcome? Would Germany have won the war on the eastern front or would the Soviet Union still eventually wore the Wehrmacht down- and the same end result?

Thoughts?

Answer 1

It was the most decisive batte of the war;the original plan fof 1942 didn't include capturing Stalingrad(!!!)-again Hitler decided on a two-prong attack,thus weekenig von Kleist's group towards Caucasus-However victory in Stalingrand would have cut the artery of river Volga-main supply line of Russian Centre and north-and the units wasted in Stalingrand
would march south capture the oil fields of Caucasus(Bacu,Grozny etc) and deprive USSR of oil...at best USSR would have sued for peace...
Germany in that year(1942) had in its order of battle 325 divisions(50 armoured) against 60(?) USA divisions,most under training, so if any Americans think that that it was a fatal mistake the declaration of war against USA,they are dreaming...at that time Germany,(at least on land) was superior to the USA in any sort of equipment quality(unless the Americans bought Russian Tanks T-34/85,KWVII,JS) and with so many units tanks and aeroplanes to spare,Malta
would have been captured and North Africa would have been lost...then America and England would have seriously considered an armistice...

Answer 2

If Paulus had won Stalingrad.. at a heavy cost during the Soviet operation Uranus the Soviets could've cut off the Germans by swinging south thus trapping them in a much larger area of course. I dont think it would've changed the outcome of the war. The Battle of Stalingrad was more symbolic than strategic

Answer 3

Many of the German casualties at Stalingrad were from the extreme cold. Short of not invading the Soviet Union, I can't imagine any military decision which would have changed the outcome of the War.

Answer 4

Hard to say, the rest of Europe of course hasn't changed much--they still prefer to use the "peace in our time" approach to madmen dictators. The actual flaw in the Eastern front wasnt Stalingrad, it was Smolensk which came before Stalingrad. Had Hitlers generals been allowed to pursue the retreating Russian army and defeat them in detail there rather than turning north to take Stalingrad--the eastern front would have been secured at mimimal cost to the Wehrmacht. England would have almost been forced to sue for a seperate peace whether the States got in the fray or not.

Answer 5

The results would have been the same in the end because the Soviet Union was willing to sacrifice its millions of people to win and Germany could not make that same kind of sacrifice. Russia was getting arms and material from the US and producing their own while Germany's production was slowly dwindling.

Answer 6

Actually if Germany had won Stalin-grad things may have been very different. Russia didn't care about the Jews and wanted them gone too. They just didn't go to the lengths that Germany did. Stalin wasn't exactly loved either....20 million dead during the war and may of those by Russian hands. If Hitler had not made the fatal mistake of declaring war on the US, it may have been very different.

Answer 7

No, by then Hitler had already lost most of his elite troop's. He had started to draft old men and boys. The real downfall for Hitler was that he spread his military over too many fronts. Had he been more patient and taken countries one at a time, the outcome may have been much different.

Answer 8

Same result I think. To win a war, you cannot merely win battles. You have to subjugate the conquered nation to the will of the invader. I doubt the USSR would ever have bent to it.

Answer 9

We'd have a lot less trouble out of Russia now and during the Cold War. Seriously though, I would have offered him a cigar.

Answer 10

Results would have been the same.

Europe all would be speaking German now had they not declared war on the US...