Interesting map of the ebb and flow of WW2.

Question

World War II Every Day with Army Sizes - YouTube

Answer 1

Tink what a truly fascinating documentation this is! The author mentions that he worked for a year, assembling all his facts and checking their accuracy...it's a treasure.

I stopped it on my birthday, just to see what was happening then...something about the withdrawal from Greece. Also, I did not realize the Battle of the Bulge took place so late in the war, December 1944.

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I have congratulated a few YT posters for their contributions, most recently one fellow, age 80, who posts all accessible recordings of great 20th century opera singers, such as Jussi Bjorling, accompanied by remarkable collections of photographs...a tremendous legacy, as is the potential for Christopher here, with his WWII summary. And I notice that between mid-March and now, this YT video already has more than 12 million hits! 

 ...so I gave him an upvote...he earns 'em! This is a good find.

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ima come back to this one, see what Rooster thinks of it...

Comments

Answer 2

I did not see this video.

Answer 3

Maps and Armies I know all too well with my work.

Best thing about some of our war games is that you have the chance to change history.

Also, like some other things, size doesn't matter much but quality sure does!

Comments

Hi Rooster ... I like the idea of changing history, sometimes anyway

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@ Rooster:

It's fortunate that Mussolini botched things up for Hitler by the failed Italian invasion of Greece and by getting in trouble with the British in north Africa.

This delayed the start of Operation Barbarossa and diverted German troops that could otherwise have been used in Russia. Things might have turned out differently if Rommel and the troops of the Afrika Korps had been on the eastern front instead, and if Barbarossa had started in May rather than June. Did you try a scenario like that in your war games?

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Many times! Rommel has also beaten the Brits and Amerikaners in North Africa also.

Victory can be won against Russia if you use your own tactics and don't listen to Hitler.

I've conquered it all before and made peace with the U.S.

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Another factor (this one political) is that if it hadn't been for Hitler treating the Ukrainians like dirt, he might have had a willing and active ally against Stalin.  The Holodomor had occurred less than 10 years before.

But Hitler's quick victories in 1940 went to his head, and he expected to defeat Russia in 8 weeks.

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Tink, fairly certain I have brought this up to you before...so asking now for a reprise, your current thinking?

You mention Hitler's quick victories early on ... went to his head... and some of those victories truly quite miraculous...do you think Hitler may have believed that he was doing God's work, and thus could not be stopped, with God on his side? He could then take improbable chances, ignore expert counsel from his generals...

It's not an uncommon thought pattern, to justify war thus...I can recall in the 1990's, people doing that with the Iraq war.

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At one point in the last few years, I was collecting what (I felt) might have been 'turning points;' watershed events without which the Allies could have lost WWII. One of those, of course, the work of Alan Turing and associates, their Enigma cryptanalysis at Blenheim; another might be FDR's decision to go all out in sending aid to Britain, rather than save some for home in case Hitler invaded the USA...maybe also, the French Resistance in blowing up the train tracks carrying crack Nazi divisions toward the D-Day invasion, giving Allies the time to establish a foothold...there were others, and quite fascinating, I thought!

Anyway, one point on my list was Hitler himself; made such unnecessary mistakes, perhaps in his delusion of cannot-fail-cuz-God-is-with-me...what would you say, only your educated guess, of course?

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Hitler usually used 'Providence' instead of God (perhaps as a nod to the paganism encouraged in the SS).

He already had delusions of infallibility as early as 1936, perhaps because of his astronomically improbable rise to power in the first place. In the space of 20 years, he went from being a penniless derelict on the streets of Vienna to becoming absolute dictator of Europe's most powerful country.

"I go the way that Providence dictates with the assurance of a sleepwalker."   Source: speech in Munich, 15 March 1936.

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Remarkable find Tink...that quote from 1936 speech in Munich.

Certainly takes THAT question of mine out of the realm of a guess...and I had not considered that, his early victories closely following upon his unheard-of rise to absolute dictator.

Very nicely done, ty.

*  *  *  Later thoughts...regarding the encouragement of paganism...some strange policies came out of that. In the 1990's, I knew a woman born in Germany during the Nazi regime, perhaps around 1941 maybe 1943...and her mother wanted to name her "Elfie." Well you had to get gov approval for your baby names during that era, and the Nazi government would allow Elfie to be used as a middle name, but not a first name! Too magical or something...so the first name that finally got approved for my German friend...was Dagmar! She was a legendary warrior queen of Denmark, and that was in harmony with the Aryan image somehow...

So my friend was Dagmar Elfie...we are out of touch now, but I still remember her, and the story of her name. And as I think about it, Dagmar was also a fairly common name among the Scandinavians in Western Washington timber country of the 1940's and '50's...I do recall that, growing up then...

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Interesting... elves or fairies probably weren't heroic enough in Nazi Germany.

No problem with Valkyries like Brunhilde, however, or dragon slayers like Siegfried... or his mother Sieglinde. 

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Yes, you discerned my contemplation on the elves/fairies and the paganism, and I do think you nailed it, Tink...elves/fairies/nymphs/dryads, dancing joyfully in the pagan play of light and love, that was WAY too gentle, delightful, and just not heroic enough...whereas Brunhilde, Siegfried, Sieglinde...those prolly, along with warrior Queen Dagmar, full acceptance on the censorious roster of new-baby names!

"Walkyrien" (1905) by Emil Doepler (Valkyries bearing the body of a fallen warrior.)