Operation Unthinkable (Allies attack USSR in 1945).

[Feuer Frei!]

A bit of modern Propaganda and some 'what if' reading for you:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1209041/Operation-unthinkable-How-Churchill-wanted-recruit-defeated-Nazi-troops-drive-Russia-Eastern-Europe.html

http://howitreallywas.typepad.com/how_it_really_was/2009/09/operation-unthinkable.html

The top 2 links, some trashy synopsies.

http://www.history.neu.edu/PRO2/

The last link, original docs.

Make of it what you will.
Interesting points brought up and some scenario discussions forthcoming i hope.

[Raptor1]

This has been known for years. Is it really news now?

I recall there was an extensive debate about this scenario on this very forum a couple of years ago...

[Torplexed]

Operation Unthinkable. From the man who brought you the Gallipoli Campaign. As difficult and galling as it was to see Stalin's reign extended over half of Europe it probably was the price to be paid for having the Soviets doing the lion's share of the land fighting and the killing of German soldiers in 1941-43. Discussions have been done ad nauseum on this board of the WW2 "extended game version", but nobody really knows how events would have turned out. Giving that the Iron Curtain eventually fell without the impetus of a major conflict I'm not sure one can argue that events didn't turn out reasonably well the way they did.

[Feuer Frei!]

This has been known for years. Is it really news now?

I recall there was an extensive debate about this scenario on this very forum a couple of years ago...
Probably why i missed it :O:

[Raptor1]

Ah, found it (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=153932). It starts out about a modern war but is quickly and mercilessly derailed in true GT fashion.

[TarJak]

Ooh can we derail this thread too?:O:

[Betonov]

Ooh can we derail this thread too?:O:

I usualy derail politic threads with food, so history threads should be derailed with... hmmm :hmmm:.... drinks ???

[Raptor1]

Could derail it with discussion about how to derail it.

Oh, wait... :hmmm:

[Betonov]

Could derail it with discussion about how to derail it.

Oh, wait... :hmmm:

Now that sounds like something Douglas Adams might said. Which reminds me, today is the 10th anniversary of his death :o

Got to start a new post

[Sailor Steve]

Could derail it with discussion about how to derail it.

Oh, wait... :hmmm:
Could derail your discussion on how to derail the thread with a discussion on whether derailing threads is proper. Or would that qualify as part of the same discussion? :-?

[MothBalls]

http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/0903/derailed-train-derailed-thread-demotivational-poster-1237346157.jpg

[STEED]

Derailed is so like yesterday. :O:

[Raptor1]

Could derail your discussion on how to derail the thread with a discussion on whether derailing threads is proper. Or would that qualify as part of the same discussion? :-?

Well, I suppose once a thread has been derailed, it cannot be derailed again unless it rails itself somewhere. Therefore, a discussion on whether derailing threads is proper cannot derail a discussion that has been derailed by a discussion on how to derail threads...err...I think...

[MH]

You can derail thread but still stay on topic.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSP28S253a-qo7nNqOfCqxt7ZyvNZ15wh-M2CSVM5JeXJ_YYrxt

[Oberon]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/95/205501453_58a0e1b004.jpg

[frau kaleun]

http://www.sydlexia.com/blogstuff/runaway_train_derailed_thread_soul_asylum.jpg

[Feuer Frei!]

Well, i know who to focus on when i need a thread derailed. :D

[Jaguar]

AFAIK Patton and Montgomery both thought it could have worked. Zhukov don´t...

Sorry attempt to re-rail the thread :D

[Raptor1]

Not sure about Monty; considering his reputation, I doubt he'd consider something like that would have work. I do recall Patton thought he could do it, but then, Patton isn't exactly the sort of person one would want to entrust grand strategy to...

[Oberon]

Monty would have thought it would have worked...but only if we could get every other nation in the world to join with us so we'd outnumber them 17:1. :03:

Patton couldn't stand the Russians so that doesn't surprise me though.

[Jaguar]

Monty would have thought it would have worked...but only if we could get every other nation in the world to join with us so we'd outnumber them 17:1. :03:

:har::har:

[Raptor1]

Monty would have thought it would have worked...but only if we could get every other nation in the world to join with us so we'd outnumber them 17:1. :03:


Yeah, and then they'd just need to ask the Soviets to hold on a bit for two or three years while he works out exactly where each man should be standing and what he would hold at any given time during the campaign. :O:

[Jaguar]

For you guys that like this subject I strongly recommend (http://www.amazon.com/When-Titans-Clashed-Stopped-Studies/dp/0700608990/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305233120&sr=1-4) When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler by David M. Glantz and Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy.

After reading those books I´m firmly convinced that the name Unthinkable was most adequate.

[TLAM Strike]

Monty would have thought it would have worked...but only if we could get every other nation in the world to join with us so we'd outnumber them 17:1. :03:
I assume that 16 of those 17 would be Chinese? :O:

[frau kaleun]

Yeah, and then they'd just need to ask the Soviets to hold on a bit for two or three years while he works out exactly where each man should be standing and what he would hold at any given time during the campaign. :O:

Plus they would all have to drop their socks and grab it on a precise timetable otherwise the whole plan = fail. :hmmm: