| Hylander_1314 |
06-14-08 01:54 PM |
Obviously, Herr Hitler never played Risk.
Seriously though, the German industry wasn't put on a real intense war production system until Albert Speer took the job as head of production for the war effort. Also, by July of 1943, America outstripped the entire Axis in war production. The Russians having moved their industry beyond the reach of German medium bombers, also were beginning to tip the scales in production, so that even with all the fine technical advancements that German engineering and science came up with, were outpaced by sheer numbers in men and machines.
Just a quick comparison, as mentioned above, the numbers of M4 Shermans produced was 55,000, but only 1200 Tigers were produced, because the Tigers were for the most part built in what would be thought of as a "carriage works" industry, where as the Shermans were built ala Henry Fords production line method. The mass produced Shermans weren't qualitatively equal by any means to the Tiger and the Panther, Jagdpanther, or the other heavy tanks that Germany produced, but by weight of numbers the American tanks were able to contend with the heavy and medium tanks they went up against. Combine that with the "round the clock" bombing of Germany, and the countries that were under Germany's control, and the sum of the matter adds up to disaster, unless one key falls into place. That German forces could quickly sweep all the opposition aside and win early. Just as Yamamoto said for Japanese advancements, I will run wild in the Pacific for 6 months. After that I can guarantee nothing. How prophetic were his words. After Midway, Japan basically had to go on the defensive to hold her takings in Asia, and the Pacific, but her production capacty again couldn't compete with America. Mostly because Japan lacked the resources at home and had to inport a great many of them for war production, and civilian needs.
So to sum it up, for the Axis Partners to be victorious, they needed quick decisive victories. A long protracted conflict would sway into the hands of the Allies, through production and the experience gained by the combat veterans. Along with the resources to conduct a long bloody war. Along with the attitude that these "evil people" needed to be stopped to prevent the world from "falling into the abyss of a new darkage".
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