Perhaps this post is also pointless.. but whatever, some ppl just need pointless discussions as daily meal I guess..

No surprises there then :03:

I doubt Paulus ever forgave Hitler for sacrificing his men because he soon became an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Paulus

One thing that also has to be considered is that Hitler didn't fight at the front, not in the Second World War anyway, he had few ideas of what was going on other than what was filtered through to him, and he had quite the reputation of a temper so it was generally considered a bad idea to bring bad news to him. Now, to a person isolated in an ivory tower, hearing only filtered news from generals who don't want to bring bad news, or push bad news in as the minor part to the overbearing good news...basically, when you're surrounded by yes men, then you lose your grip on the reality of the situation. Thus, the longer the war progresses, the less of a grip on the reality of the battlefield he had, and thus his more direct intervention in battlefield plans became more of a hindrance than a help.

No.. he was not.
He exploited the unwillingness and state of uncertainty of the allies -this can be given to his credit.
His real skills started to show as soon as the western powers and Russians had started fighting back.
With his aggressive , sometimes chaotic style and blind faith in superiority of German army he gained some short time but unsustainable goals and also defeats early on.
Very often against the better judgement of his generals.

He wasn't stupid idiot but lived in his own fantasy just like many leaders from the past and present.
The very early success gave him enough credit and fan-boys base to act foolishly till it was too late.

For Fieldmarshal Paulus there was no other option just to critic nazi regime to save his own life in Russian captivity.

With all respect to your post, it doesn't prove my quoted phrase is wrong..

Hitler did fought on the first world war. It does not change anything if he did not in the second ww.
Not to bring bad news to Hitler was a propaganda ministers J. Goebels part of duty. At Stalins regime it was very fimilar when high command officers past this event from one to another to report Stalin about bad news, for example L. Beriya never did this in his own carrer, he always past to bring up bad news for somebody else but not himself as he believed it could frustrate Stalin and somehow impact the safety of Beriya himself.. My next question should be: So what ?

If Paulus was so anti Nazi he would have been broadcasting from Moscow radio well before 1944. Paulus was blinkered in having faith in Hitler saving him and his army, the only thing he got right was not to blow his brains out when he became a Field Marshal which pissed Hitler off. From the Russian point of view to capture one of the planners of Barbarossa must have made them smile.

He held himself in the middle of golden circle to survive, when he realized the Hitler is pushing him to death, he surrendered to russians hoping that the higher the rank was the higher the chance was to survive. He did not cared bout ordinary soldiers at that moment.

In short Paulus was a coward of his own kind, even bigger then the Captain of the pocket battleship of Graff Spee at the Montevideo was. It's something that is related amongst them. But not the thing I would have gave them a medal for.

If there were japaneese soldiers at Stalingrad instead of Italians and Romanians to cover flanks I believe it would have been different outcome of the Stalingrad battle. But it's again from the category "what if" that I don't like to escalate.

Because the Imperial Japanese Army has always proven to be so highly capable of fighting a land campaign against a properly equipped enemy, right?

Correct. I sometimes let myself imagine from a common "what if" category if Japan was located in the location of Italy and Italy was located to where is now Japan Axis would be much stronger power as one that Hitler could rely on Berlin - Tokyo instead of Berlin - Roma.

Nice piece of research...I doubt they'd be thrilled with the Russian winter either :03:

Hey Jimbuna if your're so much into the positive side of the "correct" world order, what do you think of Chemberlains decission not declared war to USSR when she occupied Poland together with Germany in the Septmeber of 17 ? :)