Discussion on the invasion of mother Russia (hypothetical)

[August]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

That's not the point. It all goes back to the supply problem, if you have a mass of ever-growing communist partisans and army behind your lines, you are going to have problems supplying and reinforcing your lines. Trains will blown up, convoys ambushed, and it will all be a huge mess.

I'd say the numbers of partisans would be directly related to the way the civilian population was treated just like what the Germans experienced in the Ukraine.

Well, the Soviets managed to launch the Manchurian offensive in slightly less than 3 months following the end of the fighting in Europe. In that time, the Soviets moved 49 divisions and numerous independent formations, over a million men and thousands of tanks, guns and vehicles, from Eastern Europe to Mongolia and Siberia using 126,000 rail cars and prepared everything for the attack (A not inconsiderable task, considering the scale). So, if there was an infrastructure problem, it certainly did not stop the Soviets from being able to redeploy masses of men and equipment from one side to another in a reasonable amount of time, certainly not in any more time than the Allies would need to move their forces across the ocean.

Impressive, but that was an unopposed movement all tied to one rail line conducted after the cessation of hostilities. We'd have the ability to bomb that line along great stretches of it. Indeed we'd have the ability to severely hamper their movement out of Europe as well.

That's still ignoring the problems inherent with invading Siberia, such as the terrain and weather, that would have made any successful invasion impossible to achieve until mid-1946 and probably made it impossible in any case.

The climate is, imo, your most valid point. Still, if one had to invade Russia, and this discussion assumes there was that need, the way to overcome "General Winter" or at least lessen it's impact would be a three pronged offensive from the east, west and up from the south. Deny the enemy the ability to keep withdrawing into the hinterland. That was napoleon and hitlers mistake.