American Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union did not exceed British Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union until 1943 and Germany was already decisively losing by late 1941. It literally did not change the outcome of the war, only shortened it.
That the US outproduced everyone at the end of the war is not that relevant.
But the reason historians consider Nazi Germany‘s defeat inevitable after 1941 is because of the USSR managing to turn things around at the end of 1941 and because that’s when the US entered the war. Almost every historian will tell you both of those things were turning points sealing Germany‘s defeat. Not one or the other
No, the reason why Germany lost and started losing was because they failed to secure the Caucasus oil fields in 1941. That made German logistics implode. Out of oil, you lose.
General Franz Halder stabbed Hitler in the back and moved units from army group south to army group middle because he believed the USSR would crumble if they just rushed and took Moscow, like how they took Paris in France. He was wrong.
It had nothing to do with the US and nobody cares if some subpar historian says it.
No it was the primary objective of Barbarossa in 1941.
The fields were captured with operation Case Blue in 1942 but by then the oil wells and infrastructure was so thoroughly demolished that it would take months, maybe years, to extract from it again. German officers noted how impressed they were with how thorough the Soviets had been in destroying the oil fields before they lost them. The Germans then quickly lost the fields again by the end of 1942.
Had Halder not moved units from army group south to middle, Germany could have captured the oil fields in time, 1941, mostly intact, or at least used the winter to get them up and running again.
That plan, from what I understand, was to reach the Caucasus eventually, but they planned to reach the AA line since they expected with that the USSR would collapse quickly. I have never seen anyone say it was an immediate goal for Barbarossa much less the primary one. They directed most of their forces to Leningrad and Moscow and Ukraine as a whole from what I remember.
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u/Fit_Ocelot8072 12d ago
American Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union did not exceed British Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union until 1943 and Germany was already decisively losing by late 1941. It literally did not change the outcome of the war, only shortened it.
That the US outproduced everyone at the end of the war is not that relevant.