In his 1945 biennial report to the U.S. Secretary of War, Chief of Staff George C. Marshall inscribed, “In good conscience this Nation can take little credit for its part in staving off disaster in those critical days. It is certain that the refusal of the […] Russian peoples to accept what appeared to be inevitable defeat was the great factor in the salvage of our civilization” (107). The resolve of the Russian people was tenacious and unequivocal; undeterred by the callousness, destructiveness, and indomitability of the Wehrmacht (German armed forces). Despite this, many suspected that the Soviet Union would capitulate within months of the commencement of Unternehmen Barbarossa (the German invasion of the Soviet Union); including Winston
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However, Soviet fortitude, tenacity, and resilience, coupled with the Soviet Union’s dismal infrastructure and bleak weather, permitted the Soviets time to relocate essential war industries to the east and to mobilize a substantial fighting force to repel the Wehrmacht in the west. Consequently, the Allied Powers secured a substantial advantage over the Axis Powers with regards to gross domestic product and manpower. For this reason, the persistence of the Soviet Union as an active belligerent in the Second World War was imperative for Allied success in Europe. Though, had the Soviet Union collapsed within those first few critical months, the Axis powers would have secured their position within Europe as the indisputable victors of the Second World War. Such an outcome could be attributed to a colossal increase in Germany’s industrial capacity as well as a reallocation of vast amounts of resources and manpower to the Western …show more content…
The first being that the atomic bomb would have been employed in the annihilation of the German Reich; and the second being that the German exploitation of the former Soviet Union would have been greatly hindered by organized resistance groups throughout the former Soviet Union. First of all, the atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped from Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, not intercontinental ballistic missiles. With the redeployment of the German Luftwaffe (air force) to the Western Front, it’s improbable that the United States would risk dropping “Fat Man” or “Little Boy” on the German Reich. Especially after Albert Speer revived the research and development of Wunderwaffe (wonder-weapons) like the Wasserfall Ferngelenkte Flakrakete – a modified V-2 rocket used as a surface-to-air missile – and the Messerschmitt Me 262 “Schwalbe”. Therefore, the United States would likely elect to use Japan as a demonstration of the destruction of the atomic bomb just as it had in this timeline as a deterrent for any future aggression shown by the Axis powers. As for resistance movements, many of them, such as the French Forces of the Interior, were highly motivated by the prospect of liberation in 1944. However, they often lacked the proper equipment to strike at German supply depots, convoys, and other strategic
However, Soviet fortitude, tenacity, and resilience, coupled with the Soviet Union’s dismal infrastructure and bleak weather, permitted the Soviets time to relocate essential war industries to the east and to mobilize a substantial fighting force to repel the Wehrmacht in the west. Consequently, the Allied Powers secured a substantial advantage over the Axis Powers with regards to gross domestic product and manpower. For this reason, the persistence of the Soviet Union as an active belligerent in the Second World War was imperative for Allied success in Europe. Though, had the Soviet Union collapsed within those first few critical months, the Axis powers would have secured their position within Europe as the indisputable victors of the Second World War. Such an outcome could be attributed to a colossal increase in Germany’s industrial capacity as well as a reallocation of vast amounts of resources and manpower to the Western …show more content…
The first being that the atomic bomb would have been employed in the annihilation of the German Reich; and the second being that the German exploitation of the former Soviet Union would have been greatly hindered by organized resistance groups throughout the former Soviet Union. First of all, the atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped from Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, not intercontinental ballistic missiles. With the redeployment of the German Luftwaffe (air force) to the Western Front, it’s improbable that the United States would risk dropping “Fat Man” or “Little Boy” on the German Reich. Especially after Albert Speer revived the research and development of Wunderwaffe (wonder-weapons) like the Wasserfall Ferngelenkte Flakrakete – a modified V-2 rocket used as a surface-to-air missile – and the Messerschmitt Me 262 “Schwalbe”. Therefore, the United States would likely elect to use Japan as a demonstration of the destruction of the atomic bomb just as it had in this timeline as a deterrent for any future aggression shown by the Axis powers. As for resistance movements, many of them, such as the French Forces of the Interior, were highly motivated by the prospect of liberation in 1944. However, they often lacked the proper equipment to strike at German supply depots, convoys, and other strategic