What If the Germans Had Captured Moscow in 1941?

[DemolitionMan]

BY MARK GRIMSLEY

One of the classic “what ifs” of the Second World War centers on how—or if—the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, code-named Operation Barbarossa, could have achieved a quick victory. Hitler certainly believed that it could. All one had to do, he insisted, was to “kick in the door” and the “whole rotten structure” of Stalin’s Communist regime would come tumbling down. In many respects Barbarossa was a stunning success. The Germans took the Soviets completely by surprise, advanced hundreds of miles in just a few weeks, killed or captured several million Soviet troops, and seized an area containing 40 percent of the USSR’s population, as well as most of its coal, iron ore, aluminum, and armaments industry. But Barbarossa failed to take its capstone objective, Moscow. What went wrong?

Some historians have pointed to the German decision to advance along three axes: in the north toward Leningrad, in the south toward Ukraine, and in the center against Moscow. But the Wehrmacht had force enough to support three offensives, and its quick destruction of so many Soviet armies suggests that this was a reasonable decision. Others have pointed to Hitler’s decision in August to divert most of the armored units attached to Field Marshal Fedor von Bock’s Army Group Center, whose objective was Moscow, and send them south to support an effort to surround and capture the Soviet armies around Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The elimination of the Kiev pocket on September 26 bagged 665,000 men, more than 3,000 artillery pieces, and almost 900 tanks. But it delayed the resumption of major operations against Moscow until early autumn. This, many historians argue, was a fatal blunder.


http://www.historynet.com/what-if-the-germans-had-captured-moscow-in-1941.htm

[DemolitionMan]

I believe he lost Moscow because of "Operation Retibution"

[dfwgator]

My prediction, if the Germans capture Moscow is that Nikita Khrushchev engineers a coup d'etat and deposes Stalin.

[Frank Cannon]

What If the Germans Had Captured Moscow in 1941?

Moscow would have some awesome schnitzel today.

[DemolitionMan]

My prediction, if the Germans capture Moscow is that Nikita Khrushchev engineers a coup d'etat and deposes Stalin.

His son died of mysterious circumstances.

[Free Vulcan]

The Soviets would have come back eventually, but it might have given time for Hitler to secure the southern Soviet and ME oil fields. Which might have drug the war out a couple more years, but in the end once we defeated Japan, Germany would have been crushed between America, the Allies, and the Soviet resurgence.

[DemolitionMan]

The Soviets would have come back eventually, but it might have given time for Hitler to secure the southern Soviet and ME oil fields. Which might have drug the war out a couple more years, but in the end once we defeated Japan, Germany would have been crushed between America, the Allies, and the Soviet resurgence.

Look what happened to Napoleon.The capture of Moscow proved a pyrrhic victory since the Russians had no intention of negotiating with Napoleon for peace. The French evacuated Russia's spiritual capital in October and conducted a difficult retreat that only ended in December, by which point the remainder of the Grande Armée had largely unraveled. Historical reports of the battle differed significantly depending on whether they originated from supporters of the French or Russian side. The Germans also lacked a long range bomber the "Uralbomber".As 1943 progressed, Göring bemoaned the lack of a heavy bomber fleet and cursed those who had told him the medium bomber was superior to the heavy bomber. "Well, those inferior heavy bombers of the other side are doing a wonderful job of wrecking Germany from end to end," was his acid-tongued response. Göring also had thought, as early as the previous year, that the He 177A was actually a "separately engined", true four-engined heavy bombe