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Contrary to a widely held belief., German war industry during World War II was not primarily manufacturing tanks and other armored vehicles as well as artillery. That was a small part of the German industrial output. Half of the German war economhy was devoted to aircraft. Here we have data for Summer 1944 (table 1). The distribution here is similar to data ealier in the War. Airpower was imprtant in World War II, but German air power was primarily ised in the West. First fior German offenses (1939-41) and theb to protect Germsan cities (1942-45). The Ostkrig proved to be the cecisive campaign of the War, but inly asmall portion of German industry was decoyed to the tabksm vehicles, and artillery needed to fight the Ostkrieg. We commonly hear arm chair generals claiming that the Red Army siungle handedly won World War II and the war in the west was a side show. The data, hoever, clearly shows that the War in the West clearly prevented the Germans from concentrating theur industrial power to euip nd suport the Ostheer wgiuvh wiould be a major factor in the outcome of the Ostkrieg.
O'Brien, Phillips. "What was US grand strategy in World War II?" Columbia SIPA presentation (March 17, 2022).
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