If the Germans were going to win the War, it would have to be in the early years, especially 1941 when the had a chance to knock the Soviet Union out of the war and gain access to its enormous resources. it . It was still possible in 1942, but their time was running out, given the enormous resources of the United States. After a series of almost uninterrupted victories (1939-41), the War turned against the Axis when the Wehrmacht was stopped before Moscow (December 1941). Although not fully understood at the time, this like the defeat of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain the previous year was far more important than understood at the time. The Germans launched the War with the Soviets as an ally. This meant they had access to needed resources from the Soviet Union. Defeating the Soviet Union would have given them permanent access to those vital resources, but the failure of Barbarossa meant that the inherent weaknesses of the German war effort would be magnified by having to fight the Soviets and Allies at the same time. Germany simply did not have the population, resources, or industry to fight both the Soviets and the Allies. And the failure before Moscow locked them into a long brutal war of attrition--the same situation that resulted in the World War I defeat. In addition the Red Army badly mauled the Wehrmacht (Winter 1941-42). The Germans and Japanese managed to gain more enormous victories (Spring 1942). Most of 1942 was a long one umitigated disaster after another. The Germans renewed their offensive in the Soviet Union during the spring , taking Sevastopol, destroying more Soviet armies, driving into the Caucasus and reaching the Volga. Rommel at El Gazala defeated the Desert Army and began the long drive toward Egypt and the Suez Canal. This time Tobruk did not hold. The U-boats began sinking ships off the U.S. Coast, and established the Black Gap in the North Pacific. It began to look like the Convoy system was not working. The Germans embarrassed the British with the Channel Dash. Despite huge losses, the British strategic bombing campaign was not destroying German industry. And the Japanese launched a stunning series of offensive operations in the Pacific.The Japaneses took Malaya, Singapore, and Burma. And they capture the oil producing areas of the Southern Resource Zone--their primary war objective. The Imperial Fleet pummeled the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean. The decisive campaign of the War was the Ostkrieg. And there a remarkable metamorphosis was taking place. The Red Army despite suffering terrible losses was remaking itself. The Red Army bad nought time time to learn the same Blitzkrieg tactics that had won the Germans their early victories. Ironically these were the Deep Operations doctrine that Marshall Mikhail Tukhachevsky had developed before Stalin purged him ad officers associated with him (1937). And as part of that purge had stamped that doctrine from the Red Army operations manual. It again looked like the Axis could not been defeated. A sole bright spot was the U.S. Navy victory at Midway (June 1942). But then the tide turned with Guadalcanal and Milne Bay (August 1942). But what really mattered was in European Theater of Operations The German juggernaut was stopped at the first Battle El Alemaine, in part because of Ultra intelligence (August 1942) followed by the Second Battle of El Alemein (October 1942) and Torch (November 1942). Then the miracle at Stalingrad (November 1942). Never in history had the tide of a great war turned so decisively over such a small period of time. Rather than a disaster for the Allies, 1942 was the swing year of victory.

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Created: 10:05 AM 12/13/2025
Last updated: 10:05 AM 12/13/2025