By January of 1945, Germany was in an impossible position
militarily. On the Eastern Front, a massive Soviet Army was coming ever closer to the
German border, having retaken all of the territory lost earlier in the war, as well as
most of Eastern Europe.
On the Western Front, Hitler's last
gamble had just failed. He had launched an offensive through the Ardennes Mountains in
December 1944 hoping to throw the Allies off balance enough to strike a peace deal. He
used the last of his manpower reserves and his best panzer (tank) units, and failed
miserably. Germany now faced an Allied army of 2 million soldiers and had very little
to defend itself with.
The Luftwaffe, Germany's air force,
was a shadow of its former self, and could do little to interfere with the massive B-17
bombing raids hitting German cities night after night. German U-Boats were suffering
devastating losses in the Atlantic while an avalanche of men and war material made it
safely to French and British ports.
Adolf Hitler himself,
in poor health and suffering from tremors and hearing loss related to the assassination
attempt against him the previous July, moved into his underground bunker in Berlin, and
would not leave there until his death in April.
Germany's
defeat didn't just seem inevitable, it clearly was inevitable.
They were doomed by 1945, and probably earlier.
No comments:
Post a Comment