WWII in a NUTSHELL

© MMXX V.1.0.3
by Morley Evans

Hi Sieg!

Stalin knew how weak the Red Army was. It was big but not well-organized, supplied, or equipped with up-to-date weapons; Stalin had recently massacred his officers during the Great Purge and the Soviet Union had just lost the Winter War with tiny Finland. The Molotov-Ribbentroff non-aggression pact bought time. 

Stalin hoped the war would resume in the West between Germany and the other Capitalist countries, France, Britain, and the USA. The Soviet Union would wait until the belligerents had exhausted themselves as they had done in WWI. Then, the Soviet Union would move in to take advantage of the rampant socialist/communist movements throughout the West. The world revolution would happen. Bingo! Everyone in the world would be living in the Communist Paradise that Lenin had promised once the Capitalists — the real enemy — had been defeated. There would be Peace and Prosperity for All! Stalin was a communist. He believed Marxism-Leninism and thought he was the midwife of a new wonderful Age.

That was Stalin's plan.

Hitler followed the Schlieffen Plan: Knock France out quickly and turn east before the Russian steamroller had a chance to move. That plan didn’t work in 1914 because the British had saved the French. It worked in 1940 because Germany followed Erich von Manstein’s plan to charge through the Ardennes forest. Everyone thought that was impossible. That is why it wasn't defended. The Nazis defeated France in six weeks by out-flanking the Maginot Line! The British retreated across the Channel at Dunkirk, surrounded by the German army.

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Note: The essential German strategy out-flanked the Maginot Line by CHARGING through the Ardennes forest. That was thought to be impossible and it explains why it was left undefended.

The Maginot Line was very expensive; appropriations were fiercely opposed. It is not surprising that the Maginot Line was not extended to the English Channel.

France was defeated in 6 weeks as a result. The British retreated at Dunkirk. The Belgian army and king were irrelevant.

General Erich von Manstein is credited with this brilliant German success. It was brilliant. Lives were saved. Bridges were quickly assembled to permit tanks to traverse rivers, gorges, and steep ravines.

Compare the Fall of France in 1940 to the bloodbath of World War I. We must give credit where credit is due if we are honest. Yes, Belgium had a guarantee with the British. It was irrelevant. The Nazis cut the Gordian Knot.

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Stalin’s plan had been thwarted by Hitler, who immediately turned east with Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion in history. Hitler almost succeeded. He was riding high. Hitler unified the Germans; deposed the Habsburgs; built the autobahn; restarted the German economy; was TIME Magazine Man of the Year in 1938; and defeated the French and British. Hitler erased the Treaty of Versailles. You may have heard that Hitler had a dark side. It is part of his record. Grotesque Nazi mistreatment of Soviet POWs and civilians solidified their support for Stalin and communism. It doomed the Third Reich.

Soviet people faced extinction and fought to live.

The war with the Empire of Japan is a quite different — and almost unrelated — but not unimportant, chapter in the story of WWII. It must be dealt with separately.

- Morley