Why Germany Lost WWII

From time, I read a forum thread where various opinions are shared about how Germany could have “won” World War II if they’d only built a jet fighter or an atom bomb or if they had invaded England in 1940. It’s nonsense. Here are some myths about World War II that are often repeated on model building forums.

MYTHS

1. Germany could have conquered England in 1940 if they had tried. WRONG. The Royal Navy would have cut off any army landed in Britain. The British Empire wasn’t imaginary. End of discussion.
2. The RAF defeated the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, and this stopped an invasion. WRONG. The Luftwaffe may have been shot up by the RAF, but if didn’t stop the impossible invasion. The Royal Navy did that.
3. Hitler could have defeated the USSR if he had just (insert something silly here). WRONG.Once Germany stuck its paw in the tiger cage, it was lost. There was no way to defeat the Soviets.
4. Jet planes could have stopped the allied bombing. WRONG. The bombing could have been done at night, and even then allied jets would have arrived soon enough.
5. The Germans were THIS close! WRONG. No they weren’t.

Here’s what Germany could have done to win the war. They could have concentrated their energy on building air power and then used a fleet of airplanes to destroy the Royal Navy and prepare for the invasion of Britain. Why didn’t this happen? Well, here’s the story.

Hitler was nuts. He didn’t believe that England and Germany were “really” enemies and he kept trying to “quit” the war with the British Empire–even as that Empire plotted to obliterate him and his Nazi movement. Think about this: one day in 1941, Rudolf Hess, the second in command of Nazi Germany and the Third Reich–second only to Hitler, takes off in an Me-110 and flies to England on a secret mission.

He went to England to try to work out a peace treaty between England and Germany. His effort completely flopped, but the fact that Hitler thought it would work says quite a lot. History has recorded that Hess was nuts, but it was Hitler who really took the prize in that department. He really believed his own propaganda–that the “Aryan” British would join him in his war if he could just give them a way to do it.

Imagine how it might have worked. Hess would have arrived in England but it would have been kept quiet. A “secret” deal to end hostilities would have been worked out, and Hess would have magically appeared in England with no good explanation of how he got there, and conspiracy theorists would still be speculating that he flew over by himself several months before in order to start negotiations. How loony!

Face it, Hitler fans. The dictator had every opportunity to build up a military force that might STILL be in control of Europe today, but he blew it. He didn’t build up allies, he (seemingly) deliberately alienated them. He didn’t create alliances or structure broad coalitions. Instead, he put a German boot print in the backsides of so many people that the entire world wanted him gone.

No technological gizmo would have saved Germany with that nutter in charge.