We always hear that Germany never could have won because they did not have enough resources. If so then was it not possible for Hitler to focus on resource building rather than rushing into the war half prepared?

by Hoping4DEATH
SpartanSlayer64

I don't like to play alternate history, so I won't speculate "How Germany Won the War". From what history shows of Hitler's priorities and resource allocation however, I doubt a year or two of build-up would have meant much.

Germany lacked a strategic airforce--the Luftwaffe had no heavy bombers or long range escort fighters to strike at the enemy's industrial production.

Despite the highly foreseeable threat of Royal Navy bombardment, coastal raids, or full scale invasion, little consideration was given to fortifying the French coast until 1942, and by the time of D-Day, only a fraction of the planned defenses were built.

Germany's industry was never shifted to full war production until the army was retreating on all fronts in 1944.

Nazi tank and aircraft designs all suffered from needless complexity, high maintenance requirements, and low field reliability.

The need for heavy airlift capability was totally neglected. The mainstay transport JU-52s were slaughtered over Crete and North Africa, and their lack of suitability, low airspeed, and limited capacity led to many unnecessary losses on the Russian steppe.

I could continue to go on at length about German weaknesses and strategic mistakes in WWII, many due to Hitler's direct meddling. But in short, I don't think having more resources would have changed much about the German strategy, or significantly tipped the scales on any front.

countryhick7

So this resource building was believed to not be an option, The reason they believed it was better to fight sooner than later was alot of reasons, one being Germany economic gains up until this point were done so on unstable policies and expanding resources available to them was seen as the only way to stabilize these policies ie.invading other countries, another big problem is that if Germany is building it's economy and resources so are there enemies. The big enemy with lots of room for growth was Russia. So if hilter decides to wait a few years for war Germany maybe more ready but Russia will likely have seen way more growth than Germany making them harder to defeat