4. HITLER’S MILITARY INTERVENTIONS
The single greatest factor in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in Europe was the role that Adolf Hitler played in determining the offensives launched by the German military. On multiple occasions, Hitler’s decisionmaking was flawed. While a political leader generally has an impact on his or her nation’s military engagements, Hitler frequently ignored the recommendations of his advisors, and ordered major operations that ultimately had enormous consequences and affected Germany’s ability to achieve final victory.
Hitler gave the green light to the invasion of the USSR on 20 June 1941, and the German invasion commenced two days later. Despite initial successes all along the front, the operation ground to a halt within months. Instead of easily defeating the Soviets, as predicted, the Germans woke a sleeping bear that refused to be budged from either Moscow or Stalingrad. Thousands of German soldiers surrendered or died while fighting in Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. Like a meat grinder, the war in the east consumed millions of men. On 11 December 1941 – three days after he announced the end of the winter campaign – Hitler joined Mussolini in declaring war on the United States even though the Soviet Union had not yet been defeated
In the spring of 1943, despite the Wehrmacht’s crushing loss at Stalingrad, Hitler was still planning for Germany’s triumph. He authorised Operation Citadel, an attack against the Kursk salient that was one of the last major offensives on the eastern front, and which proved to be an unmitigated disaster. Following the Wehrmacht’s defeat in that battle, Soviet military forces
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along the entire front began a steady push west towards Germany. By the summer of 1944, increasingly pressed by the western Allies, German forces faced challengers in Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Not willing to throw in the towel, Hitler authorised the Reich’s final counteroffensive in the west, Operation Autumn Mist – known as the battle of the Bulge – which also ended in defeat, and was the final nail in the coffin. Germany no longer had the chance of a victorious outcome. Although the Soviet, British, American and Canadian armies together defeated Germany, Hitler’s flawed decision-making played a significant role in the Allied victory in Europe.