Sorry if this is a Confused or Convoluted sounding question....... Are there records of Meetings/Discussions that deal with what must have been the "Staggering" loss of Wehrmacht personnel by this point.? I guess i am thinking mainly (but not only) 1. Losses up to December 1942 on the eastern front. 2. Losses of soldiers at Stalingrad. 3. Losses in North Africa 4. Battle of the Atlantic 5. Kursk Did it ever worry Hitler and his staff.? By June of 1943, they must have lost Several Millions of some of their best Soldiers, Pilots. Sailors, Tank Drivers and Generals. Were people like Field Marshal Model, Rommel, Von Runstedt, etc etc.....were those types worried about going on with the increased loss of life of trained men.? Was that ever a point that was made to Hitler.? Did anybody ever say. something like...."We no longer have enough quality troops to win this". I am just making up round numbers because i have no idea what they actually were, but.......The 10 Million Man Army that existed in 1941 was not the same 10 Million Man Army that was available in July of 1943.....was it.? Did that worry Adolf Hitler.....or was he a complete Ideologue that thought his Vision/Plan/Strategy would conquer.?
One would have to think that by mid 1944 the Staff, or at least some of them were starting to see the 'writing on the wall' - 20 July plot - Wikipedia Most of your questions are unanswerable, but some answers are possible and will be interested in seeing how this thread progress's TD
Put it into context - their enemies had also suffered similar losses or worse in skilled and trained men and officers, so they possibly thought they still had the edge. Everyone quotes that "after Alamein, the Germans never won, but they continued to hold out until almost mid 1945, fighting hard in Italy and Normandy, Arnhem and The Scheldt Eastuary, so they still had experienced and capable troops, often more battle experienced than British and American troops, as well as tanks of superior quality. The main reason would appear to have been the loss of air superiority rather than men and equipment quality. Towards the end, the Germans were fighting on home soil, which always seems to stiffen the defence.
I've never given more than a moment's thought to the matter, but was it the case that the Germans had incredible an logistics and supply operation, that they sourced a great deal of equipment and supplies locally or were just experts at making do and muddling through? Obviously the answer is probably 'some of each', but I don't know in what proportions. I've read that as '44 moved into '45 allied commanders in both the ETO and the Mediterranean were holping for some form of collapse in fighting capacity, but it never really materialised.
Nothing like "The Truth" to drive home an opinion. That is a great perspective on the "second half" of WWII. Thank You
