Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "Sino-German Cooperation and The Turning Point of WW2 | TIKhistory Q&A" video.

  1. EVERY nation on Earth was shocked as to how rapidly the USA expanded its military power -- especially to include Britain. After the war Churchill literally appologised to the top American generals for his mis-judgment. The IJN thought that they could set the USN back so far that it would take years for it to recover. In that space of time, Tokyo prayed that they could lock down enough resources and build up island defenses such that America would surely come to terms. Japan NEVER imagined that America could replace the rubber plantations that she'd captured. (95% of global production) You simply can't fight a modern war without rubber: no tires, no hoses, no seals, no de-icing boots for aircraft. However, America kept pulling rabbits out of its hat, over and over and over. Today those miracles are forgotten. We just accept that of course we could conjure up a production miracle. Go to YouTube to see videos on the WWII rubber miracle.
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  2. There were a few turning points for WWII. My pick is CRETE. It was an impromptu campaign -- that was sustained by robbing units from Army Group North. This detail is almost NEVER brought up in histories about Crete. These assets were typically burned up// ruined during the campaign. Crippling AGN led directly to the siege of Leningrad... whereas a romp through the city was in the cards. The 2nd Panzer was SUNK after the battle for Greece. (!!) Just the tanks and half-tracks were lost. How? They were in transit from Greece to southern Italy, thence to take the rails back to the Baltic coast. Hence TWO panzer divisions evaporated from the Barbarossa order of battle. Yes, 2nd Panzer had not been split yet. It was still at its 1940 TO&E. The men ended up sitting on their azzes for months. Rebuilding these two panzer divisions sucked down all of the new production. It finally showed up for Typhoon. Hitler abandoned airborne operations because of Crete. You can't over-state the importance of that error. If dropped upon the rail lines east of Leningrad, the city would fall. No supplies could ever reach her. Rail repair assets were also lost driving on Greece. No-one bleed to death, but the tools and supplies were burnt out. They were critically needed to repair the rails up to Leningrad. Instead, a half-azzed repair was employed. This crippled the tempo -- and burned up yet more fuel. Sloth in rail road repair = fuel wastage of the first water. And because of Greece, the 1SS was still in Romania, June 22, 1941... and much more. This concentration was a wasted army. It couldn't move until 6th Army and 1st Panzer came down from Poland. Red Army river defenses were just too strong. ( The Romanians took a pounding when they attempted to force the issue. )
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  3. You can't comprehend the IJN moves until you've read "The Great Pacific War" by Hector C. Bywater. ISBN 0-312-06364-4 (1925) Bywater was the Tom Clancy of his era. Yamamoto read this fiction-speculation when he was in Washington. Astoundingly, he adopted Bywater's strategic thesis AND his battle plan. YES! Once you've read this book (it's an easy read) EVERYTHING drops into place. Bywater's invasion beaches for the Philippines were used -- exactly. LtG Short moved the USAAF planes into the center of the air strip and placed guards on them in direct response to this book. Read it and you'll know why. Incredibly, Yamamoto found the logic compelling and just adopted Bywater's scheme as his own. So all of the stories you've read about Yamamoto's brilliant plan are off base. It's Bywater's plan. Even the Midway operation was projected by Bywater. In the fiction, a mid-ocean super battle decides the whole naval war. And Midway DID decide the whole naval war!
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