bradd80 said:
The military pressure of the western allies on the Germans in North Africa also ate up badly needed tank divisions and well trained troops that would have tipped the scales if they had been able to fight on the Russian front.
lets look at it this way, at the start of Barbarossa, soviets had a 4:1 superiority in tanks. Although soviet units were not as well skilled, numerical advantage in tanks alone would have tipped the scales heavily against Germany at the outset of war. not to mention the vast distances needed to traverse in a wide range of extreme weather conditions (dust, mud, snow), the invasion was doomed from the start, and it could be speculated that it was even welcomed by Stalin! (by positioning his troops so far west to lure Germany into attacking). Considering Russian military strategy in the Napoleonic wars, this is not so far-fetched as it sounds.
indeed the American-British imports did ease the burden on soviet industry in the early stages of invasion, however, soviet tank production was never seriously disturbed, before, during or after the war. Germany on the other had, had stretched its economy to the brink in 1941, and were in the midst of a desperate labor shortage; allied bombing only kicked in the door of an already burning barn. The were not capable of sustaining a war lasting more than a year vs the soviets, so that's why they didn't even plan for it! The troops weren't given any winter clothing. After the failure of operation typhoon (attack on Moscow) in Nov 41 (even before pearl harbor), the Germans lost the strategic initiative, it was only a matter of time until they would lose the war.
