At 12:52 AM 8/26/98 PDT, The Critic wrote:

If Germany had waited a year, their economy would go bankrupt on the 
massive debt it had. France, already the most advanced military in the 
world, would have completed the Magionet(sp?) Line. Britain would have 
built up enough to match the continental Europeans. Russia would have 
completed it's major military re-organization. In short, if Germany had 
waited any longer than what it had, it would never had gotten as far as 
it did. 

	Ahem. Bankruptcy assumes you cannot pay your debts. It's quite easy to be
rid of your debts by killing the people you owe them to. Next, France's
defensive line was a joke. Even in OUR reality, the Germans avoided it by
invading through Belgium. By law and by treaty, the French were forbidden
to extend the line across Belgium. This left a NICE big whole in their
defences, one that the French THOUGHT couldn't be used because it was
protected by treaty. yeah, right.

- If Hitler had ignore Goring and had gone for an amphibious assault of
 Britain instead of trying to bomb it into submission, right after 
 Dunkirk, Britain would have fallen.

As the Battle of Britain was starting to look good for the Germans, they 
went about making preparations for landing operations--what they 
discovered, however, was that they simply didn't have the logistical 
capability to support a substantial operations across the English 
Channel. Remember, the German army still used horses--this was not a 
mechanized jugernaught with tones of support assets. 

	Actually, all armies of the time still used horses in limited amounts. The
German army happened to be the most highly mechanized army of it's time.

- Japan would not have been mauled in their attacks on India if Britain
 fell early.

Heh. Japan's problem wasn't manpower; the Home Islands needed oil, and a 
lot of it, very quickly, or else their economy was going to grind to a 
halt. Once they had enough fuel to keep their economy going, they would 
have to face shortages of everything else. Japan was sadly unprepared 
for a war.

	Japan had all the resources of mainland China to fall back on. Wile they
had shortages of almost everything at times, their only major lack was oil,
and that was available in what was then called Indochina, jointly owned by
the French, Dutch and British.

 Russia is a non-factor as Japan never declared war on them
 and the USSR only declared war AFTER the atom bomb fell.

You are aware, of course, that these nations had engaged in major 
battles on water and on land just prior to the war, right? 

	If you define 'just prior' as 30 years ago. Once Japan trounced Russia
before WWI during the Russo-japanese war, Russia never truly threatened
Japan again until the day they declared war, AFTER the A-bomb was dropped.
There were the occasional border skirmishes, but for the most part, when
that happened Stalin ordered the Russian commanders to be publicly
disiplined in order to appease the Japanese. He did NOT want a two front
war, no matter what shame he had to swallow.

- If Hitler had not been blinded by pride and racism, he would have 

known

 that Operation Barbarossa would not be a knock out blow.  He would 

have

 planned and prepared for a long campaign, not the half-year one that 
 he had planned on.  They only prepared winter clothes for a garrison
 force, a factor that hurt them much during the Russian winter.

If Hitler hadn't been Hitler, he would have dumped the idea of taking 
Russia to begin with. The German military forces simply didn't have the 
logistical capability to hold a substantial portion of Russia, even if 
they somehow overcame Russia's huge material and number advantages.

	Aside from the T-34 tank, Russia's forces were large, but antiquidated.
Most of their equipment dated from the 1920's and they'd just lost most of
their senior officers in a Stalin-instituted purge. They were inept and
clumsy. Don't believe me? Ask the Finns. They were able to hold off a full
scale invasion by the entire Russian army for months using tricks and
tactics that a first year cadet at West Point wouldn't have fallen for.
Entire _army groups_ were lost to the Soviets when the Finns appeared to
retreat, and the Russians followed them. Over what they faatally found out
was thin ice covering a LARGE lake. Can you say, deep freeze? Good, I knew
you could. ^_^

If that were true, the US would have lost the early war in the Pacific,
when they were absolutely outnumbered.  Through the leadership of 

skilled

commanders and a bit of luck, the US Navy did not get wiped out.

The Japanese had the finest naval forces in the war at the beginning, 
and they certainly did exact a terrible price on the USN, until the 
massive production advantage provided for the US by the west coast ALONE 
turned the tide. US forces in the war were generally mediocre and small 
in number.

	What killed the Japanese war effort was the fact that they did NOT believe
in the convoy system. Guarding civilian ships was considered far beneath
the dignity of noble samurai warriors. This was taken advantage of by the
'Silent Service' the US Navy's submarine force. (Ask Jamie and Bridget if
you don't believe me! He's a squid, he's _been_ there!) 

	The Japanese navy refused to detail any major naval units to escort their
merchant marine safely through the Pacific, thereby allowing the US
submarine force an almost unlimited chance to kill merchant shipping at
will. They would chase the subs AFTER a merchant ship had been sunk..
attacking a fleeing enemy had enough 'nobility' in it that the Japanese
naval command encouraged it. But defending those merchant ships to begin
with? That was seen as a shit job, given to failures and second string
personel who weren't considered to be worth getting into the 'real' fighting.

	By killing off all of Japan's merchant shipping, the US submarine force
was able to do to Japan what Admiral Doenitz of the German navy ALMOST did
to the US and England. Starve them out of the war. When you're an island
nation, totally dependant on mercantile shipping to supply your people,
cutting off that shipping is a death sentence. Admittedly a slow acting
one, but you're just as dead when they slowly choke you as if they shoot
you through the heart.

As it has been often said, the Third Reich would have triumphed
save for Hitler, but it would not have existed but for him.

The Reich would never had existed as a reality had Germany not been so 
burdened with debt, and languishing under a lame economy. That's another 
irony of war.

	Okay.. I'll agree with you on this point. The great depression gave Hitler
the launching point he needed to gain control of the German nation. But at
the same time, you have to give him due credit for his mysterious powers of
persuasion. Watch a newsreel or two from the era. The man (at least in the
early part of his career) was positively hypnotic. He had many _Americans_
convinced, too. Even one of our great heroes, 'Lucky Lindy' Lindburg,
believed that Hitler's victory was inevitable, and that we should just
accept him as the new ruler of Europe. Hitler has a positive gift for
reaching into a person's mind and making whatever he said seem pre-ordained.

	But that's all I think I'll say on this. It's drifting away from fanfic.

	Ed Becerra

	"Dreamers may die, but the Dream is eternal.."