German Mistakes During 1944-45 Were the Main Reason for Their Defeat in the War

German mistakes during 1944-45 were the main reason for their defeat in the war

Germany surrendered unconditionally on the 8th of April 1945, suggesting that they must have made numerous mistakes which resulted in their defeat. However, for many of the hindrances that befell Germany they cannot be held responsible, leading to question, how answerable can Germany be for their defeat in the period 1944-5.

Sources B and D in parts support the view that Germany’s mistakes were the main reason for their defeat. Source B from the BBC website shows fundamental flaws in German leadership resulting in a lack of clarity for their operations. For D-Day ‘strategic thinking was split between two groups,’ this would not have been a problem if the Germans had a strong leader, but instead ‘Hitler took no part in this debate, merely urging resistance.’ Source D supports C in that it shows poor judgment on the part of German high command: the Nazis ‘did not realize the length of the conflict and were not properly organized’ showing a lack of preparedness which would have enabled the Allies to gain the upper hand. An example of where this occurred was Hitler’s decision to break the Soviet Pact and invade Russia, something which he failed in as the Red Army’s tactic was to retreat and so elongating Germany’s supply lines and opening them up to attack. Russia employed the same tactic when fighting Napoleon and Charles XII of Sweden; showing that Hitler should’ve looked back on history and known better. Source D also comments on the ‘excessive bureaucracy’ in the German army and government which hampered the ‘process of production.’ This would have been a great downfall, as the Germans were already at a large disadvantage with resources (in 1945 Germany had 8,500 aircraft compared to the Allies 42,500) and time-wasting pen-pushers would only exacerbate the problem. Source B is an article from the BBC website, as the BBC...