[ASLML] Inside The Third Reich

[Hans Mielants]

> - The nazi leadership played a huge role in the
> shortening of WWII
> through their infighting, internal power struggles
> and Hitler's military
> meddling; the fact that they also started the war
> notwithstanding.  

Nazism had poor economic reasoning.  Starting wars is
much easier than running them.

I
> also am of the opinion that deep down, Hitler knew
> he was screwed when
> he failed to defeat the Soviets in 1941.

Hard to tell.  First time he admitted the war was lost
was in April 1945 in the bunker.

> - Hitler was, in a way, "afraid" that the German
> people would turn
> against him during the war and that the German
> people did not want war. 
> For most of the war, luxury goods continued to be
> produced at the
> expense of armament production.  IMO, this was to
> keep the people happy
> during the war.

Correct.  The Blitzkrieg was build on short wars.  The
nazis were not prepared for total war.  32% of the
economy for the war was the best they could come up
with by 1944 while the British and Soviets were way
past 50% years before.

> - Speer was one of the most dangerous men to the
> Allied cause.  Had been
> able to do all he wished to do and when he wanted to
> do it, the war
> would have dragged on much longer.

Though he admitted the "wunderwaffen" were a mistake.
 
> - I don't believe that Hitler expected the French
> and British to go to
> war over Poland.  

He was quite depressed on September 3, 1939.

> 
> - Hitler had a soft spot for the English and his
> halt at Dunkirk may be
> proof of this.  

Maybe not Dunkirk (which was more out of fear) but in
1945 he claimed the Germans were lacking will and that
he ought to have chosen the British to rule the
world...

> - Hitler's dream of an economically united Europe is
> being realized
> today, sort of.  He envisioned Germany and France
> being the major
> players with Germany being the more major of the
> two.

Germany has more control over Europe today than Hitler
ever could have dreamed of.


> - Allied strategic bombing was far more effective,
> according to Speer,
> than I ever thought.  The Allies failed to succeed
> due to their not
> following through on initial raids on chemical/fuel
> plants and factories
> (especially ball bearing factories).  According to
> Speer, German
> industry would have come to a halt if the Ruhr dams
> were destroyed and
> bombing had continued against the armaments
> factories.

Overall, the bombings were not worth the effort, but
for some years was the only thing the allies could do
to hurt Germany.

>  They
> switched targets from
> industry to civilian in order to keep the Germans
> going against the
> Russians prior to June '44.

This seems post-war "hinein"-thinking to me.

> - The similarities between Saddam Hussein's regime
> and that of Hitler's
> is remarkable and both met their end in a hole in
> the ground.

Although they both looked very black, the reasons were
different.

> Overall, I get the impression that Speer used his
> memoir to reform his
> image from one of active participant in Hitler's
> regime to that of a
> duped participant in that same regime.  

A German trait of the time : Ich habe es nicht
gewusst.

  IMHO, that is
> why the Allies
> avoided the invasion of France until June '44. 

Well, it seems that by 1944 they HAD to invade France
in order to avoid the Soviets liberating Paris.

Hans


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