What if Hitler focuses on Britain

[Typo]

I don't mean Sealion. But what if instead of going to war with the USSR, Germany builds up its navy and air-force for a full-scale attack on Britain sometime between 1941-1943?

Now obviously this means a much smaller army build-up, how would the USSR react to that, do the communist have an army capable of crushing Germany by the time of the invasion? How does the US and UK react once they see what the Germans are building? It would be almost impossible to conceal such a build-up, especially with the British intelligence.
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[Bavarian Raven]

search around...u will find a billion threads...

 

[Chengar Qordath]

If the UK is under serious threat of invasion that would definately bring the US into the war (assuming this is pre-Pearl Harbor). However, given the slow build-up time for the US military and the fact that a large amount of the US Navy would be committed to the Pacific the Germans would probably still be able to do fairly well for themselves for a while.

Luckily for the Allies, the USSR finishes its planned military buildup in 1942, giving them a massive army well-equipped in T-34's. At that point, with Germany still distracted by the Anglo-Americans Stailn is probably going to strike and given the size of his force while Germany's army is being neglected in favor of the air force and navy, he will probably win. The Soviets end WWII in far better condition than OTL, the Allies end it looking far worse, and the border between the Communists and NATO is probably the Rhine.

 

[birdy]

In this scenario the Germans can send the bulk of their forces to the Mediterrean theatre instead, or try at least.

That may be a better course of action then trying a full scale attack on Britain.

 

[Foreign Shadow]

If the UK is under serious threat of invasion that would definately bring the US into the war (assuming this is pre-Pearl Harbor). However, given the slow build-up time for the US military and the fact that a large amount of the US Navy would be committed to the Pacific the Germans would probably still be able to do fairly well for themselves for a while.

Luckily for the Allies, the USSR finishes its planned military buildup in 1942, giving them a massive army well-equipped in T-34's. At that point, with Germany still distracted by the Anglo-Americans Stailn is probably going to strike and given the size of his force while Germany's army is being neglected in favor of the air force and navy, he will probably win. The Soviets end WWII in far better condition than OTL, the Allies end it looking far worse, and the border between the Communists and NATO is probably the Rhine.

I can't help but disagree.

A) Our poster was talking about a POD in 1941, where Hitler concentrates his resources on finishing Britain.
B) I don't see Stalin as going to invade Germany, and I don't see Hitler as not leaving enough of a defensive net in Poland to prepare for that.
C) I don't see the US declaring war to save Britain, no matter how much FDR wanted them too. It took Pearl Harbor...and then, Hitler declared war on the U.S., anyway.

 

[Temujin]

I can't help but disagree.

A) Our poster was talking about a POD in 1941, where Hitler concentrates his resources on finishing Britain.
B) I don't see Stalin as going to invade Germany, and I don't see Hitler as not leaving enough of a defensive net in Poland to prepare for that.
C) I don't see the US declaring war to save Britain, no matter how much FDR wanted them too. It took Pearl Harbor...and then, Hitler declared war on the U.S., anyway.

Well I can't help but disagree with that.

I do see Stalin as going to invade Germany. It was either kill or be killed, I think Stalin always prepared to have a war with Germany, it's just that in 1941 the Red Army was massively unprepared. Without the disruption of Barbarossa and a massive military build up they are going to be much more powerful. I think they will be able to defeat the even weaker German army in a much better state than in OTL.

There will be some kind of defensive net in Poland, but the best defence is offence, if Barbarossa was not going to stop them that certainly would not.

I do not however think US would declare war to save Britain either.

 

[alephh]

If Germany really focus their resources against Britain, it's difficult to see Britain repulsing the attack.


How it plays after that depends on many factors: How long the invasion of Britain takes, US reaction (fully focusing on Pearl Harbor?), Stalin (hard to imagine he would stop conquering smaller countries, which eventually leads to a conflict with Germany). And how would a victory over Britain affect Hitler - make him overconfident - make him ignore US?


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[Jozon]

The thing is, Germany doesn't need to build up it's navy and airforce more than in OTL to defeat Britain.

Let's say Hitler decides to really go after Britain, and to only tackle the USSR when the British are defeated.

The bulk of the German Army will still be deployed in Poland. However, instead of taking an offensive posture, they will be deployed in depth.

Germany keeps building its navy. So, a bit more resources to equipping B and T, some work gets done on GZ, and the H39 program gets some more steel to work with as well.

Meanwhile, Hitler sends Luftwaffe support to North Africa (I doubt Mussolini would accept German ground troops, since his army isn't defeated yet).
The Italian army doesn't perform any better than OTL (well, maybe marginally, but nothing really worth mentioning), but because of Luftwaffe involvement, British losses are slightly higher.

Afrika Korps gets sent. X Air Corps is not redeployed to the Balkans to sit on its ass for a few months, but keeps pounding Malta, thereby improving Rommels supply efficiency. Maybe a landing (German and Italian paratroops, and maybe some Italian marines; since X Airc Corps has got air superiority, the RN might be reluctant to send any major surface units) on Malta is a possibility, but it's not a necessity to keep the suppy lines open.

Because of more secure supply lines, Rommel gets more supplies, but more importantly more troops and tanks to work with. No Russian front means an extra panzer division for Rommel, and before you know it, Axis troops will be parading up and down Baghdad.

This solves the axis oil crisis (well, of course the oil wells would be destroyed by the British; I don't know how much time it takes to rebuild them: 6 months? a year?), and next spring, Harry hun goes after Uncle Joe.

 

[Foreign Shadow]

Well I can't help but disagree with that.

I do see Stalin as going to invade Germany. It was either kill or be killed, I think Stalin always prepared to have a war with Germany, it's just that in 1941 the Red Army was massively unprepared. Without the disruption of Barbarossa and a massive military build up they are going to be much more powerful. I think they will be able to defeat the even weaker German army in a much better state than in OTL.

There will be some kind of defensive net in Poland, but the best defence is offence, if Barbarossa was not going to stop them that certainly would not.

I do not however think US would declare war to save Britain either.

Well, I see your point, my interpretation came from what sources I had read, which had always led me to belive Stalin was happy with the arrangement as it stood, at least for the forseeable future. But if you have reliable sources that stay other wise I don't doubt you. It would all depend, as another poster says, on how long it would take to defeat Britain. If it could be done before, say, early 1942, then the Wehrmacht probably has a good chance of being ready for any potential Soviet attack. Not necessarily a given win for either side then.