WWII Could Have Been Prevented - IMHO

[sjl127]

Was thinking earlier...

The first front of WW2 was the Nazi invasion of Poland.

http://www.kasprzyk.demon.co.uk/www/history/WW2.html

Imagine if...

Each household had each:

1 rifle,

10 rounds of ammunition, and,

The will to use them against invading forces.

Given that, 1.8 million Germans invaded vs. about 25 million pre WW2 poland population, which would be about 10 million polish men with rifles.

The German army could have been easily defeated.

Thoughts and comments?

Just something to thing about...

[RocketFoot]

Very possible!

How about if we had the A-Bomb a few years early and vaporized Hitler and the Nazi army in one swift move! (They had the balls to drop the big one back then!)

[OneLungMcClung]

I read somewhere that WWII could have been prevented with the direct assassination of 17 key individuals...and instead 52-56 million died.

[TonyF]

I doubt it. Blitzkrieg was unstoppable because it was new and there were no countermeasure in place to defend against it.

Sure, 10 million armed Poles could have been a real P.I.T.A. with respect to "hit and run" tactics but they would never have been able to mount an organized defense against the Blitz.

[LastManOut]

Korea , Vietnam, Iraq, Kuwait, Somalia, Kosovo could have been prevented. Probably not Grenada and maybe not Afghanistan. But all the rest could have.

[OneLungMcClung]

I doubt it. Blitzkrieg was unstoppable because it was new and there were no countermeasure in place to defend against it.

Sure, 10 million armed Poles could have been a real P.I.T.A. with respect to "hit and run" tactics but they would never have been able to mount an organized defense against the Blitz.

What he said.

The gun doesn't make the soldier, the training does. And the poles had the will already - research what the resistance was like and you'll see epic bravery on the level of the French Maquis. The German Army was the most technologically advanced, tactically and strategically advanced, and highest trained army in the world at the time.

[brian]

Was thinking earlier...

The first front of WW2 was the Nazi invasion of Poland.

...

psssttt
japan invaded manchuria in 1931 followed by china in 1937.

back to the eto.
the other *armies*(using the term loosely) were poorly armed to say the least. if their peasants had been armed, it would have been with little more than "surplus" muzzleloaders. there was no stopping the germans by the time sept 1st rolled around.

[Eugene V. Debs]

I doubt it. Blitzkrieg was unstoppable because it was new and there were no countermeasure in place to defend against it.

Sure, 10 million armed Poles could have been a real P.I.T.A. with respect to "hit and run" tactics but they would never have been able to mount an organized defense against the Blitz.

Agreed. Some effective guerilla tactics might have bogged down the occupation army like in Yugoslavia, which might have resulted in a delay of subsequent invasions, but, yeah there would've been no stopping the German blitzkrieg at that point.

[Autonomous]

I doubt it. Blitzkrieg was unstoppable because it was new and there were no countermeasure in place to defend against it.

Sure, 10 million armed Poles could have been a real P.I.T.A. with respect to "hit and run" tactics but they would never have been able to mount an organized defense against the Blitz.

Well said Tony....

It may have been possible to prevent or at least delay the European front of WW2 if we would have had the balls to take on that asshat Franco in Spain. At the time the American population was behind the democratically elected Republic government. Instead big corporations in this country lobbied to make money off of Franco and we helped keep England and France out of it with the Non Interference treaty so the republic turned to the gawddamn f****ng commie USSR for weapons and the Nazi's and fascists of Italy got to test all of there new toys and fighting techniques (read: blitzkrieg) out on the Spanish and soviets...but I digress...
No way around fighting in the pacific. Japan was gonna expand till they were stopped....
-A

[Eugene V. Debs]

Well said Tony....

It may have been possible to prevent or at least delay the European front of WW2 if we would have had the balls to take on that asshat Franco in Spain. At the time the American population was behind the democratically elected Republic government. Instead big corporations in this country lobbied to make money off of Franco and we helped keep England and France out of it with the Non Interference treaty so the republic turned to the gawddamn f****ng commie USSR for weapons and the Nazi's and fascists of Italy got to test all of there new toys and fighting techniques (read: blitzkrieg) out on the Spanish and soviets...

Yep, and then Stalin basically sold out the Republic. Early in the war, he refused to send key armaments to assist the fronts being manned by the Anarchist militias, then later he used the International Brigades less for fighting the Fascists and more for liquidating the Anarchists and other anti-Stalinist Republican groups. Then in 1938, Hitler and Stalin agreed to a Non-Aggression Pact, and that was the death-warrant for the Republic.

Fact is, though, that in 1936 when the war started, large parts of Spain were undergoing a social revolution being led by the Anarchists, so the UK and US were reluctant to aid the Republic for fear of bolstering the Anarchists (in the beginning the Anarchists were not in the government, but later the CNT joined). Stalin, on the other hand, saw it as a good opportunity to (1) prove he was an ally of the Western democratic governments and strengthen his diplomatic hand with France and (2) co-opt or liquidate competing socialist movements in Republican Spain, while increasing Communist influence on the Republic.