![]() ![]() Prior to that the decision not to go to the Balkans was made by US and British planners and I've seen nothing to indicate that Stalin had any significant impact on that decision.Īs for the capture of Berlin that was pretty much a forgone conclusion at that point given the distribution of forces. By the time of the Yalta conference there wasn't going to be a Balkan invasion by the Western Allies. Now if the British won the argument against both the US and USSR, and the Western Allies decided to use the Southern/Balkans/Mediterranean offensive strategy and invade through Greece/Balkans and it was successful in gaining a foothold that would lead to a hard drive up through Southern Europe into Germany, thereby increasing Western influence to the East, cutting off the Russian advance, etc., would the Russians have still fought against this because of political motives even though the Allies succeeded in opening a second front and successfully began fighting the Germans in numbers to lessen the load on Russia? This could have lessened friction between the two Allies, as well as eased the Cold war in the post-war world, but would this have been something Russian would have been fine with, having Western military success close to home?Īnd yes the Russians bore the brunt of ground fighting in the war, but every time the Allies made a major landing or an assault from late 1942 onward, the fighting on the Eastern front seemed to tip into the Russians favor more and more, from Torch to Husky through Overlord, I believe those offensives played a major role in lessening the German fighting load in the East just as much as the bomber offensive.Ĭlick to expand.And completely irrelevant. The British felt they could sway Western Democratic influence far into the South and East of Europe, in essence cutting off the Russian line by getting there first, and lessening the "iron curtain." Stalin wanted to keep the Western Allies as far away from Eastern Europe as he could, to increase his influence. The US favored the direct attack on France to drive the Germans back to Germany. ![]() This approach also had political motives. The British like the idea of attacking from the South and possibly through the Balkans and driving up to Germany. When it comes to the second front, we all know Russia wanted the Western Allies to attack Germany head on through France, as they had political aims in mind just as much as military goals. I'm not sure if this could be a general question or a what if scenario. ![]()
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