How the difference in railroad rail gauge may have been the key factor in Germany's failure invading Russia at the end of WW2

submitted by magnora7 from westhunt.wordpress.com

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[–]beermeem 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

I studied some Russian history in college but we mostly just touched on the Revolution and the Cold War and glossed over WWII. So I don't really remember a ton of my WWII history. But it seems to me that Hitler's plans of taking major cities (like Paris) was a relatively successful one. Why do you have the perspective that it wouldn't have worked in this case?

[–]Chipit 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Fuhrer directive No.21 lays out the plan for the invasion. The objective is clearly to destroy the Red Army in the field.

Paris wasn't even taken. It was evacuated and declared an open city. The French government had already left by then anyway. The Soviets had an evacuation plan to continue the war from an alternate capital. Stalin almost got on one of the trains.

[–]beermeem 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

One of the most based comments I've ever seen on this site.