[WarInEur] On German production for invading Russia

[Hansen]

There have been several posts relating how the OOB for the different
scenarios don't match up (as in you can't build to get there). Of course
Steve "all people who don't agree with me are just pro-axis whiners" will
come and chastise you for in any way interfering with the soviets grinding
Germans under their T-34 treads.

I haven't tried to build to the OOB, but I have found that you can build a
good German army for invading Russia, but you have to sacrifice your U-Boats
and North Africa. The German ends up with 6-5 on all the western ports the
allies can get to, Italian 2-4 next to all the ports and 1-4 next to the
2-4. The German also has a fairly large air force that can be available for
southern or western use (constantly transfer so you can surge where the
allies attack). The allies are limited in the south by waiting for the
Americans to go into Algeria (or failing that, having the Vichy help in
Sicily). The channel is secure more because the lack of AMPH and airborne
than anything else. But the allied reinforcements will pile up, waiting for
1942. The German follow on builds are directed towards building up the
western stop-them-on-the-beaches defense and to have a steady stream of 6-5
to replace the frost bite victims in the coming winter.

It makes for a do or die for the Germans in '41='42 on the eastern front. If
they can do enough damage, survive the winter and hit hard in '42, they can
defeat the soviets and flood the west with millions of troops. If they can't
then the inevitable soviet juggernaut will crush from the east and the
allies from the west.

But if you build a historical U-boat campaign, you get an insufficient army
in the east, you are guaranteed to fall short and will be crushed.