Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-110.20.227.171-20141127105940/@comment-4621372-20141214033544

Three issues with that!

1) Russia HAD a military-industrial complex, and a large one; it was just of ridiculously poor quality. But they had all the raw resources and manpower to produce all they needed.

2) The Germans, even OTL, had vastly superior technology and weaponry. They just didn't have enough. The Soviets were thrown into battle knowing that if they retreated, they would be shot for certain, and their familiies probably chucked into the Gulag. They fought like madmen.

3) The Soviet military outnumbered the German military by a large margin. Even without the Western front, the Sovs just have too many people, too many resources- and, don't forget, they have oil- the Germans DON'T, and have no reasonable way to get it. By 1945, the Soviets were heavily battered, but they were still a match for the nuclear armed West- that's the resultant military analysis of the top Western generals at the time, BTW. The Germans, at that point, were flush outta oil.