It did. And a good thing that Hitler never invaded. But that was also one of his biggest blunders of the war. The invasion of Russia with Britain unconquered in his rear was to be his downfall. That strategic blunder along with several others cost him the war. His biggest strategic failures in my opinion were:
1. Not invading the British Isles following the British evacuation of Dunkirk. Over 300,000 British troops escaped and were evacuated back to Britain.
2. Decision to have Air Marshall Goring bomb the British into submission which failed.
3. Attacking Russia before taking North Africa which if he had done so his forces could have moved into the Middle East and take or ally with Turkey and been poised to take the Russian oil fields in the Caucasus region, maybe even move into Saudi Arabia. Hitler had an ally in the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, who was more than willing to be an ally of Germany and met with Hitler at one point IIRC.
4. Delaying the work on the ME-262 and the V-2
5. Spreading concentration and death camps across Germany and Poland which were expensive and a drain on the economy needed for weapons manufacture and development, and material needed to sustain the military operations.
6. Taking the Balkans in the spring of 1941 which pushed the invasion of Russia to June 22, 1941 resulting ultimately in a failure to take Moscow due to the harsh winter weather.
7. Diverting troops from the Moscow objective to capture Kyiv then turning them back to support the Army group Central which slowed the attack moving to take Moscow.
8. Sending an entire army to capture Stalingrad, then failing to pull them out while retreat and escape was still possible.
9. Insisting the Allied Landings in Normandy was a mere diversion, and keeping troops at Pas-de-Calais where he was sure the invasion would take place.
10. The Ardennes Offensive, transporting men and tanks badly needed on the Russian Front to the western front which ultimately failed.
There are other blunders the Germans and in particular Hitler made that cost them the war . . . thank God! But the ones above are what I consider his top 10 biggest screw-ups. Feel free to add more.
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Last edited: Jun 12, 2021