[squarefoot]

I agree on the importance of timing also regarding the then new weapons the Germans had, like the V2 and the first jet airplanes. We'll never know, but it is possible that having one more year of research and production at disposal could have changed things.

[rsj_hn]

V2 is not going to make up for a deficit of 12 million troops. Red Army went from about 1 million men to 12-14 million men by 1945 (which number it depends on whether you count the Navy and other branches). Germany invaded with 3.7 million men and by the end of 1942, the Red Army was both larger and better equipped than the Wehrmacht, which was already experiencing shortages.

I mean, it's not even close. And the Soviet Union, with enormous quantities of oil, iron ore, and other raw materials, could mass produce tanks, planes, and heavy weapons in massive quantities.

This was why Stalingrad was so important -- it was the gate to the Soviet Oil fields, and once that gate was closed, the war was basically over. Had Germany been able to capture the Caucauses, one could argue that the USSR would be starved of energy and so dependent on the US or some other nation to supply it. But that never happened.