So how would the war be different if Operation Neptune failed? Now obviously the Axis would still lose but would this prolong the war in any significant way? How much further would the Soviets have pushed? Would it have any real effect on the Cold war that followed?
The extent of Soviet sphere of influence was already decided before the war was over in negotiation.
>>977935
If the soviets occupied more of continental europe than they had anticipated they might have reneged on the deal
>>977917
War would probably end in late 1945/early 1946.
Remember that by the time of Normandy Landing, soviets started Bagration which annihilated Army Group Center and any hopes of holding a stable frontline in the East for the Germany. After then it was just a matter of time before Soviets were in Berlin. Those troops that fought in Western Front could only delay them for so long.
>>977917
Extremely little: Even if Overlord goes belly up for some reason, you still have Dragoon. It would be a little slower with only one opening instead of two, but a lot of the supply issues the Allies faced would evaporate, so the loss of time isn't as much as you might think.
Most likely result is that the occupation zones in Germany would be divided up a little differently, with more to the Russians.
i think maybe a couple of months at most? you still have the southern landings, you still have italy, you still have the soviets rolling in... i don't even think there would be that many sphere of influence changes, definitely not in the way of whole countries ending up on different sides of the future curtain
>>977935
>the communists will surely abide by their agreement even if they could gain more by ignoring it
Yeah it's not like that's exactly what people said before communists tried to kill them multiple times throughout history.
>>978672
Not that I'm a big fan of communists or anything, but if you look at the involvement in post-war Greece, Stalin did keep his word when he could easily have gone back on it.
>>978690
Not when the US had just demonstrated its capability and willingness to drop nuclear weapons on its enemies along with their heavily entrenched armies 5 feet away across an imaginary line.
Communists don't go back on their word when they know doing so will lead to them exploding violently.
>>978700
The first generation atomic weapons weren't hydrogen bombs. They were roughly as effective as a large conventional bombing raid; the A-bombing attacks combined still didn't kill as many people as the conventional bombing of Tokyo.
It would not have been a decisive factor in any hypothetical conflict between the USSR and the USA, and that's even assuming the Americans were willing to go to war over reneging about support to communist partisans in Greece, which is extremely unlikely.
>>978724
Well, the Soviets sure didn't know that.
What they knew is two Japanese cities were destroyed by two bombs. Just two, and the Americans said they had more, and Soviet spies confirmed that the Allies were in fact making about a dozen more atomic bombs.
Stalin was really fucking scared of the bomb. Sure, its actual power was a little overblown, but they didn't know that.
>>978732
>Well, the Soviets sure didn't know that.
Of course they knew that. They had extensive intelligence infiltration of their allies, and had observed the effects of the strategic bombing campaign over Germany, seen entire cities blown to rubble from that. They knew America had the capability, and at that point, what of the nukes?
>Stalin was really fucking scared of the bomb.
[citation needed]
I mean, after all, this is a man who saw roughly 1/5 of his country occupied and quite a few cities erased through more old fashioned means on the ground, and didn't flinch.
>>978744
>didn't flinch
vatnik detected
Stalin was shitting in his pants in 1941. When Soviet Union leadership lead by Beria and Molotov visited him at his enclave, he thought he was going to get arrested and shot
After Moscow he knew that Germany was going to lose, especially when USA entered the war.
