German invasion of Russia, how did it benefit Britain before D-Day?
As above, it split Germany’s forces and allowed Britain to regroup. However, despite the lack of sense in attacking Russia, if Hitler really had to launch Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht could have gone South-East instead of North-East. This would have meant moving down through Turkey; they could then have turned North and taken control of the oil-rich Caucasus and so deprive Russia of the Volga river and its fuel, thus making it weaker before moving on to Moscow. In terms of the war against Britain, the Germans could also have gone South from Turkey, attacking Britain’s forces and oil in the Middle East and Egypt, or even threatening British India and linking up with Japan. Of course this is all speculation, but as it happened Britain benefitted immensly from the Russian winter.
