Many of the German soldiers captured in the Battle of Berlin in 1945 were underage children, a phenomenon that many also considered to be a sign of the depletion of the German army, and Nazi Germany's war potential had been exhausted, and women and children began to be recruited into battle.
The root of the defeat of the German army
History cannot be assumed, but the German army did have many opportunities to avoid defeat in World War II, and after the end of the French campaign, the German army had achieved actual victory in the European theater, and the entire European continent was under the control of Nazi Germany. If viewed through the eyes of World War I, Germany can be said to have achieved real victory.
But Hitler's ambitions were far greater than those of the Kaiser, and he did not choose to stop the German army and integrate the resources of the European continent, but directly launched the sea lion plan to invade Britain. Hitler did not consider that the German naval and air forces at that time were not superior, and in order to attack the British mainland, it was necessary to rely on the naval and air forces to break the British defenses.
In the end, the Germans still failed to break through the English Channel and the RAF air defenses, and spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources in a failed invasion, and even failed to achieve a threatening landing, falling into a tug-of-war with the British.
After a year of back and forth with Britain, it was hard to regain the initiative in the war, the war situation was about to be reversed, and the smugly Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, which raided the Soviet Union, opening up the Eastern Front of World War II. This move put the German army in the embarrassing situation of fighting on two fronts, and could no longer take one country after another as it did when the war began.
In order to fight World War II, Hitler almost lost all of Germany's school-age youth, and throughout World War II, the number of German troops in battle was as high as 17 million, and the total population of Germany at that time was only about 80 million, which is equivalent to 1/5 of German citizens on the battlefield.
Even so, it could not withstand the huge consumption of the war, and by 1945, almost all German units fighting in the homeland defense were facing a shortage of troops, and there were even fewer experienced veterans, and the Nazis could only set up units such as the People's Stormtroopers to let ordinary civilians go into battle.
In general, the defeat of the German army was directly related to Hitler's lack of popularity, Germany was similar in size to Britain, far from the United States and the Soviet Union, and had to fight on two fronts with such a disparity in war potential, and defeat was almost certain.
Overseas units of the German army
The strength of the German home defense operations was exhausted, but until 1945, the German army still had a large number of overseas troops, the total strength of these troops was as high as 2 million, and the German army stationed in Norway alone was 400,000 people, but strangely, Hitler did not recall these overseas troops until he committed suicide.
Some people speculate that by 1945 there were still overseas troops of this size, indicating that these places have not been attacked by war since they were defeated by the Germans, and the deployment should be second-line troops, weak combat effectiveness, and it is difficult to change the direction of the war if recalled, so Hitler did not give an order.
But Hitler was able to integrate the citizens of Berlin into the stormtroopers to fight, which shows that it does not matter whether its combat strength is strong or weak, and the strength of the German second-line troops is no longer good, and it is better than civilians who have never received military training, which shows that Hitler does not want to recall overseas troops, but cannot be recalled.
In fact, at that time, although the German army had a large number of overseas troops, it was no longer of much significance to the war, and for example, the 400,000 troops stationed in Norway had been cut off by the Allies, and Germany had become an island in the actual sense.
Moreover, the German army in Norway could only return home by sea, and the North Sea was already under the control of the Allied navy, especially the British Royal Navy. Don't look at the fact that Britain has begun to decline, but the British Royal Navy at that time was still a hegemonic maritime force.
The only fate of the transport ship carrying the German army meeting the British in the North Sea was to be sunk, and I am afraid that they would die before they set foot on the coast of Germany, let alone let them return home to fight. Even the commander of the German army in Norway had the desire to defend the territory, but it could not be achieved because of the practical conditions.
On the other hand, Norwegian control is no less important to Germany than at home, and the Norwegian port of Narvik is Germany's most important overseas transit point, and foreign trade is completed here. Germany lost a war and overthrew a regime, but the loss of Norway could jeopardize the fundamental interests of the Germanic nation.
More importantly, Norway was also a source of hope for a Nazi overturn, and is home to the German military's research and development facility for atomic bombs and other doomsday weapons. Since 1941, the German army has secretly carried out atomic bomb experiments and other top-secret projects in Norway, and once the German army on the Norwegian side develops a practical atomic bomb, it may change the course of World War II.
After the Allies landed in France in 1944, the Nazi top brass had realized that it was only a matter of time before Germany was attacked, when the gap between the military strength of the Allies and Germany had widened, and with conventional means, Germany could not win World War II, so a large number of Nazi top officials pinned their hopes on epoch-making advanced weapons.
For example, Luftwaffe Field Marshal Goering has been pinning his hopes on the German flying wing fighters to regain air supremacy, while Hitler has high hopes for the atomic bomb and the Silver Bird space plane, and in his plan, once the Silver Bird and the atomic bomb are successfully developed, the German army can directly launch nuclear strikes on Washington, London and other Allied capitals to achieve the final victory of the war.
Compared with Himmler, Goering and Hitler are still normal, the head of the SS pinned his hopes of victory on black magic and metaphysics, and the black sun symbol used by Himmler for black magic sacrifices can still be seen in the basement of the SS building preserved in Norway. Therefore, Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis would rather die than recall the German troops in Norway.