>>514656158
This, of course. See >>514649153
And everyone knew it too. Literally ALL his generals, Guderian, Halder, Jodl, Hoth, Von Bock, Brauchitsch and Keitel vehemently opposed Directive 33 which halted the advance on Moscow. Some even added supplements to attempt to mitigate its damage. Everyone involved who wasn't a total yes-man was utterly horrified and flabbergasted by this Directive, which is in itself pretty unique in military history, but the fact about Hitler is that this happened at least THREE TIMES during WW2, i.e. Hitler snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with the most retarded Directives (Dunkirk and Directive 45)
To this day, these Directives leave military historians puzzled and force Hitler apologists into the weirdest gymnastics
No commander in chief in history has a record that comes even close in terms of obvious, classical and crucial mistakes, and Hitler did it all the while being injhected with copious amounts of stimulants and narco-hypnotics from his personal physician doctor and mind control expert, Dr Morell
>>514656536
>US was also openly arming and supplying Germany's enemies, so Hitler figured he was basically formalizing what was already happening
So another very poor decision, as the declaration made a vast difference
> show nervous allies and neutral countries that Germany kept its word
Yet it resulted in his most important ally being invaded and capitulating within the year, and as I said, it alienated the rank and file iof the German army not a little bit
>Everyone in the German leadership vastly, vastly underestimated the capacity for the vast US industrial system
No they didn't. Many warned Hitler what would happen, as US industrial capacity was already obvious to everyone