Thursday, December 17, 2020

Could The Modern German Military Save Germany From Defeat In 1945?

What would happen if the modern German military was transported to early 1945? Could it save the German regime from collapse? At this time the Americans and British were largely contained on the Rhine river in the West, while the Soviets pushed toward Berlin in the East. 


The situation was all but hopeless for Germany in 1945, but with a influx of modern weapons that could easily change. This sort of time travel is obviously impossible, but it is interesting to thing about. The German Army today has about 300 Leopard 2A7 tanks. These tanks are vastly superior to their WWII counterparts on all sides. The armor is composite and very thick, while the 120mm gun is very capable. The Leopard 2A7 also has an advanced fire control system, something no tank of WWII had.

The Leopard 2A7 tank could engage targets accurately at long range without the threat of being hit in return. Even if the Leopard was hit, is is unlikely to be destroyed. The 75mm gun of the Sherman tank is useless and the 85mm gun of the T-34 is also totally inept against the leopard's armor. The only vehicles that might pose a threat are the Soviet IS-2 tank with its 122mm gun, along with the SU-122 and SU-152 tank destroyers. Though these vehicles would have a hard time hitting the Leopard at long range.

The Leopard 2A7.


The SU-152 is the only real threat to the Leopard tank.


The other modern German vehicle that would be dangerous to WWII era tanks is the Puma IFV. 300 Pumas are equipped with Spike-LR ATGMs. These are able to engage tanks miles out of the enemy tank's range. This is crucial as the Puma's armor is not strong enough to withstand a hit from even a WWII era tank gun.


Most of the armor mentioned above would face the Soviets on the Eastern front as the Western front remained fairly static. The modern German Army also has 200 Spike-LR ATGM launchers, together with the 300 Puma IFV Spikes-LRs. The German army is equipped with 16,000 Spike-LR missiles for these launchers. These launchers would engage soviet tanks on the Eastern front quite effectively and most likely would halt the Soviet advance along with the Leopard tank's help. This is ironic as the Spike is an Israeli made ATGM that would be fighting in the ranks of Nazis.


A T-34 hit with an ATGM in Yemen.

The Modern German air force would be quite formidable, especially to the Western allies. Germany has 140 Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter jets and 60 Tornado IDS multirole jets. 

The Eurofighter Typhoon can carry many air-to-air missiles as well as air-to-ground missiles. The Eurofighter would be effective at intercepting American B-17 bomber streams over Germany. The 140 Eurofighter Typhoons would inflict heavy losses with their AA missiles and be difficult to shoot down due to their long engagement range and high speed.

A Eurofighter Typhoon with 12 AA missiles and 2 air-to-ground missiles.


140 Eurofighter Typhoons could down hundreds of American bombers and convince the Americans that bombing Germany is no longer a viable option.


The Tornado IDS could strike ground targets, especially bridges on the Rhine river in the West and American and British Bases in France. The Tornado IDS jet, along with tanks and ATGMs, could convince the Western allies to sign a peace treaty and end the war on the Western front.

Tornado jets with AGMs.



Tornado jets as well as Eurocopter Tiger helicopters could do serious damage to soviet ground forces as well. At least 50 Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters are in service and they could cause serious damage. The Tiger is armed with a 30mm autocannon on the nose and PARS and HOT missiles on side pylons. It can also be armed with unguided rockets, seen below.

The Eastern front is harder to predict what the outcome would be. Many Soviet tanks would be destroyed by Leopard 2A7s and Spike-LR ATGMs, but the Soviets had thousands of tanks and tank destroyers. It is possible they would just keep coming. Tornado IDS jets could bomb the tank factories and halt further production of tanks, but thousands more tanks already produced would have to be dealt with. This bombing of factories would also press the operational range of the Tornado IDS jets, as the Soviets moved their factories further East.


It is possible that heavy losses and obviously superior equipment could convince the Soviets to make peace with the German regime as well. Germany would not be able to counter attack, even with this superior equipment. Ultimately Germany might continue to exist, but its borders would go back to prewar and the war would have been for nothing. In this outcome the Nazi regime would probably become unpopular with the German people and a coup would topple the Third Reich. If this didn't happen the best case scenario would be a stalemate.









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