Quote:
Originally Posted by GuerraCivil
Controversial - one could also say that Germans failed very decisively at the Northern front as they were unable to achieve strategic key targets like Murmans and cutting the sea traffic between USSR and its Western allies...
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Hello GuerraCivil,
The reason that there is dispute on this point is because German successes are measured against their stated intentions, rather than the resources available to them. The same is true, in a different way, of much of the literature about the war in the West. A careful analysis of capabilities would suggest that the Germans often assigned themselves objectives which were unattainable, while conversely the Western Allies set low targets for themselves.
Precisely because the Arctic was a secondary theatre, as you write in your second paragraph, the Axis military effort should be considered very successful, in relation to what was possible. The Germans did underestimate the enemy, but this did not have the disastrous consequences that it had elsewhere on the Eastern front. This was partly because the climactic and terrain conditions did not allow for large-scale Soviet offensives, but the effectiveness of the Axis defensive measures in the Arctic is noteworthy. The Soviet armed forces expended large numbers of men and equipment in the theatre, especially in 1943 and 1944, for no significant military gains.
Regards,
Paul