Despite initial military "Blitzkrieg" success, it would seem the Germans were spread dangerously thin by 1943 (in other words, what the hell were they thinking, invading Russia?) Some initial Nazi collaboration in Ukraine and elsewhere (which we can now understand given the Ukraine-Russia war) must've given Hitler a false sense of bravado. Just about everyone in Eastern Europe (and my father's Luftwaffe guards) figured that Stalin was the real enemy (this was before many knew the magnitude of Hitler death camps). At this time the German air force was in tatters, and we were supplying Russians with planes/tanks through lend-lease. We almost could've taken up Hess/Rommel etc on helping "good" Germans knock off Hitler, then jointly pushing the Russians back to their own borders, liberating Eastern Europe much sooner. Re: Stalingrad, I wonder if both sides were on the brink of collapse at that point?