If Hitler had delegated all military decisions to his most capable generals, could Germany have defeated the Soviet Union?
No, they would’ve lost quicker or lost in the almost same amount of time.
Hitler Generals couldn’t see the war on a full-scope like Hitler, albeit this doesn’t mean Hitler was a Military mastermind as he did have some blunders but nearly everything that was put on him wasn’t actually his fault.
This is most notably from Hitler “best general” Erich von Manstein.
He criticized Hitler decision to keep Paulus’s Army in Stalingrad instead of allowing him to evacuate. Hitler and the OKW knew that an attempted breakthrough from Soviet forces would result in heavy causalities and risk the 6th army being routed. This would free up the Soviet forces to push to Rostov and cut off Army group A in the Caucasus.
His Generals such as Gudarian, Halder, and Bock advocated for a continued assault on Moscow instead of pushing south to Kiev. Not only did they fail to realize the Kiev region was one of the most productive and resource rich regions, but those divisions wouldn’t just sit and do nothing. Pushing to Moscow would leave the German Southern flank open and would allow the Soviets to use those forces to amp up their Moscow defenses.
The war would have fared worst for Germans if the Generals had complete control.
