No doubt in my mind that Hitler could have taken Britain. And it would have been a swift death had German forces reached the shores with operation sea-lion(the planned invasion of Britain) in 1940. Hitler had enough ground troops in western Europe to crush the British but his big mistake was underestimating the advancements the British made with their fighter aircraft, not in a million years did he think they could have aircraft that could keep up with his Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulf's. He needed air supremacy for the invasion to work and if not for Britain's RAF the people of London would still be hearing that terrible scream of the Stuka's whistle in their heads.
The Hurricane,the Spitfire and incredible pilots with balls made of steel saved Britain's arse and maybe ours!
So what would have happened if he had won the air-war and took Britain? Simple answer?..a lot of "ifs and buts"
With the extra man power available he probably could have beat the crap out of Stalin and taken Russia but I'm not sure he would have (at least not right away) because I truly believe Hitler would have expected the USA to enter the war and now he would have to defend Britain from an invasion by the allies.
Couple of interesting questions...
- Could the Allies invade Britain without a staging ground?
- Without a staging ground how could the allies bomb Germany?
- With more time and resources would the Germans have developed the Atomic bomb first?
So do we owe the fact we sang "god save the queen" in elementary school instead of "hail the mighty Hitler" to the Hurricane and Spitfire...very possible.