Well, yeah. That’s why I qualified it with “if they had started with…” You’re right, though; they couldn’t have invaded Russia without first going through a couple of other countries first. They could have technically invaded Russia while minimally involving other countries by going through Poland to get to Kaliningrad Oblast. But then they’d be stuck again; they’d have to have taken Belarus to get to Moscow.
So: Poland, Belarus, and next stop: Miscow! Easy peasy. Talk the Japanese out of antagonizing the US and have them focus on Russia, with a promise to divide it. Not that the Japanese would have been much help on mainland Russia, but it’d at least give them something else to worry about.
Well, yeah. That’s why I qualified it with “if they had started with…” You’re right, though; they couldn’t have invaded Russia without first going through a couple of other countries first. They could have technically invaded Russia while minimally involving other countries by going through Poland to get to Kaliningrad Oblast. But then they’d be stuck again; they’d have to have taken Belarus to get to Moscow.
So: Poland, Belarus, and next stop: Miscow! Easy peasy. Talk the Japanese out of antagonizing the US and have them focus on Russia, with a promise to divide it. Not that the Japanese would have been much help on mainland Russia, but it’d at least give them something else to worry about.