I agree with the view that Tolkien didn't base his epos on any particular events from the World Wars. Neither could he ignore the reality of his own age. What he created, as I can see it, was a model showing how power works. And as soon as the model was correct we can find something alike in reality.
Well, if we are looking for resemblance, it often depends on our background. While reading about the seige of Minas Tirith I couldn't stop thinking about the Battle of Moscow in October-Desember 1941.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow
Quote:
By early December, the lead German Panzer Groups stood less than 30 kilometers (19 mi) from the Kremlin, and Wehrmacht officers were able to see some of Moscow's buildings with binoculars; but the Axis forces were unable to make further advances. On December 5, 1941, fresh Soviet Siberian troops, prepared for winter warfare, attacked the German forces in front of Moscow; by January 1942, the Soviets had driven the Wehrmacht back 100 to 250 km (60 to 150 mi), ending the immediate threat to Moscow and marking the closest that Axis forces ever got to capturing the Soviet capital.
The Battle of Moscow was one of the most important battles of World War II, primarily because the Soviets were able to successfully prevent the most serious attempt to capture their capital. The battle was also one of the largest during the war, with more than a million total casualties. It marked a turning point as it was the first time since the Wehrmacht began its conquests in 1939 that it had been forced into a major retreat.
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But there was no way Tolkien was going to depict this or any other event of WWII. Peculliary, in Sauron's cinicism and sarcasm I see more similarity to Stalin then to Hitler.
So I really don't think that the Third Reich was a prototype for Mordor, whatever NAZ-gul can make us think. They just shared some features of well-established tyranny.