June 1941 Operation Barbarossa (The Russian Front)
Frustrated over his failure to force the British into submission during the Battle of Britain, Hitler reconsiders the eastern front and an invasion of the Soviet Union. He believes that he has to gain additional living space for the German people in the east. Many historians view Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union as his biggest mistake and in retrospect they may be correct, however when looked at from a purely logical point of view Hitler had to invade the Soviet Union at some point. Germany lacked what the Soviet Union had in great abundance a massive quantity of natural resources including oil, agricultural lands, cotton, iron, nickel and many others. Germany would need access to these resources if it was going to be successful in the further expansion of her borders that Hitler had planned.
Hitler actually had made his intentions clear years before in his book Mein Kamf
“When we think of new territory, we must
think of Russia. Destiny itself points the way
there”
Hitler employed his favorite tactic of using propaganda to discredit his enemies and this time he focused on Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. Accusing the Soviet Union of great atrocities that were organized by Stalin’s regime and Communism. The Soviet Union should have taken this as a warning but instead choose to believe that Hitler would honor the non-aggression pact that the two countries had signed previously in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland and World War II officially started.
Hitler was once again over confident in his troops and their strength in thinking that Russia could be conquered with relative ease. Holding to that belief Hitler ordered the start of Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union. The invasion called for the use of three large army groups referred to as Army Group North, Army Group Center and Army Group South.
Hitler actually had made his intentions clear years before in his book Mein Kamf
“When we think of new territory, we must
think of Russia. Destiny itself points the way
there”
Hitler employed his favorite tactic of using propaganda to discredit his enemies and this time he focused on Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. Accusing the Soviet Union of great atrocities that were organized by Stalin’s regime and Communism. The Soviet Union should have taken this as a warning but instead choose to believe that Hitler would honor the non-aggression pact that the two countries had signed previously in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland and World War II officially started.
Hitler was once again over confident in his troops and their strength in thinking that Russia could be conquered with relative ease. Holding to that belief Hitler ordered the start of Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union. The invasion called for the use of three large army groups referred to as Army Group North, Army Group Center and Army Group South.
On June 22, 1941 Germany launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union opening the Eastern Front. At the start of this military action the German troop strength was 1,250,000 against the Soviet Union’s 1,000,000 defenders.
Army Group Objective
Army Group North March through the Baltic
Republics and capture Leningrad
Army Group Center Drive east to Smolensk, then
on to Moscow capturing
the capital
Army Group South Attack the Ukraine, capture
the port city of Kiev and gain
control of the oil fields in the
Caucasus.
Hitler did succeed in taking the Soviet Union by surprise and won many early skirmishes. Hitler changed tactics one month later and relocated the panzers from the Army Group Center to support both the Army Group South and North in order to control the Soviet Unions economic base by focusing on taking Leningrad and the Caucasus oil fields.
After capturing the port city of Kiev, cutting off Leningrad and initiating a siege, finally taking the oil fields of the Caucasus, Hitler was confident he would soon be marching troops into the streets of Moscow.
Army Group Objective
Army Group North March through the Baltic
Republics and capture Leningrad
Army Group Center Drive east to Smolensk, then
on to Moscow capturing
the capital
Army Group South Attack the Ukraine, capture
the port city of Kiev and gain
control of the oil fields in the
Caucasus.
Hitler did succeed in taking the Soviet Union by surprise and won many early skirmishes. Hitler changed tactics one month later and relocated the panzers from the Army Group Center to support both the Army Group South and North in order to control the Soviet Unions economic base by focusing on taking Leningrad and the Caucasus oil fields.
After capturing the port city of Kiev, cutting off Leningrad and initiating a siege, finally taking the oil fields of the Caucasus, Hitler was confident he would soon be marching troops into the streets of Moscow.
The siege of Leningrad would last 900 days and claim over 200,000 of the city’s inhabitants.
Once he had achieved these goals his confidence increased in the fact that he would soon be invading Moscow. So far everything had gone the way he had planned. The only objective left was the capturing of the Soviet Unions capital, Moscow.
The Soviet Union was intent on protecting Moscow and once they realized this was Hitler’s objective began constructing a series of defensive lines in front of the city. In order to protect Moscow to the best of their ability the Soviet Union drafted the cities citizens to assist in building these defenses while awaiting for reinforcement troops from the eastern part of the Soviet Union (remember how large the Soviet Union actually is).
Hitler and his German army’s goal was to encircle the Soviet Union troops and starve out Moscow much like what they were trying to do a Leningrad. The Soviet Union troops realizing that they had reinforcements on the way opted to fight for every inch of ground as a delaying tactic hoping that reinforcements would arrive before the German army was successful in defeating them.
Reinforcements arrived in December of 1942 in the form of 58 divisions and the Soviet Union commander began a counter-offensive to push the Germans away from Moscow.
The Soviet Union was aided in their efforts by extreme cold and poor weather which minimized the capabilities of the Luftwaffe since they could not fly in this type of weather. Eventually the Soviet Commander Zhukov would push the German army almost 160 miles away from Moscow.
The failure of German forces at Moscow doomed Germany to fighting a prolonged struggle on it's Eastern Front. This part of the war would consume a vast majority of its manpower and resources.
The German troop strength started with 1, 250,000 soldiers and ended with approximately 850,000 (loss of 400,000 men) and the Soviet Union lost approximately 1,000,000 – 1,280,000 men.
Below I have enclosed a movie that describes the Battle of Moscow.
Once he had achieved these goals his confidence increased in the fact that he would soon be invading Moscow. So far everything had gone the way he had planned. The only objective left was the capturing of the Soviet Unions capital, Moscow.
The Soviet Union was intent on protecting Moscow and once they realized this was Hitler’s objective began constructing a series of defensive lines in front of the city. In order to protect Moscow to the best of their ability the Soviet Union drafted the cities citizens to assist in building these defenses while awaiting for reinforcement troops from the eastern part of the Soviet Union (remember how large the Soviet Union actually is).
Hitler and his German army’s goal was to encircle the Soviet Union troops and starve out Moscow much like what they were trying to do a Leningrad. The Soviet Union troops realizing that they had reinforcements on the way opted to fight for every inch of ground as a delaying tactic hoping that reinforcements would arrive before the German army was successful in defeating them.
Reinforcements arrived in December of 1942 in the form of 58 divisions and the Soviet Union commander began a counter-offensive to push the Germans away from Moscow.
The Soviet Union was aided in their efforts by extreme cold and poor weather which minimized the capabilities of the Luftwaffe since they could not fly in this type of weather. Eventually the Soviet Commander Zhukov would push the German army almost 160 miles away from Moscow.
The failure of German forces at Moscow doomed Germany to fighting a prolonged struggle on it's Eastern Front. This part of the war would consume a vast majority of its manpower and resources.
The German troop strength started with 1, 250,000 soldiers and ended with approximately 850,000 (loss of 400,000 men) and the Soviet Union lost approximately 1,000,000 – 1,280,000 men.
Below I have enclosed a movie that describes the Battle of Moscow.
The Germans having been stopped at Moscow and realizing they could not maintain an offensive against Moscow began to focus their efforts elsewhere. Splitting his army into two groups he sent one group south to control the oil fields and the other group towards Stalingrad in hopes of achieving both a military goal and a propaganda victory by capturing the city named for the Soviet Unions leader, Joseph Stalin.
This engagement was probably the most brutal in regards to how it was fought. At one point, the average life expectancy of a Soviet soldier in Stalingrad was less then one day. The fighting raged through the ruins of the city with the Germans meeting heavy resistance due to the Soviet Union having fortified the buildings in the city against attack. However, despite their tough defense, the Soviets were slowly pushed back until the Germans controlled 90% of the city by the end of October.
This created even bigger problems for the German troops in Stalingrad because the Soviet Union had dispatched additional troops to help the struggle in Stalingrad that arrived and encircled the German troops occupying Stalingrad in a massive double envelopment. The German troops were unable to break out the city and were either killed or taken prisoner.stern Front and the Soviet Unions winter offensives helped convince the German army to withdraw from the Caucasus and ended the threat to the oil fields. The Soviet Union now was moving west towards Germany and soon Hitler would be fighting battles on three fronts, Soviet Union from the East and Allied forces from both the west (France) and south (Italy).
Enclosed is a film describing the Battle of Stalingrad.
This engagement was probably the most brutal in regards to how it was fought. At one point, the average life expectancy of a Soviet soldier in Stalingrad was less then one day. The fighting raged through the ruins of the city with the Germans meeting heavy resistance due to the Soviet Union having fortified the buildings in the city against attack. However, despite their tough defense, the Soviets were slowly pushed back until the Germans controlled 90% of the city by the end of October.
This created even bigger problems for the German troops in Stalingrad because the Soviet Union had dispatched additional troops to help the struggle in Stalingrad that arrived and encircled the German troops occupying Stalingrad in a massive double envelopment. The German troops were unable to break out the city and were either killed or taken prisoner.stern Front and the Soviet Unions winter offensives helped convince the German army to withdraw from the Caucasus and ended the threat to the oil fields. The Soviet Union now was moving west towards Germany and soon Hitler would be fighting battles on three fronts, Soviet Union from the East and Allied forces from both the west (France) and south (Italy).
Enclosed is a film describing the Battle of Stalingrad.
Both sides lost massive amounts of troops (Axis losses are estimated between 650,000 to 750,000 killed or wounded) during this conflict.