Operation Barbarossa/ The Eastern Front
1. Germany invaded Russia on July 22 1941. They advanced with 3 million men and 3400 tanks, split into three divisions: northward towards Leningrad, central towards Moscow, and southern towards the Ukraine.
a. Since the Germans brought such a large army, as they advanced further into Russia it became harder to provide for their men because supply lines became longer.
2. Within six days, the Germans took Minsk. Stalin executed General Demitry Pavlov, who oversaw Minsk’s defence.
a. This served as an example to all other commanders that incompetence would not be tolerated. The Russian people feared Stalin and had no choice but to fight till their death.
3. Stalin ordered a ‘scorched earth policy’ for when his men needed to retreat.
a. This ensured that anything that might be of use to Germans was burnt. This caused significant problems for the Germans the farther they advanced into Russia, because it became harder to secure provisions for their 3 million men.
4. By October 1941, the Germans were 80km outside of Moscow. A massive evacuation was called however Stalin decided to stay in Moscow rather than retreat.
a. By staying with his men, Stalin boosted the morale of the Russian people.
b. In A History of the Modern World (1995), Palmer and Colton argue that Stalin's ability to unite the Russian people was effective in securing victory. They state that "Stalin... rallied the country to the defense of the Russian motherland." Rather than unite his people behind communism, Stalin understood it would be more effective to appeal to the nationalism of the Russians.
5. The German troops only brought their summer uniforms. In October there were heavy rains. The winter got as cold as -38 degrees Celsius.
a. The Germans expected they would be victorious before winter and therefore they were ill-prepared for an invasion of Russia.
b. The rains made the roads muddy and slowed down the German troops.
c. The severe cold caused affected the overall health of the German troops, and caused equipment to freeze and fail to function.
6. The Russians conducted a counter-offensive at Moscow and by January 1942 the Germans had retreated by 200km.
a. For the first time, Blitzkrieg failed. Stalin successfully showed the Western Allies that the Wehrmacht was not unstoppable.
b. Hitler was enraged at the results and took over direct command of military operations. He directed the main offense southwards.
i. Since Hitler ignored the advice of his military experts, he suffered significant losses as the advance in Russia continued.
7. Russia switched into a successful wartime economy once the Germans attacked—it managed to out produce Germans in guns, tanks, and aircraft in 1942 and 1943.
a. Since Russia was an isolated economy, it made the switch to a wartime economy quickly and efficiently.
Norman Davies. Europe at War 1939-1945, 2006. “Stalingrad, in psychological terms, was immensely significant… on the minds of the Britons and Americans.”
The fallibility of Hitler’s Wehrmacht was demonstrated for the first time at Stalingrad. It also proved the strength of the Red Army, which was viewed as chaotic and disorganized until this point. These factors helped to reassure Britain and the US that there was hope in the East, which was important because they had no men of their own on that front.
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