operation barbarossa military history mr. odren. the eastern front hitler had strategic and...

Operation Barbarossa

Military History

Mr. Odren

The Eastern Front

• Hitler had strategic and ideological reasons for invading Russia– Strategically he knew that the Soviet Union

and the US were critical to Britain’s willingness to keep fighting

– He also felt he needed the agricultural and raw material resources of Eastern Russia

– Ideologically he viewed the Soviet Union as an amalgamation of his greatest enemies, the Jews and the Slavs


• Hitler based his plan on the assumption he could destroy the Soviet Union within one year

• Critical to his success would be to catch and destroy the Soviet Army at the border areas

• If that did not occur, the Russians could use their vast territory to trade space for time and cause the Germans huge logistical problems


• Hitler’s Invasion of the Soviet Union

• The largest military action in the history of the world, ever. (yes, still…)

– 4.5 million troops invaded simultaneously along a 1800 mile front

We have only to kick in the door and the whole

rotten structure will come tumbling down.


• On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa

• The operation encompassed a total troop strength of about 4 million men, making it the biggest single land operation ever

• Benefiting from initial surprise, by the end of July Hitler had occupied a portion of Russia twice the size of France

Hitler's Commissar Order to his Generals:

"The war against Russia cannot be fought in knightly fashion. The struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be waged with unprecedented, unmerciful, and unrelenting hardness. All officers will have to get rid of any old fashioned ideas they may have. I realize that the necessity for conducting such warfare is beyond the comprehension of you generals, but I must insist that my orders be followed without complaint. The commissars hold views directly opposite to those of National Socialism. Hence these commissars must be eliminated. Any German soldier who breaks international law will be pardoned. Russia did not take part in the Hague Convention and, therefore, has no rights under it."

The Nazi execution of Soviet civilians kneeling by the side of a mass grave at Kraigonev, USSR, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Anyone suspected of being a Communist official, along with Red Army officers and male Jews were chosen for execution.

The Attack• The Red Air Force took an incredible beating in the first

few days of the fighting…

– Basically ceased to function

• Three main German thrusts… North, Center, and South…

– North surrounds Leningrad… (siege- but city doesn’t fall)

– Center pushes for Moscow…

– South pushes into the Ukraine towards the Caucasus oil…

• Stalin shoots generals who lose… great motivator

• Scorched Earth Policy… similar to Napoleon…

• Nazis make it to the gates of Moscow Counterattack Nazis stalled

Operation Barbarossa: Battle of Moscow

• With the Germans’ successes in the north and south, Hitler assumed that Stalin’s regime was on the verge of collapse

• He authorized an advance on Moscow before the onset of winter

• Already however the Germans were suffering from serious supply shortages– By September the supply system was only meeting

current tactical consumption needs– No supply stores for the winter season were being

built


• The Germans caught the Russians unprepared and made great advances

• The Soviet Army seemed on the verge of collapse

• At this point the weather broke and autumn rains turned the roads to mud

• The German advance stalled, allowing the Russians to hurry reinforcements from the interior


• Despite dropping temperatures and critical supply shortages, the German high command pressed on with the attack

• The German soldiers were still in summer uniforms and suffered terribly German soldier during the

battle of Moscow


• Stalin responded to the crisis by rushing his best commander, Georgi Zhukov, to defend Moscow

• Zhukov waged a delaying defense in front of Moscow; the first time the Soviets took advantage of their ability to trade space for time

• In the meantime he pulled reinforcements from as far away as Siberia to defend Moscow

• Zhukov’s plan was to allow the Germans to exhaust themselves and then go on the offensive


• By Dec 4 the Germans had clawed their way to Moscow’s outskirts, but they could not continue– That night

temperatures were -25 degrees Fahrenheit

– One infantry regiment suffered 300 frostbite casualties

– On Dec 6 the Soviets counterattacked

Operation Barbarossa : Battle of Moscow

• Rundstedt, the German commander of Army Group South, ordered a retreat and Hitler fired him

• Field Marshall Walther von Reichenau replaced Rundstedt and confirmed the withdraw order and then suffered a heart attack

• Hitler was in the midst of a high command crisis and lost confidence in his generals Field Marshall Walther

von Reichenau

Strategic Situation

• On Dec 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor

• In spite of his troubles in Russia, Hitler decided to support Japan and also declare war on the US

• Now the US would join with Britain to adopt a “Europe First” strategy that would destroy Hitler


• As the Russians pushed forward, Hitler refused to allow a retreat and relieved or court-martialed generals who did so

• Hitler named himself commander-in-chief of the army– Each military service began to operate

increasingly independently and Germany suffered from a lack of an overall strategy


• On the Eastern Front the Germans’ stiff resistance and control of crucial roads and supply centers slowly took the punch out of the Russian counterattack

• The German Army survived but it suffered losses from which it never recovered

• Both sides licked their wounds and prepared for renewed operations in the spring

Stalingrad

• As spring 1942 approached, German commanders recommended remaining on the defensive but Hitler believed the Germans must destroy Soviet military potential before the American industrial power could come into play

• Hitler developed a plan to capture Soviet oil– At first Hitler considered Stalingrad of little

importance other than the fact that its capture might block the movement of petroleum up the Volga River

Stalingrad

• On June 28 the Germans launched their summer offensive

• The Germans made good headway with one advance moving east toward Stalingrad and the Volga River and another moving south into the Caucasus

• In August Hitler’s erratic attention swung from the Caucasus to Stalingrad

Stalingrad

• On Aug 24 the Germans attacked Stalingrad’s suburbs and began fighting their way into the city

• Hitler began shifting forces from the Caucasus to Stalingrad

• The nature of the urban fighting favored the defenders and the Soviets mounted a stubborn defense

• Stalingrad began to drain the German army but Hitler would not back off

Stalingrad

Stalingrad

• On Nov 19 the Soviets launched a massive counterattack north of Stalingrad

• Hitler’s overly centralized and completely out-of-touch command system broke down in the face of the Soviet onslaught

• The Soviets encircled Stalingrad and Hitler ordered his commanders to stand fast anyway

• By this point in the war, no one was willing to confront Hitler

Stalingrad

• All attempts to breakout or break through failed and on Feb 2 the Germans surrendered– Out of 250,000 soldiers

trapped in the Stalingrad pocket, approximately 90,000 became prisoners

– Barely 5,000 survived the war

German POWs

Greatest Extent of Axis Control

Surprise!

• Weather played a huge part in the failed plan of the German’s.

• Hitler was so confident in a quick win that he did no preparation what so ever for winter weather.

• The ground was very loose sand in summer, very sticky and muddy in autumn, and heavy snow in winter.

• Should have called Napoleon!

• ““The German army is The German army is like an elephant like an elephant attacking a host of attacking a host of ants. He will crush ants. He will crush and kill thousands, and kill thousands, perhaps millions; but perhaps millions; but in the end, their in the end, their numbers will numbers will overcome him, and overcome him, and he will be eaten in the he will be eaten in the end. end. ““– - German Soldier- German Soldier

Outcome• Ultimately enormous logistical shortcomings made

Barbarossa a failure– Germany proved capable of fighting battles

very well, but was less capable of fighting a war of prolonged duration

• In the total four years of fighting on the Eastern Front, an estimated 4 million Axis and 9 million Russians were killed in battle

• 20 million Soviet civilians were killed as a result of extermination campaigns against Jews, communists and partisans, casual massacres, reprisal killings, diseases, and (sometimes planned) starvation.

End Game• The Soviet Union was simply able to out

produce the Germans who were not prepared for a long war.

• After three years of constant warfare the Germans were exhausted and so the Soviets were finally able to defeat the Germans decisively in Operation Bagration in summer 1944. This led to a chain of fast Soviet victories which now pushed the Germans back to Berlin in just one year, leading to the surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945.

operation barbarossa military history mr. odren. the eastern front hitler had strategic and...

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