Operation Barbarossa – June 22, 1941

Haotian, Callie, Jordan, Asna, Eric

Recap:

- Hitler motivated by Lebensraum- Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 1939- Invasion of Poland 1939- France surrenders 1940- Battle of Britain stalemate 1940

WWHD?

He invades Russia.

Mini ThesisPrior to 1941, Hitler assumed his army was

infallible due to numerous nearly consecutive victories with the use of Blitzkrieg tactics. Though Operation Barbarossa was successful, it was not the quick decisive blow Hitler anticipated it to be. Because the Germans failed to capture Moscow, the Red Army proved Hitler’s forces not as invincible. This failure ensured that the Eastern Front would not close with a swift and decisive blow, instead leading to deadly a war of attrition for the Germans.

Who invades Russia?

North Army: Wilhelm Ritter von LeebSecure Baltic States + Leningrad

Central Army: Feodor von BockPush to Moscow

South Army: Gerd von RunstedtSecure Ukraine + Crimea

Attack on Moscow June 22, 1941

-Operation Typhoon: order for attack on Moscow

-Hitler launched aerial surveillance missions over Soviet territory

-Almost reached Moscow by December

-Veered off path on way to Moscow to help southern army capture Ukraine less supplies and had to fight during harsh Winter

-Closest troops to Moscow was Kremlin

-Focus shifted to Stalingrad

The Red Army wasn’t prepared, especially because Stalin killed all the officers in the great purges.

Germans: 3,316,200 men, 4442 aircraft, 3988 vehicles

Russians: 3,310,000 men, 10,775 aircraft, 15,470 vehicles

This Catches Stalin off Guard

Leningrad

Moscow

Stalingrad

Important Cities

German Strategy25:17 26:19 27:13

Who won?

• Germans win, but not by enough• Central Army did not get Moscow• Operation was not the quick decisive blow

that Hitler thought it would be• Ended on January 7, 1942

The Siege of Leningrad

Haotian, Eric K, Asna, Callie, Jordan

-major objective of Operation Barbarossa-lasted from July 10, 1941 to January 27, 1944 (900 days)

What Was The Siege of Leningrad?

Why Was Leningrad Important in the War?

-represented the Russian Revolution and morale of USSR-city held 11% of the USSR’s war productionLeningrad Siege began July

10, 1941

Leningrad was cut off July 8

But the Finns refused to advance

The city was constantly bombed and supplies had to be brought in through Lake Ladoga

- Lasted from July 10, 1931 to January 27, 1944

- Led by Von Leeb (Germany) and Mannerheim (Finland)

- Originally 2.5 million civilians

- January 12, 1943, Red Army launched Operation Iskra (Spark) to lift the siege

- In all, over 1 million people died (40% of population)

"In those days there was something in a man's face which told you that he would die within the next twenty-four hours...I have lived in Leningrad all my life, and I also have my parents here. They are old people, and during those famine months I had to give them half my officer's ration, or they would certainly have died. As a staff officer I was naturally, and quite rightly, getting considerably less than the people at the front: 250 grams a day instead of 350.”

-Soviet officer

(everyone died)

The Battle of Stalingrad The battle that really screwed Germany.

ThesisCarrying an arrogant attitude after the overwhelming

logistical success that the Wehrmacht achieved in both the Fall of France and Operation Barbarossa, Adolf Hitler

approved an all-out assault on the Caucasus regions to crush the Red Army in a decisive blow. Overextended and under-

supplied, the German 6th Army found nothing but death and encirclement at the gates of Stalingrad. The resulting annihilation of the Axis forces shook the image of the

invincible German war machine and turned the tide on the Eastern Front. Low on morale and without strategic reserves,

the Wehrmacht was forced into a war of attrition and a defensive war on multiple fronts, where Allied war

mobilization bled Germany dry.

The Background• Though the Germans were not completely successful in annihilating the Soviet

Union’s command center in Moscow in Operation Barbarossa, the Germans achieved success in pitched battle. Casualty ratios were over 5:1 in favor the Germans. German Panzers and the Luftwaffe completely outclassed Soviet armor and air units.

• Hitler decided to push their summer campaign of 1942 toward the southern part at the Caucasus region.

• The German Wehrmacht had not yet been defeated in one major instance in the entire Soviet campaign.

• Hitler had supreme confidence after numerous botched operations administered by the Red Army during the Winter War.

• The utter defeat of France with extremely limited casualties convinced Hitler that even with the failure of Operation Barbarossa, the war would be effectively over within the summer campaign of 1942. He was wrong. Very wrong

• Hitler had reason to be confident though, with Ukraine and other countries of the Bloodlands under his grasp, with steady supply lines.

• The eventual irony of this operation was that Stalingrad was not necessary for the overall success of the control of the Caucasus

Operation Case Blue

Pre-warPost War

The Battle of Stalingrad (August 23, 1942 to February 2nd, 1943)

• On August 23, the 6th Army finally reached Stalingrad, after the Russian 62nd and 64th Armies were pushed back to form a defensive line at the Stalingrad front.

• The Luftwaffe launched a massive air raid, crushing the supply lines on the Volga River and reducing the entire city into a pile of rubble.

• Stalin transferred all available units into the 62nd Army, the main defending force under the command of General Chuikov.

• Stalin also refused to evacuated the city, stating that the soldiers would fight harder for a living city, subjecting the citizens of Stalingrad to heavy bombardment and eventual starvation.

• The Luftwaffe had complete air dominance over the Soviet Air Force. However, within the city of rubble, close quarters combat negated the strafing runs of the Luftwaffe and the armor dominance within 4th Panzer Army, as the rubble rendered tanks immobile. Chuikov ordered the Red Army to hug the Germans and mimic their every move to avoid strafing runs.

• The Germans effectively foiled their own style of war, blitzkrieg, by leveling the city.• The Russian mantra was “Not a step back”. The Soviets could not retreat and held to each

supply depot to the death.• Life expectancy for a Red Army soldier was less than 24 hours. A Soviet officer had around 72

hours to live.• Stalingrad was the first primal example of urban warfare. Germans called it, Rattenkrieg, or the

Rat War.• Position would depend upon not who controlled parts of a city, but who controlled parts of a

house or sewer.

Pavlov’s House

Operation Uranus• Though the 6th Army would eventually hold 90% of Stalingrad, its troops were beleaguered,

and running low and supplies and ammunition. In addition, the Russian winter was setting in again.

• Georgy Zhukov noticed the poor Hungarian and Romanian units defending the German flanks and the defensive line at the Don River.

• On November 19th, 1942, the Red Army launched Uranus with over one million troops. The northern flank of the Germans was destroyed and the 6th Army was completely encircled within Stalingrad.

• Over 200,000 elite German soldiers were captured within the pocket, alongside 65,000 additional Romanian and Italian soldiers.

• Erich von Manstein thought he could led his Army Group A in an attempt to re-supply the 6th Army, and Hitler personally ordered that the 6th Army should hold their position.

• Hitler tried to supply the 6th Army with the Luftwaffe supply drops from the air, but the supplies received were not sufficient to keep the 6th army alive in the harsh Russian winter. Soviet anti-aircraft fire also destroyed 488 German aircraft.

• The Soviets launched Operation Little Saturn on December 16th, 1942 and destroyed any hope of saving the 6th Army.

• Without ammo, fuel and supplies, the Germans slowly began to freeze and starve to death, unable to surrender due to Hitler’s decree.

• On the February 2nd, 1943, Paulus finally surrendered. Around 100,000 POWs were taken and over 20 German generals were held prisoner.

Hold on a minute…

I would just like to point out that in Operation Uranus, the Red Army exploited the weak flank of the Germans so they could strategically attack the 6th army from the rear. That is all.

Operation Uranus

Casualties/Initial Strength

German Strength1,040,000 infantry (430,000

German)500 Tanks

400 Operational AircraftCasualties

850,000 casualties91,000 POWs of the 6th Army

1500 Tanks744 Aircraft

Red Army Strength1,142,000 infantry900 T-34 Models1100+ aircraftCasualties1.12 million casualties40,000 civilians dead4,341 tanks destroyed2770 aircraft

Timeline• July 17, 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad begins as the Luftwaffe begins to bomb

the city and Soviet shipping on the Volga River• August 23, 1942 - Panzer column reaches Volga River just north of

Stalingrad• September 13, 1942 - German ground offensive starts in the city• November 19, 1942 - Red Army begins Operation Uranus to encircle

German 6th Army• November 23, 1942 - Encirclement is complete trapping roughly 290,000

Axis troops• December 12, 1942 - Field Marshal von Manstein's army group launches

an attack to relieve the 6th Army in Stalingrad. German advance is pushed back by the Soviets.

• February 2, 1943 - German troops trapped at Stalingrad surrender

Commanders

Erich von MansteinFriedrich Paulus

Adolf Hitler

Georgy ZhukovVasily Chuikov

Nikita Khrushchev

Impact• Stalingrad was the turning point of the Eastern Front. The Wehrmacht would never

be able to launch a successful offensive operation again. After Kursk, the Wehrmacht would be in full retreat.

• The overwhelming amount of territorial gains within Case Blue was completely lost.• The Soviets now held the offensive initiative and had time to mobilize reserves from

Siberia• The armies of Germany’s allies had been lost completely, except for the Fins.• The previous invincibility associated with the Wehrmacht was completely gone, and

the once inevitable victory of Nazi Germany now seemed as an inevitable defeat.• This was the first time that the Russians had similar casualty ratios with the

Germans. The Russians could sustain this attrition. The Germans could not.• Germany was not prepared to move into total war yet, and its manufacturing power

was nowhere near the power of the Russians or the U.S• Germany now had to fight both the Western powers and the Russians on two

fronts.• The Luftwaffe had been severely weakened, and lacked the power to hold off the

bombing campaigns on the Western Front.

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