Transcript Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa
Hitler breaks the Non-Aggression
Pact and invades Russia
Hitler Turns East
• Hitler believed that the
Blitzkrieg tactics employed
against the other European
countries could not be used
as successfully against the
Soviet Union
• He conceded that due to its
enormous size, the Soviet
Union would take longer
than other countries to
occupy
• He was confident it could
still be achieved during the
summer months of 1941.
The Soviet Response
• Joseph Stalin believed
that Germany would not
invade the Soviet Union
until Britain and France
had been conquered
• Some of his closest
advisers began to argue
that 1941 would be a
much more likely date
• The surrender of France
in June, 1940, cast doubts
on Stalin's calculations.
The Soviet Response
• Stalin knew that if Adolf
Hitler did not attack the
Soviet Union in the
summer of 1941 he
would have to wait until
1942
• No one, not even
someone as rash as
Hitler, would invade the
Soviet Union in the
winter
The Plan for Invasion
• The plan was for the
invasion of the Soviet
Union to start on the 15th
May, 1941
• Hitler believed that this
would give the German
Army enough time to take
control of the country
before the harsh Soviet
winter set in
• General Friedrich Paulus
planned the invasion
The Plan for Invasion
• His main strategy was to
make sure that after the
invasion the Red Army
did not retreat into the
interior
• For the campaign to be
successful he argued for
battles of encirclement
• He argued the main
objective should be to
capture Moscow
Stalin Hears About The
Invasion
• Information on the proposed
invasion came to Stalin from
various sources.
• Winston Churchill sent a
message to Stalin in April,
1941, explaining how German
troop movements suggested
that they were about to attack
the Soviet Union
• Stalin was still suspicious of
the British and thought that
Churchill was trying to trick
him into declaring war on
Germany
The Attack Starts
• On 21st June, 1941, a
German sergeant deserted
to the Soviet forces
• He informed them that the
German Army would attack
at dawn the following
morning
• Stalin was reluctant to
believe the soldier's story
and it was not until the
German attack that he
finally accepted that his
attempts to avoid war with
Germany had failed
The German Force
• The German forces,
made up of three
million men and 3,400
tanks, advanced in
three groups;
– The north group headed
for Leningrad
– The centre group for
Moscow
– The southern forces into
the Ukraine
Initial German Success
• Within six days, the German
Army had captured Minsk
• General Demitry Pavlov, the
man responsible for
defending Minsk, and two
of his senior generals were
recalled to Moscow and
were shot for incompetence
• In future, Soviet
commanders thought twice
about surrendering or
retreating
Initial German Success
• Terrified of both Stalin and
Hitler, the Soviet people had
no option but to fight until
they were killed
• The first few months of the
war was disastrous for the
Soviet Union
• The German northern forces
surrounded Leningrad while
the centre group made steady
progress towards Moscow
• German forces had also made
deep inroads into the Ukraine
Initial German Success
• Kiev was under siege and Stalin's
Chief of Staff suggested that the
troops defending the capital of
the Ukraine should be withdrawn,
enabling them to take up strong
defensive positions further east
• Stalin insisted that the troops
stayed and by the time Kiev was
taken, the casualties were
extremely high
• It was the largest defeat
experienced by the red army in its
history
• However, the strong resistance
put up at Kiev, delayed the attack
on Moscow
The Soviets Fight Back
• It was now September and
winter was fast approaching
• As German troops moved
deeper into the Soviet Union,
supply lines became longer
• Joseph Stalin gave instructions
that when forced to withdraw,
the Red Army should destroy
anything that could be of use
to the enemy
• The scorched earth policy and
the formation of guerrilla units
behind the German front lines,
created severe problems for
the German war machine
The Battle of Moscow
• By October, 1941,
German troops were
only fifteen miles
outside Moscow
• Orders were given for a
mass evacuation of the
city
• Two million people left
Moscow and headed
east
The Battle of Moscow
• Stalin rallied morale by
staying in Moscow in a
bomb-proof air raid
shelter positioned
under the Kremlin
• All major decisions
made by his
commanders had to be
cleared with Stalin first
The Soviet Counterattack
• In November, 1941, the
German Army launched
a new offensive on
Moscow
• The Soviet army held
out and the Germans
were brought to a halt
• Stalin called for a
counter-attack
The Soviet Counterattack
• His commanders had
doubts about this policy
but on December 4th the
Red Army attacked
• The German army,
demoralized by its recent
lack of success, was taken
by surprise and started to
retreat
• By January, the Germans
had been pushed back
200 miles
Stalin’s Military Strategy
• Stalin's military strategy
was fairly simple;
– it was vitally important to
attack the enemy as often
as possible
– use new, fresh troops for
these offensives
• By pushing the German
Army back at Moscow,
Stalin proved to the
Soviet troops that
Blizkrieg could be
counteracted
The Battle of Stalingrad
• In the summer of 1942
The German Army
advanced toward
Stalingrad with;
–
–
–
–
250,000 men
500 tanks
7,000 guns and mortars
25,000 horses
The Battle of Stalingrad
• Progress was slow because
fuel was rationed
• At the end of July 1942, a lack
of fuel brought the army to a
halt at Kalach
• It took until August to receive
the supplies needed to
continue with the advance
• Over the next few weeks the
German Army killed or
captured 50,000 Soviet troops
• On August 18th , Paulus, now
only thirty-five miles from
Stalingrad, ran out of fuel
again
The Battle of Stalingrad
• When fresh supplies reached
them, the German Army
decided to preserve fuel by
moving forward with only a
Panzer tank corps
• The Red Army now attacked
them and brought them to a
halt just short of Stalingrad
• The German army decided to
delay their attack on Stalingrad
until September 7th
• While they were waiting the
Luftwaffe bombed the city
killing thousands of civilians
The Soviets Defend
Themselves
• As the German Army advanced
into Stalingrad the Soviets
fought for every building
• The deeper the troops got into
the city, the more difficult the
street fighting became and
casualties increased
dramatically
• The German tanks were less
effective in a fortified urban
area as it involved house-tohouse fighting with rifles,
pistols, machine-guns and
hand grenades
The Soviets Defend
Themselves
• The Germans had particular
problems with cleverly
camouflaged artillery positions
and machine-gun nests
• The Soviets also made good
use of sniper detachments
deployed in the bombed out
buildings in the city
• On the 26th September the
German Army was able to
raise the swastika flag over the
government buildings in Red
Square but the street fighting
continued
The Soviets Defend
Themselves
• Adolf Hitler now ordered
his generals to take
Stalingrad whatever the
cost
• Hitler told the German
people: "You may rest
assured that nobody will
ever drive us out of
Stalingrad"
• The Germans lost 40,000
soldiers since entering the
city and were running out
of fighting men
Hitler Sends
Reinforcements
• On October 4th, he made a
desperate plea to Hitler for
reinforcements
• A few days later five
engineer battalions and a
panzer division arrived in
Stalingrad
• Joseph Stalin responded by
ordering three more armies
to the city
• Soviet losses were much
higher than those of the
Germans, but Stalin had
more men at his disposal
The Russian Weather
• The heavy rains of October
turned the roads into seas of
mud
• The German Army's supply
convoys began to get bogged
down
• On October 19th, the rain
turned to snow
• By the beginning of November
the German Army controlled
90 per cent of the city
• However, his men were now
running short of ammunition
and food
The Germans Run Out
of Supplies
• Despite these problems Paulus
decided to order another
major offensive on November
10th
• The German Army took heavy
casualties for the next two
days
• When the Red Army launched
a counterattack the Germans
was forced to retreat
southward
• Adolf Hitler ordered them to
stop and stand fast despite the
danger of encirclement
Hitler Promises Help
• Hitler promised that the
Luftwaffe would provide the
necessary supplies by air
• Throughout December the
Luftwaffe dropped an
average of 70 tons of
supplies a day
• The encircled German Army
needed a minimum of 300
tons a day
• The soldiers were put on
one-third rations and began
to kill and eat their horses
Hitler Promises Help
• By December the German Army
was living on one loaf of bread for
every five men
• Now aware that the army was in
danger of being starved into
surrender, Hitler ordered the 4th
Panzer Army to launch a rescue
attempt
• They managed to get within thirty
miles of Stalingrad but were
brought to a halt by the Red Army
• On December 27th, 1942, the
generals decided to withdraw as
they were in danger of being
encircled by Soviet troops
The German Army
Surrenders
• In Stalingrad over 28,000
German soldiers had died
in just over a month
• With little food left, the
order was given that the
12,000 wounded men
could no longer be fed
• Only those who could
fight would be given their
rations
The German Army
Surrenders
• On January 30th, 1943,
Adolf Hitler promoted to
Paulus to field marshal
and sent him a message
reminding him that no
German field marshal had
ever been captured
• Hitler was clearly
suggesting to Paulus to
commit suicide
• He declined and the
following day surrendered
to the Red Army
Consequences of
Operation Barbarossa
• The last of the Germans
surrendered on
February 2nd, 1943
• The battle for Stalingrad
was over
• Over 91,000 men were
captured
• 150,000 had died
during the siege
Consequences of
Operation Barbarossa
• German prisoners were
forced marched to
Siberia
• 45,000 died during the
march to the prisoner
of war camps
• Only about 7,000
survived the war