Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (named for Frederick Barbarossa, the medieval German ruler who, as myth had it, would rescue Germany in her time of need) was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941.[1] [2] Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2900km (1800mi) front.[3] , the largest invasion in the history of warfare. In addition to the large number of troops, Barbarossa involved 600,000 motor vehicles and 750,000 horses.[4] The ambitious operation marked both a manifestation of Hitler's persistent desire to conquer the Russian territories and the start of the battle which proved most pivotal in deciding the victors of the war. A study of Barbarossa allows an appreciation of the role of grave eminence which the Soviet Union played in the defeat of Nazi Germany; the operation resulted in 95% of all German casualties from 1941 to 1944 and 65% of all the allied military casualties accumulated throughout the war. Planning for Operation Barbarossa started on 18 December 1940; the secret preparations and the military operation itself lasted almost a year, from spring to winter 1941. The Red Army repelled the Wehrmacht's strongest blow, and Adolf Hitler did not achieve the expected victory, but the Soviet Union's situation remained dire. Tactically, the Germans won resounding victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the country, mainly in Ukraine.[5] Despite these successes, the Germans were pushed back from Moscow and could never mount an offensive simultaneously along the entire strategic Soviet-German front again.[6] Operation Barbarossa's failure led to Hitler's demands for further operations inside the USSR, all of which eventually failed, such as continuing the Siege of Leningrad,[7] [8] Operation Nordlicht, and Battle of Stalingrad, among other battles on the occupied Soviet territory.[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in human history in both manpower and casualties.[14] Its failure was a turning point in the Third Reich's fortunes. Most important, Operation Barbarossa opened up the Eastern Front, to which more forces were committed than in any other theater of war in world history. Operation Barbarossa and the areas that fell under it became the site of some of the largest battles, deadliest atrocities, highest casualties, and most horrific conditions for Soviets and Germans alike all of which influenced the course of both World War II and 20th century history. The German forces captured 3 million Soviet POWs, who did not enjoy the protection stipulated in the Geneva Conventions.[15] Most of them never returned alive.[16] They were deliberately starved to death in German camps as part of a Hunger Plan, i.e., the program to reduce the Eastern European population.[17]
German intentions
German theory regarding the Soviet Union
As early as 1925, Hitler suggested in Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") that he would invade the Soviet Union, asserting that the German people needed Lebensraum ("living space", i.e. land and raw materials) and that these should be sought in the East. Nazi racial ideology cast the Soviet Union as populated by "Untermenschen," ethnic Slavs ruled by their "Jewish Bolshevik" masters.[18] [19] Mein Kampf said Germany's destiny was to turn "to the East" as it did "six hundred years ago" and "the end of the Jewish domination in Russia will also be the end of Russia as a State."[20] Thereafter, Hitler spoke of an inescapable battle against "pan-Slav ideals", in which victory would lead to "permanent mastery of the world", though he said they would "walk part of the road with the Russians, if that will help us."[21] Accordingly, it was Nazi stated policy to kill, deport, or enslave the Russian and other Slavic populations and repopulate the land with Germanic peoples (see New Order). Timothy Snyder wrote that: Hitler imagined a colonial demodernization of the Soviet Union and Poland that would take tens of millions of lives. The Nazi leadership envisioned an eastern frontier to be depopulated and deindustrialized, and then remade as the agrarian domain of German masters. This vision had four parts. First, the Soviet state was to collapse after a lightning victory in summer 1941, just as the Polish state had in summer 1939, leaving the
Operation Barbarossa Germans with complete control over Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, western Russia, and the Caucasus. Second, a Hunger Plan would starve to death some thirty million inhabitants of these lands in winter 1941-1942, as food was diverted to Germany and western Europe. Third, the Jews of the Soviet Union who survived the starvation, along with Polish Jews and other Jews under German control, were to be eliminated from Europe in a Final Solution. Fourth, a Generalplan Ost foresaw the deportation, murder, enslavement, or assimilation of remaining populations, and the resettlement of eastern Europe by German colonists in the years after the victory.[17]
Operation Barbarossa When the Soviet Union was defeated, the labor shortage in German industry could be relieved by demobilization of many soldiers. Ukraine would be a reliable source of agricultural products. Having the Soviet Union as a source of forced labor under German rule would vastly improve Germany's geostrategic position. Defeat of the Soviet Union would further isolate the Allies, especially the United Kingdom. The German economy needed more oil and controlling the Baku Oilfields would achieve this; as Albert Speer, the German Minister for Armaments and War Production, later said in his interrogation, "the need for oil certainly was a prime motive" in the decision to invade.[32] On 5 December 1940, Hitler received military plans for the invasion, and approved them all, with the start scheduled for May 1941.[33] On 18 December, Hitler signed War Directive No. 21 to the German High Command for an operation now codenamed "Operation Barbarossa" stating: "The German Wehrmacht must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia in a quick campaign."[33] [34] The operation was named after Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, a leader of the Third Crusade in the 12th century. The invasion was set for 15 May 1941.[34] In the Soviet Union, speaking to his generals in December, Stalin mentioned Hitler's references to an attack on the Soviet Union in Mein Kampf, and said they must always be ready to repulse a German attack, and that Hitler thought the Red Army would need four years to ready itself. Hence, "we must be ready much earlier" and "we will try to delay the war for another two years."[35] In autumn 1940, high-ranking German officials drafted a memorandum on the dangers of an invasion of the Soviet Union. They said Ukraine, Belorussia and the Baltic States would end up as only a further Weisung Nr. 21: Fall Barbarossa economic burden for Germany.[36] Another German official argued that the Soviets in their current bureaucratic form were harmless, the occupation would not produce a gain for Germany and "why should it not stew next to us in its damp Bolshevism?"[36] Hitler ignored German economic naysayers, and told Hermann Gring that "everyone on all sides was always raising economic misgivings against a threatening war with Russia. From now onwards he wasn't going to listen to any more of that kind of talk and from now on he was going to stop up his ears in order to get his peace of mind."[37] This was passed on to General Georg Thomas, who had been preparing reports on the negative economic consequences of an invasion of the Soviet Union that it would be a net economic drain unless it was captured intact.[37] Beginning in March 1941, Gring's Green Folder laid out details of the Soviet Union's proposed economic disposal after the invasion. The entire urban population of the invaded land was to be starved to death, thus creating an agricultural surplus to feed Germany and allowing the urban population's replacement by a German upper class. In the summer of 1941, German Nazi-ideologist Alfred Rosenberg suggested that conquered Soviet territory should be administered in the following Reichskommissariates: Ostland (The Baltic countries and Belarus, extended eastward by about 500km) Ukraine (Ukraine, enlarged eastwards to the Volga)
Rudolf Hess and others at Heinrich Himmler's "Building and Planning in the East" March 1941 Exhibition
Operation Barbarossa Kaukasus (Southern Russia and the Caucasus region) Moskowien (Moscow metropolitan area and the rest of European Russia) Turkestan (Central Asian republics and territories) Nazi policy aimed to destroy the Soviet Union as a political entity in accordance with the geopolitical Lebensraum idea ("Drang nach Osten") for the benefit of future generations of the "Nordic Aryan master race" .[28]
We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down Adolf Hitler
Operation Barbarossa was to combine a northern assault towards Leningrad, a symbolic capturing of Moscow, and an economic strategy of seizing oil fields in the south beyond Ukraine. Hitler and his generals disagreed on which of these aspects should take priority and where Germany should focus its energies; deciding on priorities required a compromise. Hitler thought himself a political and military genius. While planning Barbarossa in 19401941, in many discussions with his generals, Hitler repeated his order: "Leningrad first, the Donetsk Basin second, Moscow third."[1] [38] Hitler was impatient to get on with his long-desired invasion of the east. He was convinced Britain would sue for peace, once the Germans triumphed in the Soviet Union, the real area of Germany's interests. General Franz Halder noted in his diaries that, by destroying the Soviet Union, Germany would destroy Britain's hope of victory. Hitler had grown overconfident from his rapid success in Western Europe and the Red Army's ineptitude in the Winter War against Finland in 19391940. He expected victory within a few months and therefore did not prepare for a war lasting into the winter. This meant his troops lacked adequate warm clothing and preparations for a longer campaign when they began their attack. The assumption that the Soviet Union would quickly capitulate would prove to be his undoing.[39]
German preparations
Further information: Lossberg study
When Barbarossa commences, the world will hold its breath and make no comment. Adolf Hitler
The Germans had begun massing troops near the Soviet border even before the campaign in the Balkans had finished. By the third week in February 1941, 680,000 German troops were stationed on the Romanian-Soviet border.[24] In preparation for the attack, Hitler moved 3.5 million German soldiers and about 1 million Axis soldiers to the Soviet border, launched many aerial surveillance missions over Soviet territory, and stockpiled materiel in the East. The Soviets were still taken by surprise, mostly due to Stalin's belief that the Third Reich was unlikely to attack only two years after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Soviet leader also believed the Nazis would be likely to finish their war with Britain before opening a new front. He refused to believe repeated warnings from his intelligence services on the Nazi buildup, fearing the reports to be British misinformation designed to spark a war between Germany and the USSR.[40] Spy Dr. Richard Sorge gave Stalin the exact German launch date; Swedish cryptanalysts led by Arne Beurling also knew the date beforehand, but Sorge and other informers (e.g. from Berlin Police dept.) had previously given different invasion dates which passed peacefully before the actual invasion. In addition, British intelligence gathering information through Ultra warned the Soviet Union of impending invasion several months prior to 22 June 1941.[41] The Germans set up deception operations, from April 1941, to add substance to their claims that Britain was the real target: Operations Haifisch and Harpune. These simulated preparations in Norway, the Channel coast and Britain. There were supporting activities such as ship concentrations, reconnaissance flights and training exercises. Some details of these bogus invasion plans were deliberately leaked.
Operation Barbarossa German military planners also researched Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia. In their calculations they concluded that there was little danger of a large-scale retreat of the Soviet army into the Russian interior, as it could not afford to give up the Baltic states, the Ukraine, or the Moscow and Leningrad regions, all of which were vital to the Red Army for supply reasons and would thus have to be defended.[42] The strategy Hitler and his generals agreed on involved three separate army groups assigned to capture specific regions and cities of the Soviet Union. The main German thrusts were conducted along historical invasion routes. Army Group North was to march through the Baltics into northern Russia, and either take or destroy the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). Army Group Center would advance to Smolensk and then Moscow, marching through what is now Belarus and the west-central regions of Russia proper. Army Group South was to strike the heavily populated and agricultural heartland of Ukraine, taking Kiev before continuing eastward over the steppes of the southern USSR to the Volga with the aim of controlling the oil-rich Caucasus. Hitler, the OKW and the various high commands disagreed about what the main objectives should be. In preparing for Barbarossa, most of the OKW argued for a straight thrust to Moscow, but Hitler kept asserting his intention to seize the resource-rich Ukraine and Baltics before concentrating on the Soviet capital. An initial delay, which postponed the start of Barbarossa from mid-May to the end of June 1941, may have been insignificant, especially since the Russian muddy season came late that year. However, more time was lost at various critical moments as Hitler and the OKW suspended operations in order to argue about strategic objectives. The Germans also decided to bring rear forces (mostly Waffen-SS units and Einsatzgruppen) into the conquered territories to counter the partisan activity they knew would erupt in areas they controlled.[28]
Soviet preparations
Despite the impressions of Hitler and others in the German high command, the Soviet Union was by no means weak. Rapid industrialization in the 1930s had led to industrial output second only to that of the United States, and equal to Germany. Production of military equipment grew steadily, and in the pre-war years the economy became progressively more oriented toward military production. In the early 1930s, a very modern operational doctrine for the Red Army was developed and promulgated in the 1936 field regulations. On 5 May 1941, Stalin gave a speech to graduates of military academies in Moscow declaring: "War with Germany is inevitable. If comrade Molotov can manage to postpone the war for two or three months that will be our good fortune, but you yourselves must go off and take measures to raise the combat readiness of our forces".[43]
Development of the armed forces of the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1941[44]
1 January 1939 Divisions calculated 131.5 Personnel Guns and mortars Tanks Aircraft 2,485,000 55,800 21,100 7,700 22 June 1941 316.5 5,774,000 117,600 25,700 18,700 % increase 140.7 132.4 110.7 21.8 142.8
According to Taylor and Proektor (1974), the Soviet armed forces in the western districts were outnumbered, with 2.6 million Soviet soldiers vs. 4.5 million for the Axis. The overall size of the Soviet armed forces in early July 1941, though, amounted to a little more than 5 million men, 2.6 million in the west, 1.8 million in the far east, with the rest being deployed or training elsewhere.[45] These figures, however, can be misleading. The figure for Soviet strength in the western districts of the Soviet Union counts only the First Strategic Echelon, which was stationed on and behind the Soviet western frontier to a depth of 400 kilometers; it also underestimates the size of the First
Operation Barbarossa Strategic Echelon, which was actually 2.9 million strong. The figure does not include the smaller Second Strategic Echelon, which as of 22 June 1941 was in process of moving toward the frontier; according to the Soviet strategic plan, it was scheduled to be in position reinforcing the First Strategic Echelon by early July. The total Axis strength is also exaggerated; 3.3 million German troops were earmarked for participation in Barbarossa, but that figure includes reserves which did not take part in the initial assault. A further 600,000 troops provided by Germany's allies also participated, but mostly after the initial assault. Total Axis forces available for Barbarossa were therefore in the order of 3.9 million. On 22 June, the German Wehrmacht achieved a local superiority in its initial assault (98 German divisions), including 29 armoured and motorized divisions, some 90% of its mobile forces, attacking on a front of 1200km (750mi) between the Baltic Sea and the Carpathian Mountains, against NKVD border troops and the divisions of the Soviet First Operational Echelon (the part of the First Strategic Echelon stationed immediately behind the frontier in the three western Special Military Districts) because it had completed its deployment and was ready to attack about two weeks before the Red Army was scheduled to have finished its own deployment with the Second Strategic Echelon in place. At the time, 41% of stationary Soviet bases were located in the near-boundary districts, many of them in the 200km (120mi) strip around the border; according to Red Army directive, fuel, equipment, railroad cars, etc. were similarly concentrated there.[46] Moreover, on mobilization, as the war went on, the Red Army gained steadily in strength. While the strength of both sides varied, in general the 1941 campaign was fought with a slight Axis numerical superiority in manpower at the front. According to Mikhail Meltyukhov (2000:477), by the start of war, the Red Army numbered altogether 5,774,211 troops: 4,605,321 in ground forces, 475,656 in air forces, 353,752 in the navy, 167,582 as border guards and 171,900 in internal troops of the NKVD. In some key weapons systems, however, the Soviet numerical advantage was considerable. In tanks, for example, the Red Army had a large quantitative superiority. It possessed 23,106 tanks,[47] of which about 12,782 were in the five Western Military Districts (three of which directly faced the German invasion front). However, maintenance and readiness standards were very poor; ammunition and radios were in short supply, and many units lacked the trucks needed for resupply beyond their basic fuel and ammunition loads. Also, from 1938, the Soviets had partly dispersed their tanks to infantry divisions for infantry support, but after their experiences in the Winter War and their observation of the German campaign against France, had begun to emulate the Germans and organize most of their armored assets into large armour divisions and corps. This reorganization was only partially implemented at the dawn of Barbarossa,[48] as not enough tanks were available to bring the mechanized corps up to organic strength. The German Wehrmacht had about 5,200 tanks overall, of which 3,350 were committed to the invasion. This yields a balance of immediately available tanks of about 4:1 in the Red Army's favor. The newest Soviet tank, the T-34, was arguably the best in the world, and the KV series the best armored. The most advanced Soviet tank models, however, the T-34 and KV-1, were not available in large numbers early in the war, and only accounted for 7.2% of the total Soviet tank force. But while these 1,861 modern tanks were technically superior to the 1,404 German medium Panzer III and IV tanks, the Soviets in 1941 still lacked the communications, training and experience to employ such weapons effectively. The Soviet numerical advantage in heavy equipment was also more than offset by the greatly superior training and readiness of German forces. The Soviet officer corps and high command had been decimated by Stalin's Great Purge (19361938). Of 90 generals arrested, only six survived the purges, as did only 36 of 180 divisional commanders, and just seven out of 57 army corps commanders. In total, some 30,000 Red Army personnel were executed,[49] while more were deported to Siberia and replaced with officers deemed more "politically reliable." Three of the five pre-war marshals and about two thirds of the corps and division commanders were shot. This often left younger, less experienced officers in their places; for example, in 1941, 75% of Red Army officers had held their posts for less than one year. The average Soviet corps commander was 12 years younger than the average German division
Operation Barbarossa commander. These officers tended to be very reluctant to take the initiative and often lacked the training necessary for their jobs. The number of aircraft was also heavily in the Soviets' favor. However, Soviet aircraft were largely obsolete, and Soviet artillery lacked modern fire control techniques.[50] Most Soviet units were on a peacetime footing, explaining why aviation units had their aircraft parked in closely bunched neat rows, rather than dispersed, making easy targets for the Luftwaffe in the first days of the conflict. Prior to the invasion the VVS (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily, Soviet Air Force) was forbidden to shoot down Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft, despite hundreds of prewar incursions into Soviet airspace. The Soviet war effort in the first phase of the Eastern front war was severely hampered by a shortage of modern aircraft. The Soviet fighter force was equipped with large numbers of obsolete aircraft, such as the I-15 biplane and the I-16. In 1941, the MiG-3, LaGG-3 and Yak-1 were just starting to roll off the production lines, but were far inferior in all-round performance to the Messerschmitt Bf 109 or later, the Fw 190, when it entered operations in September 1941. Few aircraft had radios and those that were available were unencrypted and did not work reliably. The poor performance of the VVS during the Winter War with Finland had increased the Luftwaffe's confidence that the Soviets could be mastered. The standard of flight training had been accelerated in preparation for a German attack that was expected to come in 1942 or later. But Soviet pilot training was extremely poor. Order No 0362 of the People's Commissar of Defense, dated 22 December 1940, ordered flight training to be accelerated and shortened. Incredibly, while the Soviets had 201 MiG-3s and 37 MiG-1s combat ready on 22 June 1941, only four pilots had been trained to handle these machines.[51] The Red Army was dispersed and unprepared, and units were often separated and without transportation to concentrate prior to combat. Although the Red Army had numerous, well-designed artillery pieces, some of the guns had no ammunition. Artillery units often lacked transportation to move their guns. Tank units were rarely well-equipped, and also lacked training and logistical support. Maintenance standards were very poor. Units were sent into combat with no arrangements for refueling, ammunition resupply, or personnel replacement. Often, after a single engagement, units were destroyed or rendered ineffective. The army was in the midst of reorganizing the armor units into large tank corps, adding to the disorganization. As a result, although on paper the Red Army in 1941 seemed at least the equal of the German army, the reality in the field was far different; incompetent officers, as well as partial lack of equipment, insufficient motorized logistical support, and poor training placed the Red Army at a severe disadvantage. In August 1940 British intelligence had received hints of German plans to attack the Soviets only a week after Hitler informally approved the plans for Barbarossa.[41] Stalin's distrust of the British led to his ignoring the warnings, believing it to be a trick designed to bring the Soviet Union into the war.[41] [52] In the spring of 1941, Stalin's own intelligence services and American intelligence made regular and repeated warnings of an impending German attack.[53] However, Stalin chose to ignore these warnings. Although acknowledging the possibility of an attack in general and making significant preparations, he decided not to run the risk of provoking Hitler.[54] He also had an ill-founded confidence in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which had been signed just two years before. Last, he also suspected the British of trying to spread false rumours in order to trigger a war between Germany and the USSR.[55] [56] Consequently, the Soviet border troops were not put on full alert and were sometimes even forbidden to fire back without permission when attacked though a partial alert was implemented on 10 April they were simply not ready when the German attack came.[52] Enormous Soviet forces were massed behind the western border in case the Germans did attack. However, these forces were very vulnerable due to changes in the tactical doctrine of the Red Army. In 1938, it had adopted, on the instigation of General Pavlov, a standard linear defence tactic on a line with other nations. Infantry divisions, reinforced by an organic tank component, would be dug in to form heavily fortified zones. Then came the shock of the Fall of France. The French Army, considered the strongest in the world, was defeated in a mere six weeks. Soviet analysis of events, based on incomplete information, concluded that the collapse of the French was caused by a
Operation Barbarossa reliance on linear defence and a lack of armored reserves. The Soviets decided not to repeat these mistakes. Instead of digging in for linear defence, the infantry divisions would henceforth be concentrated in large formations.[57] Most tanks would also be concentrated into 29 mechanized corps, each with over 1031 tanks.[58] Should the Germans attack, their armoured spearheads would be cut off and wiped out by the mechanized corps. These would then cooperate with the infantry armies to drive back the German infantry, vulnerable in its approach march. The Soviet left wing, in Ukraine, was to be enormously reinforced to be able to execute a strategic envelopment: after destroying German Army Group South, it would swing north through Poland in the back of Army Groups Centre and North. With the complete annihilation of the encircled German Army thus made inevitable, a Red Army offensive into the rest of Europe would follow.[59] [60]
Order of battle
Operation Barbarossa
Strength of the opposing forces on the Soviet Western border. 22 June 1941
Germany and allies Divisions Personnel Guns and mortars 166 4,306,800 42,601 Soviet Union 190 3,289,851 59,787 15,687 [66] 11, 537 [] Ratio 1 : 1.1 1.3 : 1 1 : 1.4 1 : 3.8 1 : 2.6
Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte) (Fedor von Bock) staged in Eastern Poland with (49 divisions): 4th Army (4. Armee) (Gnther von Kluge) 2nd Panzer Group (Panzergruppe 2) (Heinz Guderian) 3rd Panzer Group (Panzergruppe 3) (Hermann Hoth) 9th Army (9. Armee) (Adolf Strau) Air Fleet 2 (Luftflotte zwei) (Albert Kesselring)
Army Group South (Heeresgruppe Sd) (Gerd von Rundstedt) was staged in Southern Poland and Romania with (41 divisions): 17th Army (17. Armee) (Carl-Heinrich von Stlpnagel) Slovak Expeditionary Force (Ferdinand atlo) Royal Hungarian Army "Fast Moving Army Corps"(Bla Mikls) Initially part of a larger "Carpathian Group" (Karpat Gruppe) 1st Panzer Group (Panzergruppe 1) (Ewald von Kleist) 11th Army (11. Armee) (Eugen Ritter von Schobert) Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia, CSIR) (Giovanni Messe) 6th Army (6. Armee) (Walther von Reichenau) Romanian 3rd Army (Petre Dumitrescu) Romanian 4th Army (Tancred Constantinescu) Air Fleet 4 (Luftflotte vier) (Alexander Lhr) Staged from Norway a smaller group of forces consisted of: Army High Command Norway (Armee-Oberkommando Norwegen) (Nikolaus von Falkenhorst) with two Corps Air Fleet 5 (Luftflotte fnf) (Hans-Jrgen Stumpff) Numerous smaller units from all over Nazi-occupied Europe, like the "Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism" (Lgion des Volontaires Franais contre le Bolchvisme), supported the German war effort.
Operation Barbarossa
10
Operation Barbarossa
11
The invasion
Phase 1: The Frontier Battles (22 June 19413 July 1941)
At 03:15 on Sunday, 22 June 1941, the Axis bombed major cities in Soviet-occupied Poland. It is hard to pinpoint the opposing sides' strength in this initial phase, as most German figures include reserves allocated to the East but not yet committed, as well as several other comparability issues between the German and USSR's figures. Roughly three million Wehrmacht troops went into action on 22 June, and they faced slightly fewer Soviet troops in the border Military Districts. The contribution of the German allies would generally not make itself felt until later. The surprise German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa was complete: though the Stavka, alarmed by reports that Wehrmacht units were approaching the border, had at 00:30 ordered that the border troops be warned that war was imminent, only a small number of units were alerted in time. Aside from the roughly 3.2 million German ground troops engaged in, or earmarked for the Eastern Campaign, about 500,000 Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Croatian, and Italian troops accompanied the German forces, while the Army of Finland made a major contribution in the north. The 250th Spanish "Blue" Infantry Division was a formation of volunteered Spanish Falangists and Nazi sympathisers. Luftwaffe reconnaissance units worked frantically to plot troop concentration, supply dumps, and airfields, and mark them for destruction. The Luftwaffe's task was to neutralize the Soviet Air Force. This was not achieved in the first days of operations, despite the Soviets having concentrated aircraft in huge groups on the permanent airfields rather than dispersing them on field landing strips, making them ideal targets. The Luftwaffe claimed to have destroyed 1,489 aircraft on the first day of operations.[70] Hermann Gring Chief of the Luftwaffe distrusted the reports and ordered the figure checked. Picking through the wreckages of Soviet airfields, the Luftwaffe's figures proved conservative, as over 2,000 destroyed Soviet aircraft were found.[70] The Luftwaffe lost 35 aircraft on the first day of combat. The Germans claimed to have destroyed only 3,100 Soviet aircraft in the first three days. In fact Soviet losses were far higher: some 3,922 Soviet machines had been lost (according to Russian Historian Viktor Kulikov).[71] The Luftwaffe had achieved air superiority over all three sectors of the front, and would maintain it until the close of the year.[72] The Luftwaffe could now devote large numbers of its Geschwader (see Luftwaffe Organization) to support the ground forces.
Operation Barbarossa Invasion musical theme Each German invasion of a foreign country had an official musical theme that was frequently played for the purposes of Nazi propaganda over the totally government controlled radio stations after the invasion was officially announced to whip up enthusiasm for the military operation among the German population. The theme song for Operation Barbarossa was Les preludes by Franz Liszt. [73] Army Group North Opposite Army Group North were two Soviet armies. The Wehrmacht OKH thrust the 4th Panzer Group, with a strength of 600 tanks, at the junction of the two Soviet armies in that sector. The 4th Panzer Group's objective was to cross the Neman and Daugava Rivers which were the two largest obstacles in the advance to Leningrad. On the first day, the tanks crossed the River Neman and penetrated 50mi (80km). Near Raseiniai, the armoured units were counter attacked by 300 tanks of the 3rd and 12th Soviet Mechanized Corps. It took four days for the Germans to encircle and destroy the Soviet armour who lacked fuel, Crossing of the Daugava (Dvina) river by the ammunition and coordination. By the end of the first week the Soviet 20th Panzer Division [74] Mechanized Corps had lost 90% of its strength. The Panzer Groups then crossed the Daugava near Daugavpils. The Germans were now within striking distance of Leningrad. However, due to their deteriorated supply situation, Hitler ordered the Panzer Groups to hold their position while the infantry formations caught up. The orders to hold would last over a week, giving time for the Soviets to build up a defence around Leningrad and along the bank of the Luga River. Further complicating the Soviet position, on 22 June the anti-Soviet June Uprising in Lithuania began, and on the next day an independent Lithuania was proclaimed.[75] An estimated 30,000 Lithuanian rebels engaged Soviet forces, joined by ethnic Lithuanians from the Red Army. As the Germans reached further north, armed resistance against the Soviets broke out in Estonia as well. The "Battle of Estonia" ended on 7 August, when the 18th Army reached the Gulf of Finland coast.[76] Army Group Centre Opposite Army Group Centre were four Soviet armies: the 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th Armies. The Soviet Armies occupied a salient that jutted into German occupied Polish territory with the Soviet salient's center at Biaystok. Beyond Biaystok was Minsk, both the capital of Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and a key railway junction. AG Centre's two Panzer Groups' goal was to meet at Minsk, denying the Red Army an escape route from the salient. The 3rd Panzer Group broke through the junction of two Soviet Fronts in the north of the salient, and crossed the River Neman while the 2nd Panzer Group Captured Soviet equipment. crossed the Bug River river in the South. While the Panzer Groups attacked, the Wehrmacht Army Group Centre infantry Armies struck at the salient, eventually encircling Soviet troops at Biaystok. Moscow at first failed to grasp the dimensions of the catastrophe that had befallen the USSR. Marshall Timoshenko ordered all Soviet forces to launch a general counter-offensive, but with supply and ammunition dumps destroyed, and a complete collapse of communication, the uncoordinated attacks failed. Zhukov signed the infamous Directive of People's Commissariat of Defence No. 3 (he later claimed under pressure from Stalin), which ordered the Red Army to start an offensive. He commanded the troops to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping near Suwaki and
12
Operation Barbarossa to seize the Suwaki region by the evening of 26 June" and to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping invading in Vladimir-Volynia and Brody direction and even to seize the Lublin region by the evening of 24.6[77] This maneuver failed and disorganized Red Army units were soon destroyed by the Wehrmacht forces. On 27 June, 2 and 3 Panzer Groups met up at Minsk, advancing 200mi (320km) into Soviet territory and a third of the way to Moscow. In the vast pocket between Minsk and the Polish border, the remnants of 32 Soviet Rifle, eight tank, and motorized, cavalry and artillery divisions were encircled. Army Group South In the south, opposite Army Group South were three Soviet armies, the 5th, 6th and 26th. Soviet commanders reacted quicker and Germans faced determined resistance from the start. The German infantry Armies struck at the junctions of these armies while the 1st Panzer Group drove its armored spearhead of 600 tanks right through the Soviet 6th Army, aiming to take Brody. On 26 June, five Soviet mechanized corps with over 1,000 tanks mounted a massive counter-attack on the 1st Panzer Group. The Ukraine, early days of Barbarossa battle was among the fiercest of the invasion, lasting over four days; in the end the Germans prevailed, though the Soviets inflicted heavy losses on the 1st Panzer Group. With the Soviet counter-offensives' failure, the last substantial Soviet tank forces in Western Ukraine had been committed, and the Red Army assumed a defensive posture, focusing on a strategic withdrawal under severe pressure. The Soviet air arm, the VVS, lost 1,561 aircraft over Kiev.[78] The battle was a huge tactical (Hitler thought strategic) victory, but it had drawn the German forces away from an early offensive against Moscow, and had delayed further German progress by 11 weeks. General Kurt Von Tippleskirch noted, "The Russians had indeed lost a battle, but they won the campaign".[78]
13
Operation Barbarossa Summary of the first phase By the end of the first week, all three German Army Groups had achieved major campaign objectives. However, in the vast pocket around Minsk and Biaystok, the Soviets were still fighting; reducing the pocket was causing high German casualties and many Red Army troops were escaping. The usual estimated casualties of the Red Army amount to 600,000 killed, missing, captured or wounded.
14
Operation Barbarossa
15
Operation Barbarossa
16
Operation Barbarossa with Caulaincourt's book in his hand.[82] On 15 November, with the ground hardening due to the cold weather, the Germans once again began the attack on Moscow. Although the troops themselves were now able to advance again, there had been no delay allowed to improve the supply situation. Facing the Germans were the 5th, 16th, 30th, 43rd, 49th, and 50th Soviet armies. The Germans intended to let 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies cross the Moscow Canal and envelop Moscow from the northeast. 2nd Panzer Army would attack Tula and then close in on Moscow from the south. As the Soviets reacted to the flanks, 4th Army would attack the center. In two weeks of desperate fighting, lacking sufficient fuel and ammunition, the Germans slowly crept towards Moscow. However, in the south, 2nd Panzer Army was being blocked. On 22 November, Soviet Siberian units augmented with the 49th and 50th Soviet Armies attacked the 2nd Panzer Army and inflicted a shocking defeat on the Germans. However, 4th Panzer Army pushed the Soviet 16th Army back and succeeded in crossing the Moscow canal and began the encirclement. On 2 December, part of the 258th Infantry Division advanced to within 15mi (24km) of Moscow, and could see the spires of the Kremlin,[83] but by then the first blizzards of the winter began. A Reconnaissance-Battalion also managed to reach the town of Khimkisome 8km (5.0mi) away from Moscowand captured its bridge over the Moscow-Volga Canal as well as its railway station, which marked the farthest advance of German forces on Moscow.[84] [85] The Wehrmacht was not equipped for winter warfare. Frostbite and disease caused more casualties than combat, and dead and wounded had already reached 155,000 in three weeks. Some divisions were now at 50% strength. The bitter cold also caused severe problems for their guns and equipment, and weather conditions grounded the Luftwaffe. Newly built-up Soviet units near Moscow now numbered over 500,000 men, and on 5 December, they launched a massive counterattack which pushed the Germans back over 200mi (320km). The invasion of the USSR eventually cost the German Army over 250,000 dead and 500,000 wounded, the majority of whom became casualties after 1 October and an unknown number of Axis casualties such as Hungarians, Romanians and Waffen SS troops as well as co-belligerent Finns.
17
Events
Shirer argues that the fatal decision of the operation was the postponement from the original date of 15 May because Hitler wanted to intervene against an anti-German coup in Yugoslavia and Greek advances against Italy's occupation of Albania. However, this was just one of the reasons for the postponement the other was the late spring of 1941 in Russia, compounded by particularly rainy weather in June 1941 that made a number of roads in western parts of the Soviet German Soldiers with a destroyed Soviet KV1 Union impassable to heavy vehicles. During the campaign, Hitler tank at Kaunas ordered the main thrust toward Moscow to be diverted southward to help the southern army group capture Ukraine. This move delayed the assault on the Soviet capital, though it also helped secure Army Group Center's southern flank. By the time they turned to Moscow, the Red Army's fierce resistance, the mud following the autumn rains and, eventually, snow, brought their advance to a halt. In addition, resistance by the Soviets, who proclaimed a Great Patriotic War in defence of the motherland, was much fiercer than the German command had expected. The border fortress of Brest, Belarus illustrates that tenacity: attacked on the very first day of the German invasion, the fortress was expected to fall within hours, but held out over a week. (Soviet propaganda later asserted it held out for six weeks).[86] German logistics also became a major problem, as supply lines grew very long and vulnerable to Soviet partisan attacks in the rear. The Soviets carried out a scorched earth policy on some of the land they were forced to abandon in order to deny the Germans food, fuel, and buildings.
Operation Barbarossa Despite the setbacks, the German advance continued, often destroying or surrounding whole armies of Soviet troops and forcing them to surrender. The battle for Kiev was especially brutal. On 19 September Army Group South seized control of Kiev, and took 665,000 Soviets prisoner. Kiev was later awarded the title Hero City for its heroic defence. Army Group North, which was to conquer the Baltic countries and eventually Leningrad, reached the southern outskirts of Leningrad by August 1941. There, fierce Soviet resistance stopped it. Since capturing the city seemed too costly, German command decided to starve the city to death by blockade, starting the Siege of Leningrad. The city held out, despite several attempts by the Germans to break through its defenses, unrelenting air and artillery attacks, and severe shortages of food and fuel, until the Germans were driven back again from the city's approaches in early 1944. The siege resulted in the deaths of some one million of the city's inhabitants.[87] Leningrad was the first Soviet city to receive the title of 'Hero City'. In addition to the main attacks of Barbarossa, German forces occupied Finnish Petsamo in order to secure important nickel mines. They also launched the beginning of a series of attacks against Murmansk on 28 June 1941. That assault was known as Operation Silberfuchs.
18
Operation Barbarossa logistical collapse. The decision not to dig in the infantry divisions proved disastrous. Without tanks or sufficient motorization, Soviet troops could not wage mobile warfare against the Axis. Stalin's orders not to retreat or surrender led to static linear positions that German tanks easily breached, again quickly cutting supply lines and surrounding whole Soviet armies. Only later did Stalin allow his troops to retreat wherever possible and regroup, to mount a defense in depth, or to counterattack. More than 2.4 million Soviet troops had been captured by December 1941, by which time German and Soviet forces were fighting almost in the suburbs of Moscow. Until the end of the war, about three million Soviet prisoners were to die from exposure, starvation, disease, or willful mistreatment by the German regime.[89] Despite the Axis failure to achieve Barbarossa's initial goals, the huge Soviet losses caused a shift in Soviet propaganda. Before the onset of hostilities against Germany, the Soviet government had said its army was very strong. But, by autumn 1941, the Soviet line was that the Red Army had been weak, that there had not been enough time to prepare for war, and that the German attack had come as a surprise.
19
Outcome
The climax of Operation Barbarossa came when Army Group Center, already short on supplies because of the October mud, was ordered to advance on Moscow; forward units of the 2nd Panzer Division's 38th Panzer Pioneer Battalion (38PzPi.Abtl.)[90] (armored engineers) came within sight of the spires of the Kremlin when they reached the rail line just south of the town of Lobnya, 16km (9.9mi) from Moscow, on 1 December 1941. Soviet troops, well supplied and reinforced by fresh divisions from Siberia, defended Moscow in the Battle of Moscow, and drove the Germans back as the winter advanced. The bulk of the counter-offensive was directed at Army Group Center, which was closest to Moscow. With no shelter, few supplies, inadequate winter clothing, chronic food shortages, and nowhere to go, German troops had no choice but to wait out the winter in the frozen wasteland. The Germans avoided being routed by Soviet counterattacks but suffered heavy casualties from battle and exposure. At the time, the seizure of Moscow was considered the key to victory for Germany. Nowadays, historians debate whether the loss of the Soviet capital would have caused collapse; but Operation Barbarossa failed to achieve that goal. In December 1941, Germany joined Japan in declaring war against the United States.
The outcome of Operation Barbarossa hurt the Soviets at least as badly as the Germans, however. Although the Germans had failed to take Moscow outright, they held huge areas of the western Soviet Union, including the entire regions of what are now Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states, plus parts of Russia proper west of Moscow. German forces had advanced 1050mi (1690km), and maintained a linearly measured front of 1900mi (3100km).[91] The Germans held up to 500000 sqmi ( km2) of territory with over 75 million people at the end of 1941, and went on to seize another 250000 sqmi ( km2) before being forced to retreat after defeats at Stalingrad and Kursk. However, the occupied areas were not always properly controlled by the Germans and underground activity rapidly escalated. Wehrmacht occupation was brutal from the start, due to directives issued by Hitler himself at the operation's start, according to which Slavic peoples were considered a race of Untermenschen. This attitude alienated the population, while in some areas (such as Ukraine) it seems that some local people had been ready to consider the Germans as liberators helping them to get rid of Stalin. Anti-German partisan operations intensified when Red Army units that had dissolved into the country's large uninhabited areas re-emerged as underground forces, and under the German repressive policies. The Germans held on stubbornly in the face of Soviet counterattacks, resulting in huge
Operation Barbarossa casualties on both sides in many battles. The war on the Eastern Front went on for four years. The death toll may never be established with any degree of certainty. A recent estimate of Soviet military deaths is 8.7 million that lost their lives either in combat or in Axis captivity.[92] Soviet civilian deaths remain under contention, though roughly 20 million is a frequently cited figure. German military deaths are also to a large extent unclear. The most recent German estimate (Rdiger Overmans) concluded that about 4.3 million Germans and a further 900,000 Axis forces lost their lives either in combat or in Soviet captivity. Operation Barbarossa is listed as the single most lethal military operation in world history. The Soviet Union had not signed the Geneva Convention (1929). However, a month after the German invasion in 1941, an offer was made for a reciprocal adherence to the Hague convention. This 'note' was left unanswered by Third Reich officials.[93]
20
Operation Barbarossa
21
Weather
A paper published by the U.S. Army's Combat Studies Institute in 1981 concluded that Hitler's plans miscarried before the onset of severe winter weather. He was so confident of quick victory that he did not prepare for even the chance of winter warfare in the Soviet Union. Moreover, his eastern army suffered more than 734,000 casualties (about 23% of its average strength of 3,200,000 troops) in the first five months of the invasion, and on 27 November 1941, General Eduard Wagner, Quartermaster General of the German Army, reported "We are at the end of our resources in both personnel and material. We are about to be confronted with the dangers of deep winter."[97] The German forces were unready to deal with harsh weather and the poor road network of the USSR. In autumn, terrain slowed the Wehrmacht's progress. Few roads were paved. The ground in the USSR was very loose sand in summer, sticky muck in autumn, and heavy snow in winter. German tanks had narrow treads with little traction and poor flotation in mud. In contrast, the new generation of Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV had wider tracks and were far more mobile in these conditions. The 600,000 large western European Horses in sticky muck, March 1942 horses the Germans used for supply and artillery movement did not cope well with this weather. The smaller horses the Red Army used were much better adapted to the climate and could even scrape the icy ground with their hooves to dig up the weeds beneath. German troops were mostly unprepared for the harsh weather changes in the autumn and winter of 1941. Equipment had been prepared for such winter conditions, but the severely overstrained transport network could not move it to the front. Consequently, the troops lacked adequate cold-weather gear, and some soldiers had to pack newspapers into their jackets to stay warm while temperatures dropped to below 40 C (40 F). While at least some cold weather uniforms were available, they rarely reached the Eastern Front because Hitler ordered that supply lines give more priority to shipments of ammunition and fuel. To operate furnaces and heaters, the Germans also burned
Operation Barbarossa precious fuel that was in short supply. Soviet soldiers, in contrast, often had warm, quilted uniforms, felt-lined boots, and fur hats. German weapons malfunctioned in the cold. Lubricating oils were unsuitable for these temperatures, leading to engine malfunction and misfiring weapons. To load shells into a tanks main gun, frozen grease had to be chipped off with a knife. Soviet units faced less severe problems due to their experience with cold weather. Aircraft had insulating blankets to keep their engines warm while parked. Lighter-weight oil was used. German tanks and armored vehicles could not move due to a lack of antifreeze, causing fuel to solidify. Because few Russian roads were paved, when the rains and snow came in late October and early November, most of the main roads turned to mud and with a combination of longer supply lines, the German advance stalled within sight of the spires of Moscow. The Soviet December 1941 counteroffensive led primarily by Siberian troops trained for harsh winter combat recently arriving from the east along with the numerous T-34 tanks held in reserve advanced up to 100mi (160km) in some sectors, showed that mobile warfare was still possible in the Russian winter. When the severe winter began, Hitler feared a repetition of Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow. He ordered the German forces to hold their ground defiantly in the face of Soviet counterattacks. This became known as the "stand or die" order. While some historians have argued that this order prevented the Germans from being routed, others contend that this order restricted Germany's ability to conduct mobile defensive warfare and led to heavy casualties from battle and cold.
22
Aftermath
With the failure in the Battle of Moscow, all German plans of a quick defeat of the Soviet Union had to be revised. The Soviet counter offensives in the Winter of 1941 caused heavy casualties on both sides, but ultimately lifted the German threat to Moscow. Nevertheless despite this setback, the Soviet Union suffered heavily from the loss of large parts of its army, allowing the Germans to mount another large-scale offensive in the summer of 1942, called Case Blue, now directed to the oil fields of Baku. This offensive again failed in the same way as Barbarossa, the Germans conquering vast amounts of no-mans-land, but ultimately failing to achieve their final goals with the defeat at Stalingrad. With the now running Soviet war economy, the Soviet Union was able to simply outproduce the Germans who were not prepared for a long war of attrition. This way the last German all out offensive in 1943 in the Battle of Kursk failed. 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 8 May 1945.
Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Higgins, Trumbull (1966), Hitler and Russia, The Macmillan Company, pp.1159, 98151 Bryan I. Fugate. Strategy and tactics on the Eastern Front, 1941. Novato: Presidio Press, 1984. World War II Chronicle, 2007. Legacy/ Publications International, Ltd. Page 146. Yad vashem Chronology of the Holocaust (http:/ / www1. yadvashem. org/ about_holocaust/ chronology/ 1939-1941/ 1941/ chronology_1941_9. html) A.J.P Taylor & Colonel D. M Proektor, p. 106 A.J.P. Taylor & Colonel D. M Proektor 1974, p. 107 Simonov, Konstantin (1979). "Records of talks with Georgi Zhukov, 19651966" (http:/ / www. hrono. ru/ dokum/ 197_dok/ 1979zhukov2. html). Hrono. . Life and Death in Besieged Leningrad, 194144 (Studies in Russian and Eastern European History), edited by John Barber and Andrei Dzeniskevich. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005 (hardcover, ISBN 1-4039-0142-2). The siege of Leningrad. By Alan Wykes. Ballantines Illustrated History of WWII, 3rd edition, 1972. Pages 961, and, Scorched Earth. (pages 205 240) By Paul Carell. Schiffer Military History, 1994. ISBN 0-88740-598-3 and, Finland in the Second World War. Between Germany and Russia. Palgrave. 2002. (pp. 90 141)
[10] Military-Topographic Directorate, maps No. 194, 196, Officer's Atlas. General Staff USSR. 1947. . . ., - ,- 1947. 194, 196 [11] Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 19411945 ISBN 0-14-027169-4 by Richard Overy Page 91
Operation Barbarossa
[12] The World War II. Desk Reference. Eisenhower Center Director Douglas Brinkley. Editor Mickael E. Haskey. Grand Central Press, Stonesong Press, HarperCollins, 2004. ISBN0-06-052651-3. Page 210. [13] Siege of Leningrad. Encyclopdia Britannica (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ bps/ topic/ 335949/ Siege-of-Leningrad#tab=active~checked,items~checked>/ bps/ topic/ 335949/ Siege-of-Leningrad& title=Siege of Leningrad -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia) [14] Peter Antill, Peter Dennis. Stalingrad 1942. Osprey Publishing, 2007, ISBN 1-84603-028-5, 9781846030284. p. 7. [15] "Soviet Prisoners of War: Forgotten Nazi Victims of World War II" (http:/ / www. historynet. com/ soviet-prisoners-of-war-forgotten-nazi-victims-of-world-war-ii. htm). historynet.com. . Retrieved 2011-06-22. "Before Operation Barbarossa began in 1941, the Wehrmacht determined that Soviet prisoners taken during the upcoming campaign were to be withdrawn from the protection of international and customary law. Orders issued to subordinate commands suspended the German military penal code and the Hague Convention, the international agreement that governed the treatment of prisoners. Although the Soviets had not signed the Geneva Convention regarding POWs, the Germans had. Article 82 of the convention obliged signatories to treat all prisoners, from any state, according to the dictates of humanity." [16] Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners (p. 290) "2.8 million young, healthy Soviet POWs" killed by the Germans, "mainly by starvation ... in less than eight months" of 194142, before "the decimation of Soviet POWs ... was stopped" and the Germans "began to use them as laborers". [17] Timothy Snyder (2010). " Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=n856VkLmF34C& pg=& dq& hl=en#v=onepage& q=& f=false)". Basic Books. p.416. ISBN 0465002390 "When the Soviet Union defended itself and no lightning victory could be won, Hitler and the German leadership adapted the three remaining plans to the new situation... The Hunger Plan was abandoned in its original conception, and applied only to areas under total German control. Thus a million people were purposefully starved in besieged Leningrad and more than three million Soviet prisoners of war died of starvation and neglect. As the war continued, the Germans began to use prisoners as forced laborers, rather than allowing most of them to starve." [18] Bendersky,Joseph W., A History of Nazi Germany: 19191945, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, ISBN 0-8304-1567-X, page 177 [19] Mller, Rolf-Dieter, Gerd R. Ueberschr, Hitler's War in the East, 19411945: A Critical Assessment, Berghahn Books, 2002, ISBN 157181293, page 244 [20] Shirer 1990, p.716 [21] Rauschning, Hermann, Hitler Speaks: A Series of Political Conversations With Adolf Hitler on His Real Aims, Kessinger Publishing, 2006, ISBN 142860034, pages 1367 [22] "Modern History Sourcebook: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 1939 (http:/ / www. fordham. edu/ halsall/ mod/ 1939pact. html): Text of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact" [23] Roberts, Geoffrey (2006), Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 19391953, Yale University Press, pp.30, ISBN0300112041 [24] Shirer, William L., The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, Simon and Schuster, 1990 ISBN 0-671-72868-7, page 668-9 [25] Roberts, Geoffrey (2006), Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 19391953, Yale University Press, pp.57, ISBN0300112041 [26] Roberts, Geoffrey (2006), Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 19391953, Yale University Press, pp.59, ISBN0300112041 [27] Nekrich, Aleksandr Moiseevich; Ulam, Adam Bruno; Freeze, Gregory L. (1997), Pariahs, Partners, Predators: German-Soviet Relations, 19221941, Columbia University Press, pp.202205, ISBN0231106769 [28] Hartmann, Christian (2011), "Warum 'Unternehmen Barbarossa'?" (in German), Damals 43 (6): 1621. [29] Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle, p. 127 [30] Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle, p. 129130 [31] Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle, p. 138 [32] Yergin, Daniel (1991), The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN0-671-79932-0 p. 334 [33] Overy, R. J. (2004), The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN0393020304 [34] Brackman, Roman (2001), The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life, Frank Cass Publishers, ISBN0714650501 [35] Berthon, Simon; Potts, Joanna (2007), Warlords: An Extraordinary Re-creation of World War II Through the Eyes and Minds of Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, Da Capo Press, ISBN0306815389 [36] Gorodetsky, Gabriel (2001), Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia, Yale University Press, pp.6970, ISBN030008459 [37] Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle, p. 162 [38] Bryan I. Fugate. Operation Barbarossa. Strategy and tactics on the Eastern Front, 1941. Novato: Presidio Press, 1984. [39] Albert Speer identifies these points in the The World At War series in the episode "Barbarossa". [40] Whaley, Barton:_ Codeword BARBAROSSA, Cambridge, London 1973, ISBN 0-262-73038-3, pp.110. [41] Waller 1996, p. 192. [42] Rich, Norman (1973). Hitler's War Aims: Ideology, the Nazi State, and the Course of Expansion, 212. W. W. Norton & Company Inc., New York/London. [43] N. Lyashchenko, 'O vystuplenii I. V. Stalina v Kremle, 5 maya 1941', Volkogonov Papers, reel no.8, p.1. [44] Meltyukhov 2000:446 (http:/ / militera. lib. ru/ research/ meltyukhov/ 11. html) Table composed by the author according to: . .4. .18; 50 . ., 1968. .201; . T.I. M., 1976, .56; (19411945 .).
23
Operation Barbarossa
1 (22 1941.). ., 1994. .1012; . .71. .25. .4134. .18; .5139. .1; . .29. .46. .272. .2021; : , 19391945. ., 1995. .390400; . .38261. .1. .255. .175177, 340349; .38650. .1. .617. .258260; .38262. .1, .41. .8384; . .1562. .329. .277. .146, 62, 139; .282. .344. [45] A.J.P Taylor & D. M Proektor,p98 [46] Meltyukhov 2000:414 [47] N.P.Zolotov and S.I. Isayev, "Boyegotovy byli...", Voenno-Istorichesskiy Zhurnal, N 11: 1993, p. 77 [48] The Russian Front by James F. Dunnigan, Arms & Armour Press 1978, p 82, 88 ISBN 0-85368-152-X [49] Rayfield 2004, p. 315. [50] Dunnigan, Russian Front, pp 9394 [51] Bergstrm, p11-12 [52] Glantz & House 1995, p. 42. [53] Waller 1996, pp. 1968. [54] Waller 1996, p. 202. [55] Roberts 1995, p. 1293. [56] Wold at War series: Volume 5. Supported by Dr. Grigori Tokaty (19092003), defected to Britain 1947. [57] Roberts 1995, p. 1297-1298 [58] Glantz 1991, p. 96. [59] Roberts 1995, p. 1212-14. [60] Roberts 1995, p. 1309-1310. [61] Teddy J. Uldricks. The Icebreaker Controversy: Did Stalin Plan to Attack Hitler? Slavic Review, Vol. 58, No. 3 (Autumn, 1999), pp. 626643 [62] Andr Mineau. Operation Barbarossa: ideology and ethics against human dignity Rodopi, 2004. ISBN 978-90-420-1633-0 [63] Chris Bellami. Absolute war. Soviet Russia in the Second World War. Vinage, 2007. ISBN 9870375724718. p.103. [64] Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives, Anchor, (1997) ISBN 0-385-47954-9, pages 454459 "In view of the fact that Germany at present keeps its army fully mobilized with its rear services deployed, it has the capacity of deploying ahead of us and striking a sudden blow. To prevent this I consider it important not to leave the operational initiative to the German command in any circumstances, but to anticipate the enemy and attack the German army at the moment when it is in the process of deploying and before it has time to organize its front and the coordination of its various arms". [65] R. C. Raack Reviewed work(s):Was the USSR Planning to Attack Germany in 1941? by Joseph Bradley Source: Central European History, Vol. 32, No. 4 (1999), pp. 491493) [66] Bergstrm 2007, p. 130:Uses figures from German archives. Bundesarchiv-Militararchiv, Frieburg; Luftfahrtmuseum, Hannover-Laatzen; WASt Deutsche Dienststelle, Berlin [67] Meltyukhov 2000, (electronic version) (http:/ / militera. lib. ru/ research/ meltyukhov/ index. html). Note that because Russian archives have been and to an extent still are inaccessible, exact figures have been difficult to ascertain. The official Soviet sources invariably over-estimated German strength and downplayed Soviet strength, as emphasized by David Glantz (1998:292). Some of the earlier Soviet figures claimed that there had been only 1,540 Soviet aircraft to face Germany's 4,950; that there were merely 1,800 Red Army tanks and assault guns facing 2,800 German units etc. In 1991, Russian military historian Mikhail Meltyukhov published an article on this question ( .. 22 1941 .: // . 1991. 3) with other figures that slightly differed from those of the table here, though had similar ratios. Glantz (1998:293) was of the opinion that those figures appear[ed] to be most accurate regarding Soviet forces and those of Germany's allies, though other figures also occur in modern publications. [68] Keith E. Bonn (ed.), Slaughterhouse: Handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005, p.299 [69] John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, Cassel Military Paperbacks, 2003 edition, p.172 [70] Bergstrm 2007, p. 20 [71] Bergstrom 2007, p. 23. [72] Glantz & House 1995, p. 49. [73] Review of movie Das Boot mentions Franz Liszts Les Preludes as the theme song for Operation Barbarossa: (http:/ / www. jamesbowman. net/ reviewDetail. asp?pubID=394) [74] Glantz & House 1995, p. 51. [75] (Lithuanian)[[Category:Articles with Lithuanian language external links (http:/ / ic. lms. lt/ ml/ 161/ zemlickas. htm)] Gediminas Zemlickas. Pasaulyjekaip savo namuose, Mokslo Lietuva, 11 February 1998, No. 3 (161)] [76] Bergstrom 2007, p. 36. [77] as cited by Suvorov: http:/ / militera. lib. ru/ research/ suvorov7/ 12. html [78] Bergstrom 2007, p. 70. [79] According to http:/ / www. soldat. ru/ doc/ casualties/ book/ chapter5_13_08. html based on German sources (see site reference page) [80] Tartu in the 1941 Summer War (http:/ / www. bdcol. ee/ fileadmin/ docs/ bdreview/ bdr-2003-9-13. pdf). By Major Riho Rngelep and Brigadier General Michael Hesselholt Clemmesen (2003). Baltic Defence Review 9 [81] Glantz & House 1995, p. 77.
24
Operation Barbarossa
[82] A. Clark 1995, p. 165. [83] Shirer, William (1964), The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Pan, pp.1032 [84] Henry Steele Commager, The Story of the Second World War, p. 144 [85] Christopher Argyle, Chronology of World War II Day by Day, p. 78 [86] "A Day By Day Diary of WWII" (http:/ / www. bartcop. com/ 41081218. htm). . Retrieved 13 June 2006. See also Charles Messenger, The Chronological Atlas of World War Two (New York: Macmillan Publishing 1989), p. 63. [87] Timothy Snyder (2010). Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=n856VkLmF34C& pg=& dq& hl=en#v=onepage& q=& f=false). Basic Books. p.173. ISBN 0465002390 [88] Chiari, Bernhard (2011), "Die abgewendete Katastrophe" (in German), Damals 43 (6): 3237. [89] "Der Krieg, den Hitler wollte" (in German), Damals 43 (6): 3031, 2011. [90] Straus, Franz Joseph, Die Geschichte der 2.(Weiener)Panzer Division, pg 337. DRFLER im NEBEL VERLAG, Eggolsheim DE. [91] Glantz, David, The Soviet-German War 194145: Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay, 11 October 2001, page 7 [92] Michael Ellman and S. Maksudov Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War: A Note. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 46, No. 4, Soviet and East European History (1994), pp. 671-680 [93] Beevor, Stalingrad. Penguin 2001 ISBN 0-14-100131-3 p60 [94] German Attack of USSR ISBN 80 7237 279 3 [95] van Creveld, Martin. Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton Cambridge, 1977. ISBN 0-421-29793-1 [96] "Deutsche Reichsbahn The German State Railway in WWII" (http:/ / www. feldgrau. com/ dreichsbahn. html). . Retrieved 2011-03-28. [97] "CSI" (http:/ / www. cgsc. edu/ carl/ resources/ csi/ Chew/ CHEW. asp). . Retrieved 2 April 2010.
25
References
Bellamy, Christopher (2007). Absolute War: Soviet Russia in World War Two. New York: Knopf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-375-41086-4 Bergstrom, Christer (2007). Barbarossa The Air Battle: JulyDecember 1941. London: Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-85780-270-2. Bethell, Nicholas., TimeLife (2000). tok na SSSR : druh svtov vlka (Attack on the USSR: World War II). Prague: Svojtka & Co. ISBN 80-7237-279-3. Clark, Alan (1965). Barbarossa: The RussianGerman Conflict, 194145. New York: Willam Morrow & Co.; 1985 (Paperback, ISBN 0-688-04268-6). Ericson, Edward E. (1999), Feeding the German Eagle: Soviet Economic Aid to Nazi Germany, 19331941, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN0275963373 Erickson, John (2003). The Road to Stalingrad. London: Cassell Military. ISBN 0-304-36541-6. Erickson, John and Dilks, David eds (1994). Barbarossa: The Axis and the Allies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 1994 (hardcover, ISBN 0-7486-0504-5); 1998 (paperback, ISBN 0-7486-1111-8). Frster, Jrgen; Mawdsley, Evan (2004). "Hitler and Stalin in Perspective: Secret Speeches on the Eve of Barbarossa", War in History, Vol.11, Issue1., pp.61103. Farrell, Brian P (1993). "Yes, Prime Minister: Barbarossa, Whipcord, and the Basis of British Grand Strategy, Autumn 1941", The Journal of Military History, Vol.57, No.4., pp.599625. Glantz, David M., Col (rtd.) (1991). Soviet Military Operational Art: In Pursuit of Deep Battle. London: Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-4077-8. Glantz, David M. (2001). Barbarossa: Hitler's invasion of Russia, 1941. Gloucestershire: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-1979-X. Glantz, David M. (1998). Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War. Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-0879-6. Glantz, David M. (2005). Colossus Reborn: the Red Army at War, 19411943. Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1353-6. Gorodetsky, Gabriel (2001). Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia. Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08459-5. Hoffmann, Joachim. (2001). Stalin's War of Extermination. Capshaw, Alabama: Theses& Dissertations Press. ISBN 0-9679856-8-4.
Operation Barbarossa Kay, Alex J.: Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 19401941. (Studies on War and Genocide, vol. 10) Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford 2006, ISBN 1-84545-186-4. Kershaw, Robert J. (2000). War Without Garlands: Operation Barbarossa, 1941/42. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-2734-X. Kirchubel, Robert. (2003). Operation Barbarossa 1941 (1): Army Group South. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-697-6. Kirchubel, Robert. (2005). Operation Barbarossa 1941 (2): Army Group North. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-857-X. Krivosheyev, G. (1993). Grif sekretnosti snyat. Poteri vooruzhonnyh sil SSSR v voynah, boevyh deystviyah i voyennyh konfliktah, Voenizdat. Moscow. Krivosheev, G.F. ed. (1997). Soviet casualties and combat losses in the twentieth century. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-280-7. Available online (http://www.rus-sky.org/history/library/w/) in Russian. Koch, H.W. (1983). "Hitler's 'Programme' and the Genesis of Operation 'Barbarossa'", The Historical Journal, Vol.26, No.4., pp.891920. Latimer, Jon. (2001) Deception in War. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5605-8. Lubbeck, William; Hurt, David B. (2006). At Leningrad's Gates: The Story of a Soldier with Army Group North. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Casemate. ISBN 1-932033-55-6. Macksey, Kenneth. (1999). Why the Germans Lose at War: The Myth of German Military Superiority. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-383-8. Maser, Werner. (1994). Der Wortbruch: Hitler, Stalin und der Zweite Weltkrieg ( The breach of promise: Hitler, Stalin and World War II). Munich: Olzog. 1994 (hardcover, ISBN 3-7892-8260-X); Munich: Heyne, 2001 (paperback, ISBN 3-453-11764-6). Megargee, Geoffrey P. (2006). War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941. Lanham, Massachusetts: Rowman & Littelefield. (Hardcover, ISBN 0-7425-4481-8; paperback, ISBN 0-7425-4482-6). Murphy, David E. (2005). What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa. New Haven, Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. 2005 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-10780-3); 2006 (paperback, ISBN 0-300-11981-X). Reviewed by Robert Conquest at The American Historical Review, Vol.111, No.2. (2006), p.591. Nekrich, Aleksandr Moiseevich. (1968). "22 June 1941; Soviet Historians and the German Invasion". Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-134-X. Pleshakov, Constantine. (2005). Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of World War Two on the Eastern Front. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-36701-2. Raus, Erhard. (2003). Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 19411945, compiled and translated by StevenH. Newton. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. 2003 (hardcover, ISBN 0-306-81247-9); 2005 (paperback, ISBN 0-306-81409-9). Rayfield, Donald. (2004). Stalin and his Hangmen. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-100375-8 Reviewed by David R. Snyder in The Journal of Military History, Vol.69, No.1. (2005), pp.265266. Roberts, Cynthia. (1995). "Planning for War: The Red Army and the Catastrophe of 1941". Taylor and Francis Publishers. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 47, No. 8, pp.12931326. Rees, Laurence. (1999). War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin. New York: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-599-4. Shirer, William L. (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. New York: Simon and Schuster. (1964 Pan Books Ltd. reprint, ISBN 0-330-70001-4). Stolfi, R.H.S. (2003). German Panzers on the Offensive: Russian Front. North Africa, 19411942. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 0-7643-1770-9.
26
Operation Barbarossa Suvorov, Viktor. (2007). The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World WarII. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books. ISBN 1-59797-114-6. Taylor, A.J.P. and Mayer, S.L., eds. (1974). A History of World War Two. London: Octopus Books. ISBN 0-7064-0399-1. van Creveld, Martin. (1977). Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-421-29793-1. Waller, John. (1996). The Unseen War in Europe: Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War. London: Tauris & Co. ISBN 978-1-86064-092-6. Weeks, AlbertL. (2002). Stalin's Other War: Soviet Grand Strategy, 19391941. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman& Littlefield. 2002 (hardcover; ISBN 0-7425-2191-5); 2003 (paperback, ISBN 0-7425-2192-3). Wegner, Bernd ed. (1997). From Peace to War: Germany, Soviet Russia, and the World, 19391941. Providence, Rhode Island: Berghahn Books. ISBN 1-57181-882-0. Reviewed by Peter Konecny, Canadian Journal of History, Vol.34 Issue2. (August, 1999) pp.288290. Wieczynski, Joseph L.; Fox, J.P. (1996). "Operation Barbarossa: The German Attack on The Soviet Union, 22 June 1941", The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol.74, No.2., pp.344346. Ziemke, Earl F. (1987). Moscow to Stalingrad: Decision in the East. Washington DC: United States Army Center of Military History; 1988: New York: Military Heritage Press. ISBN 0-88029-294-6. Ziemke, Earl F. (1966). Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East. Washington DC: United States Army Center of Military History; Honolulu, Hawaii: University Press of the Pacific, 2003 (paperback, ISBN 1-4102-0414-6). , .. (2000). . : 19391941 (, , ). scow: . Available online (http://militera.lib.ru/research/ meltyukhov/index.html) in Russian. , . (2003). : . scow: AST. ISBN 5-17-007876-5. Available online (http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov3/index.html) in Russian. Pictures taken by German soldiers during this operation: http://worldwar2photos.info/ lt. Kolobanov and KV-2. Notable engagements of KV series against outnumbering enemy forces: http://wio.ru/ tank/ww2tank.htm
27
External links
Marking 70 Years to Operation Barbarossa (http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/barbarossa/index. asp?WT.mc_id=wiki) on the Yad Vashem website Operation Barbarossa (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Operation_Barbarossa/) Original reports and pictures from The Times Comprehensive photo gallery of Operation Barbarossa from The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/ 2011/07/world-war-ii-operation-barbarossa/100112/) newspaper. Relationship between the campaigns in the Balkans and the invasion of Russia (http://www.history.army.mil/ books/wwii/balkan/20_260_5.htm) and associated timeline (http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/ balkan/append.htm) in The German Campaigns in the Balkans a publication of the United States Army Center of Military History Multimedia map (http://english.pobediteli.ru/)Covers the invasion of Russia including Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/barbarossa.aspx)Detailed analysis of the operation by author Bevin Alexander. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Current Intelligence. The Soviet History of World War II (http://www. foia.cia.gov/CPE/CAESAR/caesar-25.pdf), 28October 1959.
Operation Barbarossa Huge very detailed online map on 22 June 1941. Dislocation of Soviet and German airforce and ground units in one hour before invasion. (http://www.krunch.ru/page/june22/)
28
29
30
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/