Great Patriotic War Recap

Operation Barbarossa

-          Invasion scheduled for 1 June, by Hitler, but was delayed due to problems with Italian allies in Yugoslavia, meaning the operation was re-set for 22^nd June. Short-term, not significant, long term was as it made cut short the time-window for completion of the operation, before winter weather intervened. Germany's mistake.

-          Aim was to have three huge army groups spearhead, one north through the Baltic States towards Leningrad, South and east into Ukraine, and one a central thrust towards Moscow, as the aims were to not just get military glory, but to seize control over Soviet economy and eradicate communism.

-           Hitler believed that many Soviets would see them as “liberators” and welcome the invasion. Germany's mistake.

Stalinist reaction

-          Stalin miscalculated the effectiveness of the Nazi-Soviet pact, meaning he was unprepared for war in June 1941.

-          He took no action even when foreign sources warned Stalin that German invasion was imminent, due to not wanting to, and in fear of taking action incase an invasion wasn’t happening. Bad leadership.

-          Lead to Stalin to hide away for 2 weeks possibly after having a panic attack, leaving radio broadcasts to Molotov till 3^rd July.

-          He was prepared to move hte government away from Moscow to Samara on the Volga and only decided to stay at the last moment.

-          Tone changed to patriotism and religion, different from the terror in 1930s, and turned to hatred of the Nazi’s and friendship with Churchill. Propaganda.

-          Stalin relied for too long on many inferior commanders, who were promoted for political reasons after the purge.

-          In September 1941, he helped cause a massive defeat of his southern armies at Kiev by refusing to allow them to retreat until it was too late, and he also showed no urgency in defending Leningrad after it was besieged.

-          Stavka- created on 23^rd June 1941 only became an effective mechanism to run the war after a long line of defeats.

-          Stalin was saved by the size of Russia, population and geography, the severity of Russian winter and by the patriotism of the Soviet people. Luck.

-          Was helped by advance information about the intentions of Japan provided by “master spy” Richard Sorge, saving him for ma two-front war. Luck.

-          Pearl Harbor- led to the Grand Alliance, which led to lend-lease. Luck.

June 1941- October 1942

-          German advancement was huge, large soviet armies were encircled and defeated at Minsk and Smolensk.

-          Near Kiev, 665,000 Soviet troops were captured.

-          On all fronts, there were catastrophic losses of Soviet aircraft.

-          Half a million Soviet troops surrendered after the fall of Kiev on 19^th September.

-          15^th October- soviet leadership offered negotiations for a compromise peace, Hitler disregarded this as he wanted total victory.

-          November- weather worsened and Soviet defenses hardened- 27^th November led to German forces being halted 20km from Moscow.

-          5^th December- the advancement on Moscow was halted.

-          Operation Barbarossa failed to an extent for Germany.

-          1942- Germany was ready to launch another offensive- Case Blue, towards Caucasus oilfields.

-          German forces made large advancements in eastern Ukraine, leading to the fall of Rostov on the Don in July- one of the lowest moments for the USSR in the whole Great Patriotic War.

-          Offensive was sidetracked by Hitler diverting forces to capture Stalingrad, on the Volga, leading to Stalin putting immense efforts into defending the city, and pushing the Germans back from the Caucasus.

October 1942- August 1943

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