Operation Barbarossa

• Situation for the USSR by the end of `1941:

  1. Over 3 million red army soldiers captured
  2. Iron and steel production (used for weapons) dropped by 60%
  3. Germany in control of 45% of the Soviet population
• Reasons for initial defeat in Operation Barbarossa

  1. Red Army caught by surprise (Stalin ignored warnings)
  2. Purges - experienced officers were lacking (many were hastily released from the Gulags)
  3. Stalin forbade troops from retreating - many encircled/captured easily
  4. Soviet union were leaderless for one week
  5. German army were formidable and very confident
  6. Blitzkreig - had little effective defence systems
• Operation Barbarossa began on the 22 of June 1941.
• Reasons for Survival of the Soviet Union

  • Barbarossa delayed for 5 weeks
  • 16.5 million people + 1500 factories moved toward the west
  • The conditions in Russia were very cold (-35 degrees) and German troops were not prepared, so many got frostbite.
• Industry beyond rural mountains could not be reached and so was protected from German attack.

  Stalin offered motivation to the people, and stayed in Moscow.

  Anything of value that couldn't be moved to the West/rural areas was burnt.
• 1941

  • Three days after the initial invasion in operation Barbarossa, the soviet air force was almost completely destroyed
  • In September, Operation Typhoon was launched to capture Moscow. Leningrad is surrounded by German and Finnish forces and a 900-day siege begins.
  • December: The first Russian counter attack is launched, pushing German forces back from Moscow.
• 1942

  • Spring: An early soviet offensive (attack) fails
  • June: The Germans launch their summer offensive to capture oilfields of the Caucasus
  • July: Germans take Sevastopol
  • August: German forces begin fighting in Stalingrad
• 1943

  • January: Germans surrender at Stalingrad and the Red Army begins a slow advance
  • July: The largest tank battle in history takes place at Kursk. The Germans are defeated, losing 2900 tanks and 70000 men are killed.
  • December: By this point, 2/3s of German-occupied territory has been recaptured
• 1944

  • The siege of Leningrad is ended by a huge soviet offensive.
  • June: Operation Bagration launched, and 2.4 million soviet soldiers, 5200 tanks and 5300 aircraft advance through Belorussia and into Poland
  • August: Soviet forces enter Romania and Bulgaria
• 1945

  • January: Warsaw, Poland's capital, falls to the red army
  • February: Soviet forces cross over into Germany
  • April: A total of 4000 red army tanks, 23000 artillery pieces and 4000 aeroplanes are massed for the assault on Berlin
  • May: Germany surrenders unconditionally