Russia At war: Political Authority And Opposition

• June 1941: Germany launched a three pronged attack- Operation Barbarossa. But they failed to capture Moscow in in November and the Red Army launched a successful counter offensive.
• 1942: Germany concentrated on the Caucasus oil fields in the South. 1943: Soviets repulsed the attack on Stalingrad.  Summer 1943: tank battle in Kursk confirmed that the initiative had passed to the Soviets. July 1945: the Soviets reached Berlin.
• Operation Barbarossa had German troops invade the Soviet Union and initially, the Soviets seemed to be facing imminent defeat.
• Stalin seemed shocked and confused even though his agents had warned of an imminent attackyet Stalin never expected the Nazi-Soviet pact to be long-lasting and it was only meant to win a ‘breathing space'.
• Stalin immediately met with the politburo yet later withdrew to the his dacha and did not appear in public for ten days. This created confusion. He left the public announcement to Molotov possibly because he couldn’t bring himself to make it.
• The war required a clearly defined structure of governmental and political authority. It Stalin over a week to establish this. He may have been affected by depression or he may have deliberately taken time to plan his strategies.
• Stalin set up the State Defence Committee (GKO) which brought centralised control to a peak as it gained power over all existing Party and state bodies. But it did rely on local authorities and managers. Deserved credit for the wartime economy- 50% of GDP mobilised compared to 20% for other countries.
• The Stavka was responsible for land, sea and air operations. Stalin only became chairman on the 8th August as he wanted to distance himself from early failures.  Security apparatus remained under control of Beria.
• From July 1941 all authority lay with Stalin. His authority was not questioned but he let his military commanders plan campaigns and removed incompetant officers.
• Stalin ordered the evacuation of the government but still held the Red Square parade as a display of resistance.
• His speech of 3 July united the nation and rekindled patriotism rather than emphasising the threat to socialism.
• He removed Marshals Voroshilov and Budyenny and replaced them with men of talent who were brought back from gulags. He relied heavily on Georgi Zhukov.
• There wasn’t a complete revolution as Hitler had hoped. But there were large numbers in national minority areas who welcomed the Germans and thousands became collaborationists and Hilfswillige (willing to help)
• Russian Liberation Movement under Andrey Vlasov was formed in the Ukraine and eventually became a division of the Waffen-SS which had 50,000 soldiers fight against the Red Army.
• Over a million (including 250,000 Cossacks) joined Hitler but many were only allowed to perform lesser jobs. Nazi ideology and massacres inspired large partisan units.
• When Stalingrad was threatened in July 1942. Stalin issued order 227, ‘Not One Step Backwards’ which killed more than 150,000.
• Penal battalions were created from those who broke dicipline where they were forced to undertake the most dangerous jobs such as clearing minefields. Around 50% were killed in these groups. ‘Blocking units’ were added to NKVD units to prevent desertion or retreat.