WHAT WAS OPERATION BARBAROSSA ALL ABOUT??
This was the German invasion on the Soviet Union but many people don't know the specifics about it.
This was the German invasion on the Soviet Union but many people don't know the specifics about it.
WIKIPEDIA.ORG
This is a .org site. More than three hyperlinks work. At the bottom is the last day it was modified. Ways to contact the author.
USHMM.ORG
.org site. More than three hyperlinks work. The author may be contacted.
HISTORY.COM
Has ways to contact the author. Has the currency/copyright date at the bottom. More than three hyperlinks work.
The Germans struggled to the gates of Moscow where Soviet counterattacks stopped them in early December(website 3). The Germans broke their Nazi-Soviet pact and invaded Russia. On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of two thousand miles (Website 3). This was the largest German invasion in WW2. Millions of soldiers went off to fight. In desperate conditions, they conducted a slow retreat as Soviet attacks threatened to envelop much of their forces in a defeat as disastrous as that which befell Napoleon’s Grand Army in 1812. In the end the Soviets overreached, and the Germans restored a semblance of order to the front; the spring thaw in March 1942 brought operations to a halt. But Barbarossa had failed, and Nazi Germany confronted a two-front war that it could not win (Website 3.)
As early as 1925, Hitler suggested in Mein Kampf 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 (Website 1). The Germans destroyed the Soviet Air force. They trapped millions of Soviet soldiers. They had to surrender and later died from starvation. The ambitious operation was driven by Adolf Hitler's persistent desire to conquer the Soviet territories as embodied in Generalplan Ost. (Website 1). The Soviets were ordered to attack and they couldn't retreat because they would be killed by their own men. Because of this, they lost so many men but that had to do what it took to win. Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in world history in both manpower and casualties. (website 1)
Yet after months of campaigning, the German army was exhausted. Having expected a rapid Soviet collapse, German planners had failed to equip their troops for winter warfare. Everyone who was involved in the war was scared of fighting a two-front war because they know they would lose. This strategic plan from Hitler made it successful to conquer almost all of Europe. Yet after months of campaigning, the German army was exhausted. Having expected a rapid Soviet collapse, German planners had failed to equip their troops for winter warfare. Expecting their military personnel to live off the land of a conquered Soviet Union at the expense of the indigenous population, which in German calculations, would starve to death in the millions, German planners had failed to provide sufficient food and medicines. Worse still, German troops, advancing rapidly, outran their supply lines, rendering thinly defended flanks vulnerable to Soviet counterattack along the 1,000 mile stretch from Berlin to Moscow (Website 2). Hitler wanted to eliminate the Jews who were in Russia. From the beginning of operational planning, German military and police authorities intended to wage a war of annihilation against the Communist state as well as the Jews of the Soviet Union, whom they characterized as forming the "racial basis" for the Soviet state (Website 2).
As early as 1925, Hitler suggested in Mein Kampf 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 (Website 1). The Germans destroyed the Soviet Air force. They trapped millions of Soviet soldiers. They had to surrender and later died from starvation. The ambitious operation was driven by Adolf Hitler's persistent desire to conquer the Soviet territories as embodied in Generalplan Ost. (Website 1). The Soviets were ordered to attack and they couldn't retreat because they would be killed by their own men. Because of this, they lost so many men but that had to do what it took to win. Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in world history in both manpower and casualties. (website 1)
Yet after months of campaigning, the German army was exhausted. Having expected a rapid Soviet collapse, German planners had failed to equip their troops for winter warfare. Everyone who was involved in the war was scared of fighting a two-front war because they know they would lose. This strategic plan from Hitler made it successful to conquer almost all of Europe. Yet after months of campaigning, the German army was exhausted. Having expected a rapid Soviet collapse, German planners had failed to equip their troops for winter warfare. Expecting their military personnel to live off the land of a conquered Soviet Union at the expense of the indigenous population, which in German calculations, would starve to death in the millions, German planners had failed to provide sufficient food and medicines. Worse still, German troops, advancing rapidly, outran their supply lines, rendering thinly defended flanks vulnerable to Soviet counterattack along the 1,000 mile stretch from Berlin to Moscow (Website 2). Hitler wanted to eliminate the Jews who were in Russia. From the beginning of operational planning, German military and police authorities intended to wage a war of annihilation against the Communist state as well as the Jews of the Soviet Union, whom they characterized as forming the "racial basis" for the Soviet state (Website 2).