[Lia K]

‘Given the extent of the initial collapse, the outcome of the war with Germany was remarkable.’ Discuss

[Julien B]

The USSR at War

Birth of Operation Barbarossa:

Fuhrer Command n°21, or Operation Barbarossa as it is better known, was the German plan of attack. The plan centres on a main thrust towards Moscow, with a subsidiary thrusts towards Kiev in the South and Leningrad in the North.
The Wehrmacht assigned to the war with Russia was divided into 3 groups.
Army Group North, under Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb would launch its attack from East Prussia and would head towards Leningrad, and was supposed to roll up on its right so as to trap whatever Russian troops remained against the Baltic Coast.
Army Group Center under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock would stage an encirclement action from the start, starting from the Pripet Marshes that divided the Front, too finally encompass Minsk and Smolensk.
Army group South under the leadership of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt mustered from the South of Poland and from Romania. The two flanks of Army Group South would converge on Kiev and trap whatever troops were between it and the West of the Dnieper River.
Unfortunately for Operation Barbarossa, the operation started a month late as the German forces were encountering difficulties in Greece and Yugoslavia campaigns. Perhaps this one-month of difference would have allowed for Germany to reach Moscow?

Stalin’s Foreign policy:
The reasons for this sudden Soviet collapse can mainly be laid at Stalin’s doorstep. Stalin’s deficient judgement of Hitler’s politic standing and of his intentions gave up all action Germany’s hands. Stalin fanatically pursued peace, freezing all troop movements and mobilization in Russia in hope that this would not give Hitler an excuse to attack. He even ordered the withdrawal of the border troops that held the new Soviet border in the middle of Poland. Stalin’s stupidity even went as far as discounting 3 different sources of intelligence that were warning Stalin of Operation Barbarossa, right down to the exact date of the operation. Since the 1930’s the Soviet war engine was rigged for an all out attack that would deliver a crushing blow to the enemy, instead, Stalin put the USSR in a position where it lost all offensive initiative to Germany.

The State of the forces:
USSR:
The subject of the last three 5 Year plans were for the USSR to get its armies up to speed and ready for the coming of war.
As such, the forces at the disposal of the USSR were immense. Some estimate the USSR’s tank motor pool numbering as high as 24 000, although of these only 10 000 were not obsolete. The USSR’s air force was twice or three times as large as the Luftwaffe, but was a dump, only a small percentage was good to fly. Only 2.3 million troops were actually stationed anywhere near the Eastern front, after all, the USSR had huge borders to defend.
Germany:
Germany pulled resources from all of conquered Europe to participate in Operation Barbarossa. The Wehrmacht numbered 3 million men, while the Luftwaffe had mustered 2500 aircraft. The Luftwaffe, which had been the pride of Germany since World War I nad whose loss to the Peace Treaties had enraged Germany had undergone much change during the Battle of Britain. Indeed, the RAF had made sure that the Luftwaffe that faced them would not be the same Luftwaffe. The interim between the Battle of Britain and Operation Barbarossa was enough to make up for loss of airplanes, but not of pilots, gone was the battle-hardened veteran Luftwaffe. The Wehrmacht brought with it 7000 artillery pieces, in addition to 19 of the infamous Panzer divisions. Joining these, were 500 000 troops from Finland under the command of Baron Carl G. E. Mannerheim, and 250 000 Romanian troops.

The opening stage:
The German plans paid off, as the USSR collapsed in record time, a front line being established from Leningrad, to Moscow and to Stalingrad. Modern historians stipulate that as high as 60% of Soviet losses suffered during WWII were suffered during the initial campaign of 1941-42. The infamous purges meant that the few experienced and valuable officers that the Russian Army had, had been executed or thrown out of the army. Meanwhile, Germany was also undergoing major change. Hitler, exasperated fired the German Oberkommando in charge of the Easter Front and began to order troops with no respect to the chain of command. As a result, the Field Marshals in charge of army Group North, Centre and South all resigned, along with a smattering of Generals. To note, the German forces had made excellent time, establishing a front going from Leningrad in the North, to Moscow in the Centre and Kiev in the South, meanwhile capturing 1.5 million Soviet troops.

The turning point:
The first resounding Russian victory of the war has to be the Battle of Moscow, where the Wehrmacht, frozen in its tracks by general Winter a mere 40 miles from Moscow was then beaten by counter attacking Russian forces. The German forces thought themselves so superior that they had not provided for the war lasting till the winter season, so their vehicles were not prepped for the winter, nor were the troops. On the other hand, the Russian counter attack was overwhelmingly strong, ready for the cold and outnumbering the Germans, pushing them back. This marks the first time Hitler allowed for a retreat, as the victorious Russian forces split up and ambitiously decided to encircle Army Group Center.

The Battle of Stalingrad was to be the turning point in the war against Germany. I will not even try to walk you through the hell of modern urban warfare, the constant counter attacks, withdrawals, encirclements, shelling and such. Exact bodycounts are impossible due to the nature of the fighting, but we can at leats attempt to recognise the starting forces. The Russians, who were commanded by vasily Chukov, and later Nikita Kruchevh numbered over 600 000 troops, while the Wehrmacht counted 250 000 troops with an additional 250 000 Allies, mostly Finns. Having concentrated much of its resources on Stalingrad, the USSR had gambled, if they had been defeated, the German forces would of roll up on the left flank of the Central Front and most certainly, the War would have ended. But Germany was defeated, surrendering. German momentum had been stopped, now the Russians would go on the offensive, with dire consequences for Germany. But the battle took a terrible toll on each army, over a million Russian troops were killed, in addition to 100 000 civilian casualties. But the Wehrmacht was much more worse for wear. A whole German Army was taken captive and they suffered 500 000 casualties. But the body count was meaningless and the battle of Stalingrad finally denounced the myth of German invincibility.



Pulling Victory from the Jaws of Defeat:
After the Russian victory at Stalingrad, the USSR finally got the momentum to begin it’s “operations of annihilation”.

Battle of Kursk:
The USSR was victorious at the tank Battle of Kursk which lasted from July 4th 143 to July 22nd of the same year. Still the largest ever engagement of armour in the history of warfare, the Battle of Kursk was in fact much more indecisive than we could think. The Russian forces let the German forces, led by Erich von Manstein batter themselves against the Russian defense and then went on the counter attack, a tactic that they often used throughout the war. Georgi Zhukov, the commander of the Russian forces had a total of 1.3 Million troops at his disposal, while von Manstein only had 900 000. Even then, the offensive capabilities of the Wehrmacht were still incredible, the German forces inflicted 85 000 casualties on the Russian forces, not including 1600 tanks and over 450 aircraft. On the other hand, the Wehrmacht suffered 56 000 casualties, excluding a loss of 1 000 tanks.

Whereupon the USSR retook Kiev during the course of November 1943 and then Leningrad by 1944 .

Battle of Leningrad:
The battle of Leningrad lasted for much of the war, the city under siege from elements of the Wehrmacht and Finnish troops. Hitler was convinced of the strategic importance of Leningrad and imposed on Army group North to take it at all costs. Having encircled the city, the Germans then took the railroads, thereupon cutting off the city from supplies and aid. Because of this, over half a miilion people died of starvation in the first year. Finally, the People’s Soviet of Leningrad managed to lay a railroad across the frozen lake Ladoga, allowing a fresh input of soldiers and supplies. Additionally, 550 000 people were evacuated from the city.

From then on, the Soviet steam roller was in effect and the USSR rolled up into Germany, crushing much opposition and was the first to reach Berlin.

The offensive into Germany was a grand affair, concentrating much of the Russian forces. But even though the Wehrmacht was horribly weakened, due to failures in assembly lines and lack of supplies, the army fought bitterly, allowing for refugees to flee west into Germany.


Battle of Berlin:
By April 1, 1945, the Russians were outside Berlin. They built up for two weeks, knowing that Berlin would be heavily contested. The Western Allies planned to drop

paratroops to take Berlin, but decided against it. Eisenhower saw no need to suffer casualties taking a city that would be in the Soviet sphere of influence once the war was over.
Adolf Hitler, who never thought Berliners supported him the way he deserved, decided to remain in the city. Some think he remained to punish the city for lack of support in the early days of Nazism; more likely there was nowhere to go. The Battle of Berlin would be the deciding conflict between Nazism and Communism.
The offensive began with thousands of artillery and rockets called “Stalin Organs” for their hideous shrieking noise opening a huge sustained barrage for days. On April 16, the First and Second Belorussian Fronts and the First Ukrainian Front, which boxed in Berlin from the North, West, and South, attacked. By April 24 the three army groups had completed the encirclement of the city.
On April 20, Hitler ordered the Twelfth Army facing the Americans and the Ninth Army to break into Berlin and relieve the siege. Neither unit was able to get through.
Berlin’s fate was sealed, but the resistance continued. Fighting was heavy, with house-to-house and hand-to-hand combat. The Soviets sustained 305,000 dead; the Germans sustained as many as 325,000, including civilians.
On April 30, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun, took cyanide and shot himself. Berlin surrendered on May 2. Soviet soldiers ransacked the city, raping 100,000 German women of all ages and looting anything of value.