Operation Barbarossa – June 22, 1941

1. Operation Barbarossa – June 22, 1941 • Recap: • Hitler motivated by Lebensraum • Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 1939 • Invasion of Poland 1939 • France surrenders 1940 • Battle of Britain stalemate 1940 He invades Russia. WWHD? Haotian, Callie, Jordan, Asna, Eric

2. Mini Thesis Prior to 1941, Hitler assumed his army was infallible due to numerous nearly consecutive victories with the use of Blitzkrieg tactics. Though Operation Barbarossa was successful, it was not the quick decisive blow Hitler anticipated it to be. Because the Germans failed to capture Moscow, the Red Army proved Hitler’s forces not as invincible. This failure ensured that the Eastern Front would not close with a swift and decisive blow, instead leading to deadly a war of attrition for the Germans.

3. Who invades Russia? North Army: Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Secure Baltic States + Leningrad Central Army: Feodor von Bock Push to Moscow South Army: Gerd von Runstedt Secure Ukraine + Crimea

4. This Catches Stalin off Guard Attack on Moscow June 22, 1941 -Operation Typhoon: order for attack on Moscow -Hitler launched aerial surveillance missions over Soviet territory -Almost reached Moscow by December -Veered off path on way to Moscow to help southern army capture Ukraine  less supplies and had to fight during harsh Winter -Closest troops to Moscow was Kremlin -Focus shifted to Stalingrad The Red Army wasn’t prepared, especially because Stalin killed all the officers in the great purges. Germans: 3,316,200 men, 4442 aircraft, 3988 vehicles Russians: 3,310,000 men, 10,775 aircraft, 15,470 vehicles

5. Important Cities Leningrad Moscow Stalingrad

6. German Strategy 25:17 26:19 27:13

7. Who won? • Germans win, but not by enough • Central Army did not get Moscow • Operation was not the quick decisive blow that Hitler thought it would be • Ended on January 7, 1942

8. The Siege of Leningrad Haotian, Eric K, Asna, Callie, Jordan

9. What Was The Siege of Leningrad? -major objective of Operation Barbarossa -lasted from July 10, 1941 to January 27, 1944 (900 days) Why Was Leningrad Important in the War? -represented the Russian Revolution and morale of USSR -city held 11% of the USSR’s war production Leningrad Siege began July 10, 1941

10. Leningrad was cut off July 8 But the Finns refused to advance The city was constantly bombed and supplies had to be brought in through Lake Ladoga

11. Lasted from July 10, 1931 to January 27, 1944 • Led by Von Leeb (Germany) and Mannerheim (Finland) • Originally 2.5 million civilians • January 12, 1943, Red Army launched Operation Iskra (Spark) to lift the siege • In all, over 1 million people died (40% of population) "In those days there was something in a man's face which told you that he would die within the next twenty-four hours...I have lived in Leningrad all my life, and I also have my parents here. They are old people, and during those famine months I had to give them half my officer's ration, or they would certainly have died. As a staff officer I was naturally, and quite rightly, getting considerably less than the people at the front: 250 grams a day instead of 350.” -Soviet officer

12. The Battle of Stalingrad The battle that really screwed Germany. (everyone died)

13. Thesis Carrying an arrogant attitude after the overwhelming logistical success that the Wehrmacht achieved in both the Fall of France and Operation Barbarossa, Adolf Hitler approved an all-out assault on the Caucasus regions to crush the Red Army in a decisive blow. Overextended and under-supplied, the German 6th Army found nothing but death and encirclement at the gates of Stalingrad. The resulting annihilation of the Axis forces shook the image of the invincible German war machine and turned the tide on the Eastern Front. Low on morale and without strategic reserves, the Wehrmacht was forced into a war of attrition and a defensive war on multiple fronts, where Allied war mobilization bled Germany dry.

14. The Background • Though the Germans were not completely successful in annihilating the Soviet Union’s command center in Moscow in Operation Barbarossa, the Germans achieved success in pitched battle. Casualty ratios were over 5:1 in favor the Germans. German Panzers and the Luftwaffe completely outclassed Soviet armor and air units. • Hitler decided to push their summer campaign of 1942 toward the southern part at the Caucasus region. • The German Wehrmacht had not yet been defeated in one major instance in the entire Soviet campaign. • Hitler had supreme confidence after numerous botched operations administered by the Red Army during the Winter War. • The utter defeat of France with extremely limited casualties convinced Hitler that even with the failure of Operation Barbarossa, the war would be effectively over within the summer campaign of 1942. He was wrong. Very wrong • Hitler had reason to be confident though, with Ukraine and other countries of the Bloodlands under his grasp, with steady supply lines. • The eventual irony of this operation was that Stalingrad was not necessary for the overall success of the control of the Caucasus

15. Operation Case Blue

16. Pre-war Post War

17. The Battle of Stalingrad (August 23, 1942 to February 2nd, 1943) On August 23, the 6th Army finally reached Stalingrad, after the Russian 62nd and 64th Armies were pushed back to form a defensive line at the Stalingrad front. The Luftwaffe launched a massive air raid, crushing the supply lines on the Volga River and reducing the entire city into a pile of rubble. Stalin transferred all available units into the 62nd Army, the main defending force under the command of General Chuikov. Stalin also refused to evacuated the city, stating that the soldiers would fight harder for a living city, subjecting the citizens of Stalingrad to heavy bombardment and eventual starvation. The Luftwaffe had complete air dominance over the Soviet Air Force. However, within the city of rubble, close quarters combat negated the strafing runs of the Luftwaffe and the armor dominance within 4th Panzer Army, as the rubble rendered tanks immobile. Chuikov ordered the Red Army to hug the Germans and mimic their every move to avoid strafing runs. The Germans effectively foiled their own style of war, blitzkrieg, by leveling the city. The Russian mantra was “Not a step back”. The Soviets could not retreat and held to each supply depot to the death. Life expectancy for a Red Army soldier was less than 24 hours. A Soviet officer had around 72 hours to live. Stalingrad was the first primal example of urban warfare. Germans called it, Rattenkrieg, or the Rat War. Position would depend upon not who controlled parts of a city, but who controlled parts of a house or sewer.

18. Pavlov’s House

19. Operation Uranus • Though the 6th Army would eventually hold 90% of Stalingrad, its troops were beleaguered, and running low and supplies and ammunition. In addition, the Russian winter was setting in again. • Georgy Zhukov noticed the poor Hungarian and Romanian units defending the German flanks and the defensive line at the Don River. • On November 19th, 1942, the Red Army launched Uranus with over one million troops. The northern flank of the Germans was destroyed and the 6th Army was completely encircled within Stalingrad. • Over 200,000 elite German soldiers were captured within the pocket, alongside 65,000 additional Romanian and Italian soldiers. • Erich von Manstein thought he could led his Army Group A in an attempt to re-supply the 6th Army, and Hitler personally ordered that the 6th Army should hold their position. • Hitler tried to supply the 6th Army with the Luftwaffe supply drops from the air, but the supplies received were not sufficient to keep the 6th army alive in the harsh Russian winter. Soviet anti-aircraft fire also destroyed 488 German aircraft. • The Soviets launched Operation Little Saturn on December 16th, 1942 and destroyed any hope of saving the 6th Army. • Without ammo, fuel and supplies, the Germans slowly began to freeze and starve to death, unable to surrender due to Hitler’s decree. • On the February 2nd, 1943, Paulus finally surrendered. Around 100,000 POWs were taken and over 20 German generals were held prisoner.

20. Hold on a minute… I would just like to point out that in Operation Uranus, the Red Army exploited the weak flank of the Germans so they could strategically attack the 6th army from the rear. That is all.

21. Operation Uranus

22. Red Army Strength 1,142,000 infantry 900 T-34 Models 1100+ aircraft Casualties 1.12 million casualties 40,000 civilians dead 4,341 tanks destroyed 2770 aircraft Casualties/Initial Strength German Strength 1,040,000 infantry (430,000 German) 500 Tanks 400 Operational Aircraft Casualties 850,000 casualties 91,000 POWs of the 6th Army 1500 Tanks 744 Aircraft

23. Timeline • July 17, 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad begins as the Luftwaffe begins to bomb the city and Soviet shipping on the Volga River • August 23, 1942 - Panzer column reaches Volga River just north of Stalingrad • September 13, 1942 - German ground offensive starts in the city • November 19, 1942 - Red Army begins Operation Uranus to encircle German 6th Army • November 23, 1942 - Encirclement is complete trapping roughly 290,000 Axis troops • December 12, 1942 - Field Marshal von Manstein's army group launches an attack to relieve the 6th Army in Stalingrad. German advance is pushed back by the Soviets. • February 2, 1943 - German troops trapped at Stalingrad surrender

24. Georgy Zhukov VasilyChuikov Nikita Khrushchev Commanders Erich von Manstein Friedrich Paulus Adolf Hitler

25. Impact Stalingrad was the turning point of the Eastern Front. The Wehrmacht would never be able to launch a successful offensive operation again. After Kursk, the Wehrmacht would be in full retreat. The overwhelming amount of territorial gains within Case Blue was completely lost. The Soviets now held the offensive initiative and had time to mobilize reserves from Siberia The armies of Germany’s allies had been lost completely, except for the Fins. The previous invincibility associated with the Wehrmacht was completely gone, and the once inevitable victory of Nazi Germany now seemed as an inevitable defeat. This was the first time that the Russians had similar casualty ratios with the Germans. The Russians could sustain this attrition. The Germans could not. Germany was not prepared to move into total war yet, and its manufacturing power was nowhere near the power of the Russians or the U.S Germany now had to fight both the Western powers and the Russians on two fronts. The Luftwaffe had been severely weakened, and lacked the power to hold off the bombing campaigns on the Western Front.

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