Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

1. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Soviet Union in WW2

2. USSR aims of war: • To defeat Germany and contain them until the United States could transport and build war materials. • To defend the land of Russia against Germany. • Had no intention of entering war until Germany invaded Russia.

3. Key Battle of Soviet Union • Battle of Stalingrad. Stalingrad had the Volga river a key route of Soviet transport. If Hitler took Stalingrad the Soviets would be in a bad position. • Stalin sent everyone able to hold a rifle to fight in this battle to ensure Hitler did not take the city. • Stalingrad was subject to intense bombings from the Germans which virtually converted the city to rubble. • The battle of Stalingrad was the biggest battle in human history. • Soviets defeated Germany in this battle and pushed the Germany army back. Essentially it was the turning point for WW2.

4. Outcomes of War • The Soviets played a critical role in defeating Germany • After the battle of Stalingrad, Russian forces continued to push back German forces and the race to Berlin was on. • The Soviets won the race to Berlin and played a key role in the war. • Soviets faced 23,100,000 deaths with 13.71% of population dying.

5. Role of Women in WW2 • Russia unlike many countries used women in direct combat in WW2. • Women used extensively as snipers, pilots, machine gunners. • 800,000 women defeated Russia in the war. Many fought in the frontline. • Women were not promoted to officers. • Women and children were also used to dig trenches if necessary as happened in the Battle of Stalingrad.

6. Uprooting/dislocation of Civilian populations • 11,400,000 civilian deaths.

7. Uprooting/dislocation of Civilian populations • Cities destroyed such as Stalingrad and Leningrad. • Hundreds of thousands of people displaced. • Buildings destroyed in German attacks and aerial bombing. • When Germany was retreating they destroyed infrastructure on their war out.

8. Collaboration • The Soviet Union fought alongside Allied powers to defeat the Axis powers. • Soviets fought with the United States, Britain, France, Australia and many other countries as part of allied powers. • Soviet Union part of the ‘big three’ in the alliance consisting of Britain, United States and the Soviet Union.

9. Theatres of War • The Eastern Front was Russia’s only true theatre of war • On June 22, 1941, Germany launched an invasion against the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa. • This invasion, the biggest in recorded history, started the most bloody conflict the world has ever seen; the Axis-Soviet War. The Eastern Front was by far the largest and bloodiest theatre of World War II. • Battle of Berlin was one of the final battles of the European Theatre of World War II

10. Land, Sea and Air War Tactics • Operation Barbarossa • over 30 million dead as a result • It involved more land combat than all other World War II theatres combined. • Antitank weapons • Placed in considerable depth and supported them with heavy artillery, infantry, and frequently with aircraft. • designed to break up the massed attacks made at relatively weak points by German tanks. • Little use of Air war tactics

11. Technology • In making military equipment, the primary goals were simplicity and reliability • parts were standardized and kept to a minimum • New designs used as many existing parts as possible to maximize performance predictability • the least experienced Soviet troops and troops of countries to which the equipment was sold could operate it.

12. Expansion of War • Race to Berlin • Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev were sent by Stalin to get to Berlin first • Gained control of East Germany

13. Soviet Armament • Pistols: Nagant Model 1895 revolver Tokarev TT-33 • Bolt Action Rifles: Mosin-Nagant Model 1891/30G Mosin-Nagant Model 1944G Carbine • Semi-Automatic Rifles: Tokarev SVT 38/40 • Automatic Rifles: AVT 40 (SVT 40 with full automatic capability) • Submachine Guns: Pistolet Pulyemet Degtyarev 1940G (PPD 40) Pistolet Pulyemet Shpagin 1941G (famed PPSh 41) Pistolet Pulyemet Sudarev 1943 (PPS 43) • Machine Guns: Degtyarev DP-1928 Maxim Model 1910 (WWI leftover) Degtyarev Shpagin DShK 1938 Goryunov SG 43 • Anti-Tank Rifles: Protivo Tankovoe Ruzh'Yo Destyarev 1941 (PTRD 41) Protivo Tankovoe Ruzh'Yo Simonova 1941 (PTRS 41) • Flamethrowers: ROKS-2 • Grenades: RGD-33 RPG-40/43

14. Soviet Home Front • After rapid German advances in the early months of the war reaching the city of Moscow, the bulk of Soviet industry and agriculture was either destroyed or in German hands. • One of the greatest logistics feats of the war • thousands of factories were moved beyond the Ural Mountains along with well over a million workers. • The whole of the Soviet Union become dedicated to the war effort. • Conditions were severe. • In Leningrad, under German siege, over a million died of starvation and disease. • Many factory workers were teenagers, women and old people. • Despite harsh conditions, the war led to a spike in Soviet nationalism and unity. • Soviet propaganda toned down socialist rhetoric of the past as the people now rallied by a belief of protecting their motherland against "evil" German invaders.