Hitler had long considered the Russians inferior to his native Aryan race. After crushing France and becoming determined that it could not easily drive Great Britain from the war, Germany turned its attention back to the East. Following its conquests of Greece and Yugoslavia in early 1941, Berlin prepared for its biggest challenge yet: the destruction of Soviet Russia. By mid-1941, he broke his alliance with the USSR and began his campaign of invasion.
The German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe struck Soviet forces across a wide front along the German-Soviet border. After help from Romanian, Finnish, Hungarian, and Italian forces, the Germans made substantial gains from Russia. In fact, they enjoyed another five months of overwhelming success. However, this success was short-lived as the Red army defeated the Germans in the Battle of Moscow. Germany resumed the offensive in 1942, only to suffer a major defeat at Stalingrad. The Battle of Kursk, in 1943, ended the Wehrmacht’s offensive ambitions. 1943, 1944, and 1945 saw the pace of Soviet conquest gradually accelerate, with the monumental offensives of late 1944 shattering the German armed forces. The Soviets enjoyed the support of Western industry, while the Germans relied on the resources of occupied Europe.
The raw statistics of the war are nothing short of stunning. On the Soviet side, some seven million soldiers died in action, with another 3.6 million dying in German POW camps. The Germans lost four million soldiers in action, and another 370000 to the Soviet camp system. Some 600000 soldiers from other participants died as well. These numbers do not include soldiers lost on either side of the German-Polish War, or the Russo-Finnish War.
The end of the War in the East left the Soviet Union in control of a vast portion of the Eurasian continent. Red Army forces occupied Germany, Poland, Czechosolvakia, parts of the Balkans, the Baltic states, and parts of Finland. The Western allies remained in control of Greece and much of western Germany, while Joseph Tito established an independent communist regime in Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union redrew the map of Eastern Europe, annexing large chunks of Poland, Germany, and the Baltics, and ceding much of Germany to Polish control. Russian domination over the region would last into the early 1990s, when the layers of the Soviet Empire began to peel away.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_russia_invasion_01.shtml
I really liked your blog post because it was able to help establish the key statistics and reasons why the Soviet Union was able to eventually defeat the Germans. One really interesting facet about Russia's efforts in the war was their serious animosity against the US that began around this time period. Whereas the US only lost around 420,000 lives, Soviet casualties are estimated at over 25 million! Perhaps the establishment of the second front could have prevented these horrible losses of life, but if there is one thing to be certain of, it is that the lack of the second front is more than a reason to be upset at the US to this day.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war
Great post on one of most curious and grandest fronts in all of the war. Operation Barbarossa was such a massive operation and I thought you did a great jobs focusing on some of the key statistics and battles that affected the front. Truly one of the greatest fronts ever in warfare, this battle for Eastern Europe was a surreal feat. Not only were the Russians able to defeat the infamous Wehrmacht but they were actually able to gain ground. Another aspect of the battle that would interesting to focus on was the great atrocities of the front. Both the Germans and the Russians were ruthless to each others people and I think it is a story that is too often not told.
ReplyDelete