Operation Barbarossa, also known as Operation Fritz, was a German invasion into the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Taking the Soviet Union by surprise, as Hitler and Stalin had signed political and economic pacts. Despite being a surprise attack, Russia was able to fend of Hitler's invasion fairly well, and ultimately lead to Germany fighting a two front war against Russia and the Allies.
Let's take a look at what happened. Germany started out with over 3 million soldiers and 3 thousand tanks when they entered the Soviet Union. While they had an immense number of soldiers and weaponry, their weakness was underestimating their opponent. Germany's attack reached all the way into Moscow, where they faced many Soviet counter-attacks. The German troops had to wait for backup and supplies to continue, and when they finally came in September, heavy rain and bad weather postponed further damaging attacks, as the German soldiers were unprepared and ill-supplied for cold weather and winter. Soviet attacks eventually caused them to retreat and end operation Barbarossa in December.
How was this a turning point in the war? Even though it was more of a last resort (due to political differences), Britain and America eventually allied with Russia to help them end Nazi Germany and the war. This would not have been possible without the betrayal of Hitler and Stalin's "alliance". Germany had to now fight a two front war, which put them in a weaker position.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa
Great post, Tanshi! I enjoyed the detailed statistics about just how much Germany lost. One thing I find interesting is that Hitler launched the Operation mainly because he believed that Germany needed more "living space". He wanted to develop a German colony in Ukraine and establish a relationship with it like what Britain had with India. It's ironical that instead of winning more land, his forces were pushed back.
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I really appreciated your specific statistics you mentioned about how immense the German force was entering the Soviet Union. Three thousand tanks is a ludicrous amount of weaponry! Something this reminded me of was that the German military was responsible for some of the most commonly-used technology today in the states. For example, their research in rocket technology and jet-powered aircrafts led to both the NASA space programs like Saturn and Apollo, and helped build the B-45 and B-47 planes.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://www.businessinsider.com/6-things-us-stole-from-germans-during-wwii-2015-5
I thought this was great Tansi. I especially liked the piece at the end in which you added your own opinion and answers broader questions that the audience had, like "how it was a turning point for the war"etc. I also appreciated the detail in military operations like the recollection of who was leading offensives and counter offensives. I think one really interesting group to look at is the Russians as it is said the Russians had the highest war injuries, as 80% of the population of men born in 1923, was said to be killed or injured in the war.
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