Download Hitler Invades Russia

By: Anastasia Martyts, Sofiya Bobryk
 Germany and Russia
maintain fairly good
relations
 Still, they are “enemies”
because Communists
hate Fascists and vice
versa
 Russia: Joseph
Stalin, leader of
the Communist
Party
 Germany: Adolf
Hitler, Fascist
dictator
 Joachim von Ribbentrop (German
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minister of foreign affairs) meets Russian
authorities
A non-aggression pact, also called the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Between Russia and Germany
Signed on 23 August, 1939
Each country promised not to attack the
other
Neither country would get involved in a
conflict the other country might have
with a third country
Neither country could become allied with
a country that promised to threaten the
other
 Hitler also promised
Stalin to secretly divide
up Poland and the rest
of Europe
Why?
 Hitler was fighting Poland at this
time and didn’t want Russia's
interference
 Both Hitler and Stalin knew this
agreement would not prevent war
between Russia and Germany
 It was simply a means of
postponing the war
 Hitler was already planning to invade Russia
 Scheduled for May 15, 1941
 Postponed until June 22
 The attack was supposed to take about six weeks
 Hitler planned to conquer Russia by autumn
 Stalin got reports regarding the plan from various
sources
 Stalin did not take the
reports seriously
 Some gave him the
exact date: June 22
 Stalin believed the
invasion would not
start until the following
year
 Why did Hitler want Russia?
 Lebensraum (living space)
 Natural resources (good land, oil
resources )
 To isolate the
Allies (especially
Britain)
 To exterminate
Bolshevism
 Extermination of
the racially
inferior Russians
 June 22, 1941
 Hitler’s army invades
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Russia
Disregards the
German-soviet nonaggression pact
(August 23, 1939)
Focus: Kiev,
Leningrad, Moscow
Russian army caught
off guard
Red Army vs.
Wehrmacht
 Hitler attacks the USSR during the Battle of Britain
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hoping for a quick victory
Finland, Romania, Italy, Croatia, Slovakia and
Hungary also help Germany
Blitzkrieg used
Blitzkrieg - a swift and violent offensive with intensive
aerial bombardment
1st day: the Red Army suffers great losses, as well as
loses nearly ¼ of its air forces (important for Germans
because Russia had a larger air force)
 Major
targets:
Moscow,
Kiev,
Leningrad
 In June, Germans capture 300,000 Soviet troops, 2500
tanks, and 1500 artillery pieces at the battle of Minsk
 In early August, 103,000 more men, 300 tanks, and
800 guns in Uman
 Plus 100,000 men, 2000 tanks, 1900 artillery pieces in
Smolensk
 In late August, Germans capture 650,000 men, 900
tanks, and 4000 artillery pieces while fighting for
Kiev
 For now, it looks like Germans are
winning this war
 Russian troops are unprepared and
poorly trained
 Russians have little new equipment
“We have only to kick the door
and the whole rotten structure
will come crashing down”
- Hitler
scorched-earth
policy
Russian soldiers need
to destroy everything
before they retreat
 This included burning crops, destroying buildings, wrecking
artillery/equipment, burning bridges and roads etc.
 This REALLY slowed down the German army
 Early July: the Allies start trying to help Russia (intensified
bombings of Berlin, sending supplies)
 Even though the Allies were opposed to Bolshevism, it was
too dangerous to let Hitler win
 Russian troops had little
manoeuvres
 They ran straight into German
gunfire and attempted to shoot
their way through the German
army
 Soon enough, Russia was desperate for
weapons
 Dogs were trained to go under enemy
machinery with attached bombs
 As soon as the bombs touched something,
they exploded
 Stalin also turns to the Allies for support
 Fighting continues
 Roads become muddy
 Early September: Hitler comes very close to Kiev and
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Leningrad
Hitler decides to concentrate on southern Russia
Some troops ordered away from the surrounded Leningrad
Leningrad surrounded and doomed for starvation
The 900-day siege of Leningrad begins
 September 19: Kiev falls
 November: Germans come
within 10 miles of Moscow’s
limits
 The advancing German
troops were stopped by the
trenches dug around Moscow
 Stalin orders a counterattack
 Germans don’t retreat, but
the troops are ordered to
switch to defensive actions
 Russia’s saviour
 Germans unprepared for the
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extremely low temperatures
Hitler planned to finish the
operation before winter
Attack slows down
Equipment fails
Russians push Germans back
from Moscow
German troop are nicknamed
“Winter Fritzes” by the Russian
press
A Russian soldier in proper
winter uniform clothing
 German soldiers only have summer uniforms,
forced to wrap themselves into towels and
tablecloths
 Many succumbed to hypothermia and frostbite
Example: a German soldier
recalls getting hot food for
the first time in weeks. After
moving away from the line
with a bowl of nearly boiling
hot soup, the soldier lost his
spoon. After 30 seconds of
looking for the spoon, the
soup was lukewarm.
 Jan. 5, 1942 (Kremlin): Stalin meets other authorities
 Come up with a plan of 5 large-scale offensives at once
 Purpose: to relieve Leningrad and Moscow, recapture
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the Donets basin, and drive the German army out of
the Crimean Peninsula
Scheduled for Jan. 10
If Germans were allowed to attack in spring, Russia
would fail
However, Russia might not have enough supplies
Stalin ignores this fact
 Germany suffered greatly during the winter
 The Luftwaffe could only deliver a small fraction of the
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needed supplies
Hitler plans Operation Blau: attack the Caucasus in
the summer
BUT there’s a shortage of troops and resources
Hitler made another mistake
Planned to win Russia fast, so started producing Uboats and planes to attack Britain
Too late to start making guns for this operation
Operation fails
 Hitler switched to southern parts of Russia (Caucasus in
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particular)
Thought that once Russia loses Caucasus, it’ll stop fighting
(Caucasus had rich oil fields)
August 23, 1942 Germans reach the Volga River (north of
Stalingrad)
Prepare and attack
Stalingrad bombed
battle was supposed to be quick, but lasted 6 months
 The major battle
 Both Hitler and Stalin ordered their troops to keep
fighting “to the last man”
 Stalingrad was bombed by the Luftwaffe, tanks rode
through the streets, house-to-house fighting never
ceased
 Germans surround the city from the west, but Russians
still got food sent via Volga River
 Stalin sends additional troops to Stalingrad
 The battle was nicknamed “the Verdun on Volga”
 Churchill calls the battle “the hinge of fate”
 Germans lost 800,000 men in the battle
 Russians – 1.1 million
 The city in ruins
 Stalin proved that Hitler is not invincible
 Germans fail to prepare
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again
Troops commander
Friedrich Paulus asks
Hitler for permission to
flee
Hitler refuses
Troops suffer another
winter
In January, Paulus
defies Hitler’s orders
and surrenders to
Russians
February 2, 1943
Germans lose
absolutely
Russians win the war
 Provided the Allies with food and other supplies for
shipment to Russia
 Canadians were not involved in the battle directly
 Canada was not affected by this invasion (except for
loss of some supplies that were shipped to Russia)
William Lyon
Mackenzie King
(Canadian PM)
Both Canada and US
were satisfied with the
outcome of the war.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, US president
 Largest offensive in WW2
 Weakened the German Army
 Some argue that this was the reason for Hitler’s defeat
in World War Two