Download Lsn 23 World War II: Blitzkrieg and the Eastern Front

World War II: Blitzkrieg and
the Eastern Front
Lsn 23
ID & SIG:
• Ardennes, aufstragtaktik, Barbarossa,
Battle of Britain, Dunkirk, Eastern Front,
Maginot Line, Moscow, Stalingrad, Vichy
France, Zhukov
French and German Plans for
the Battle of France 1940
• French anticipated
the Germans
attacking through
the north as they did
in World War I so
they developed the
Dye Plan to counter
such an attack
• Built the Maginot
Line in the south to
protect the border
(recalling the trench
warfare of WWI)
Maginot Line
• A line of concrete
fortifications, tank
obstacles, machine gun
posts and other defenses
which France constructed
along her borders with
Germany and Italy
• The fortifications did not
extend through the
Ardennes Forest which
was considered
“impassable”
Surprise in the Ardennes
• On May 12, 1940
Germany attacked
through the
weakly held
Ardennes region
• Penetrated Allied
defenses and then
began to envelop
them
Guderian Breaks Through at Sedan
Battle of France: May 14, 1940
Hoth Breaks Through at Dinant
Battle of France: May 14-15, 1940
Penetration
• With Hoth’s and
Guderian’s
successes, the
Germans had a 40
mile breakthrough
from Dinant to Sedan
– Pushed through
seven armored
divisions toward
the English
Channel
Dinant
Ardennes
Sedan
The Panzers Race To The Channel
Battle of France: May 14-24, 1940
Dunkirk was
the last
evacuation port
available to the
Allies.
Dunkirk
Moving in for the Kill
• German forces pressed
the Allied armies
trapped in the north,
from south and east,
into the English
Channel.
• Meanwhile, German
infantry divisions
reinforced the southern
flank of the German
penetration.
• But….
Dunkirk Harbor ablaze from
German bombing
Halt Order
• Hitler halted the German armor
– German armor had suffered heavy losses and
would be needed to conquer the rest of France
– Luftwaffe called upon to finish the job
• Luftwaffe unable to destroy the British and French
– Bases in western Germany were further away
from Dunkirk than British planes were from
their bases on the British Isles
• 340,000 Allied troops were evacuated
The Weygand Line Collapses
Battle of France: June 4-14, 1940
Italy Joins the Axis
• On June 10, 1940,
Mussolini declared
war on Britain and
France and four
months later
invaded Greece
• Mussolini will end
up being a
troublesome ally
for Hitler
French Surrender and
Vichy France
• On June 16, the French
asked for an armistice
• In July, France was divided
into two sections
– One was ruled directly by
the Germans
– The other was led by the
Vichy government that
collaborated with German
plans including the
plunder of French
resources and the
forceful deportations of
tens of thousands of
French Jews to
concentration camps
across Europe
Auftragstaktik
• German interwar doctrine emphasized:
– decentralized, mission-oriented orders
(Auftragstaktik)
– speed and exploitation of enemy
weaknesses maximized by troop
commanders taking the initiative
(understand commander’s intent)
– close integration and cooperation between
combat branches (mobile warfare required
armor, infantry, and artillery)
– leadership from the front
Battle of Britain
• The Germans developed two plans to take Britain
– Operation Sea Lion, an amphibious landing on the British
coast
– A great air offensive to gain air superiority and destroy the
British industrial base
• “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear
ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last
for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest
hour.’” (Winston Churchill)
The Eastern Front
• Hitler had strategic and ideological
reasons for invading Russia
– Strategically he knew that the Soviet Union
and the US were critical to Britain’s
willingness to keep fighting
– He also felt he needed the agricultural and
raw material resources of Eastern Russia
– Ideologically he viewed the Soviet Union as
an amalgamation of his greatest enemies, the
Jews and the Slavs
Operation Barbarossa
• Hitler based his plan on the assumption he could
destroy the Soviet Union within one year
• Critical to his success would be to catch and
destroy the Soviet Army at the border areas
• If that did not occur, the Russians could use their
vast territory to trade space for time and cause
the Germans huge logistical problems
Operation Barbarossa
• On June 22, 1941,
Hitler invaded Russia in
Operation Barbarossa
• The operation
encompassed a total
troop strength of about
4 million men, making it
the biggest single land
operation ever
• Benefiting from initial
surprise, by the end of
July Hitler had
occupied a portion of
Russia twice the size of
France
Operation Barbarossa: Battle of
Moscow
• With the Germans’ successes in the north and
south, Hitler assumed that Stalin’s regime was
on the verge of collapse
• He authorized an advance on Moscow before
the onset of winter
• Already however the Germans were suffering
from serious supply shortages
– By September the supply system was only meeting
current tactical consumption needs
– No supply stores for the winter season were being
built
Operation Barbarossa: Battle of
Moscow
• The Germans caught the
Russians unprepared and
made great advances
• The Soviet Army seemed
on the verge of collapse
• At this point the weather
broke and autumn rains
turned the roads to mud
• The German advance
stalled, allowing the
Russians to hurry
reinforcements from the
interior
Operation Barbarossa: Battle of
Moscow
• Despite dropping
temperatures and
critical supply
shortages, the
German high
command pressed on
with the attack
• The German soldiers
were still in summer
uniforms and suffered
terribly
German soldier during the
battle of Moscow
Operation Barbarossa: Battle of
Moscow
• Stalin responded to the crisis by
rushing his best commander,
Georgi Zhukov, to defend
Moscow
• Zhukov waged a delaying
defense in front of Moscow; the
first time the Soviets took
advantage of their ability to trade
space for time
• In the meantime he pulled
reinforcements from as far away
as Siberia to defend Moscow
• Zhukov’s plan was to allow the
Germans to exhaust themselves
and then go on the offensive
Operation Barbarossa: Battle of
Moscow
• By Dec 4 the
Germans had clawed
their way to Moscow’s
outskirts, but they
could not continue
– That night
temperatures were -25
degrees Fahrenheit
– One infantry regiment
suffered 300 frostbite
casualties
– On Dec 6 the Soviets
counterattacked
Operation Barbarossa : Battle of
Moscow
• Rundstedt, the German
commander of Army Group
South, ordered a retreat
and Hitler fired him
• Field Marshall Walther von
Reichenau replaced
Rundstedt and confirmed
the withdraw order and
then suffered a heart
attack
• Hitler was in the midst of a
high command crisis and
lost confidence in his
generals
Field Marshall Walther
von Reichenau
Strategic Situation
• On Dec 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US at
Pearl Harbor
• In spite of his troubles in Russia, Hitler
decided to support Japan and also declare
war on the US
• Now the US would join with Britain to
adopt a “Europe First” strategy that would
destroy Hitler
Operation Barbarossa : Battle of
Moscow
• As the Russians pushed forward, Hitler
refused to allow a retreat and relieved or
court-martialed generals who did so
• Hitler named himself commander-in-chief
of the army
– Each military service began to operate
increasingly independently and Germany
suffered from a lack of an overall strategy
Operation Barbarossa : Battle of
Moscow
• On the Eastern Front the Germans’ stiff
resistance and control of crucial roads and
supply centers slowly took the punch out
of the Russian counterattack
• The German Army survived but it suffered
losses from which it never recovered
• Both sides licked their wounds and
prepared for renewed operations in the
spring
Stalingrad
• As spring 1942 approached, German
commanders recommended remaining on the
defensive but Hitler believed the Germans
must destroy Soviet military potential before
the American industrial power could come into
play
• Hitler developed a plan to capture Soviet oil
– At first Hitler considered Stalingrad of little
importance other than the fact that its
capture might block the movement of
petroleum up the Volga River
Stalingrad
• On June 28 the Germans
launched their summer
offensive
• The Germans made good
headway with one
advance moving east
toward Stalingrad and the
Volga River and another
moving south into the
Caucasus
• In August Hitler’s erratic
attention swung from the
Caucasus to Stalingrad
Stalingrad
• On Aug 24 the Germans
attacked Stalingrad’s
suburbs and began
fighting their way into the
city
• Hitler began shifting forces
from the Caucasus to
Stalingrad
• The nature of the urban
fighting favored the
defenders and the Soviets
mounted a stubborn
defense
• Stalingrad began to drain
the German army but
Hitler would not back off
Stalingrad
Stalingrad
Stalingrad
Stalingrad
Stalingrad
Stalingrad
• On Nov 19 the Soviets
launched a massive
counterattack north of
Stalingrad
• Hitler’s overly centralized
and completely out-of-touch
command system broke
down in the face of the
Soviet onslaught
• The Soviets encircled
Stalingrad and Hitler ordered
his commanders to stand
fast anyway
• By this point in the war, no
one was willing to confront
Hitler
Stalingrad
• All attempts to
breakout or break
through failed and on
Feb 2 the Germans
surrendered
– Out of 250,000
soldiers trapped in the
Stalingrad pocket,
approximately 90,000
became prisoners
– Barely 5,000 survived
the war
German POWs
Greatest Extent of Axis Control
The Eastern Front
• Ultimately enormous logistical shortcomings made
Barbarossa a failure
– Germany proved capable of fighting battles very well,
but was less capable of fighting a war of prolonged
duration
• In the total four years of fighting on the Eastern Front, an
estimated 4 million Axis and 9 million Russians were
killed in battle
• 20 million Soviet civilians were killed as a result of
extermination campaigns against Jews, communists and
partisans, casual massacres, reprisal killings, diseases,
and (sometimes planned) starvation.
Next
• North Africa and Italy