Download Notes on German failures / Russian successes File

Notes taken from Evans & Jenkins, ‘Years of Russia and the USSR, 1851-1991’
Operation Barbarossa – Why did it fail?
(1) Hitler’s decision to fight Russia at the same time as Britain
(2) German army had been weakened by the need to divert units to other fronts such as the
Balkans and North Africa
(3) Three-week postponement of the invasion meant that they had less time before the onset of the
Russian winter
(4) Hitler’s over-confidence – failure to see the need to gather further military intelligence
(5) Information that Hitler did receive was ignored. He was surprised by the tenacity of the Russian
soldiers. He commented that they fought, ‘…with the primitive brutality of an animal that sees
itself trapped’.
(6) German advance meant that supply lines became longer and longer leading to shortages of
munitions and food. The Russian railway lines would not take Germany rolling stock added to
the retreating Russians’ ‘scorched earth policy’. They were told, ‘Do not leave a single house, a
single animal or a single grain of food.’
(7) Rumours of what may happen to them if caught by the Russians also undoubtedly lowered the
morale of the German soldiers
(8) The weather, in particular its severity, meant that the Russians were better prepared. Germans
experienced the heat of Ukraine in the summer and sub-zero temperatures in the winter
(9) Weapons and transport often became useful in the cold weather and many suffered from
frostbite; some even froze to death
(10)
Spring brought with it heavy rain / thaw that created mud. This clogged up machinery and
made Russian roads almost impossible to use
(11)
Tactical errors e.g. Stalingrad and Kursk
(12)
Failure to capitalise on the offers of support from non-ethnic Russians at the time of the
invasion. Atrocities meant that many saw Stalin as the lesser of two evils. Instead partisans
caused havoc behind German lines
How did the Russians manage to obtain victory?
(1) Leadership of Stalin – he achieved centralised control of the Soviet war effort through the State
Defence Committee and through his military headquarter Stavka
(2) The economy had, to a certain extent, been mobilised to deal with war through the FYPs. Fullscale war production was possible following the evacuation of industry to the east leading them
to out-perform production levels of the Germans. Between July and November 1941, 1503
industrial units had been moved.
(3) The assumption that ‘blitzkrieg’ would work meant that the Germans were not ready to mobilise
for ‘total war’ until 1943. Soviets were able to replace their heavy losses more easily than the
Germans
(4) Despite the purges, Russia had a new generation of generals such as Konev, Malinkovsky,
Rossakovsky, Tomoshenko and Zhukov were able to come up with successful strategies
(5) Red Army discipline –strictly enforced plus NKVD dealing with deserters harshly
(6) Stalin listened to his generals and was more willing to learn from his mistakes
(7) Stalin worked tirelessly on building up the morale of the people, taking the title ‘Generalissmo’
and calling it the ‘Great Patriotic War’, as well as recognising the importance of the Orthodox
Church. He also encouraged the glorification of Russian heroes such as Peter the Great,
Alexander Nevsky (13th century victor over the Swedes) and Mikhail Kutusov (forced Napoleon’s
retreat from Moscow)
(8) Russian partisan groups were formed to attack the Germans from behind (less Stalin, more
dislike of Hitler?)
(9) Stalin would not have admitted it but aid received from allies had a huge impact through the
Lend-Lease programme