Download The Great Patriotic War: Context: Throughout the late 1930`s to early

The Great Patriotic War:
Context:
Throughout the late 1930’s to early 1940’s, Russia’s influence on the Second World
War was restricted by the Nazi-Soviet pact of August 1939. This led to a steady
agreement of non-aggression between the two superpowers, as well as the joint
invasion of Poland, and the large exportation of war materials and operational
support from the USSR to Germany, in aid of the German war effort. However, Hitler
was quickly extending his forces to greater Europe, and on June 22 1941 he
launched an enormous surprise attack on the Soviet Union, in an attempt to
eradicate communism and eliminate what he saw as the last major threat to the Nazi
regime. Russia’s gigantean size and power made it one of Hitler’s main aims, and a
two month prediction was placed on the total invasion of Russia.
Summary:
On June 22 1941 an enormous Nazi force began an excessive push through Russia,
known as Operation Barbarossa. Large amounts of Panzer tank units, Luftwaffe airraids and heavy military units, all supported by both Romanian Hungarian troops
advanced through a shocked and unprepared Russia, gaining a total of 400 miles in
just six days. The Nazi’s encircled hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops and
slowly advanced forward forcing them to surrender or die. This inventive tactic,
matched with Germany’s huge military strength meant that they were able to capture
major Russia thresholds such as Dnieper River with ease, as they made their push
towards Moscow. Finally, in late July, the Nazi war machine was halted by the USSR
in the Smolensk area, 220 miles from Moscow. Then, Hitler overruled his army
generals and pushed large amounts of tanks south to perform a large flanking
manoeuvre, however, this left his central troops unsupported in their slow advance
on Moscow. Furthermore, the multiple demands from Nazi generals to make a
collective push on Moscow was met by Hitler’s ‘Summer Pause’, in which he failed to
make any decisive decision, and allowed Soviet troops to gain momentum and
support. Despite this, Germany was able to eliminate Russian forces within Kiev
(Ukraine), and increase their power on the south-eastern front.
By autumn 1941, Stalin issued a mass retreat of all his armies, so that they could
regroup a make an ordered advance against the strength of the German forces.
During this retreat, the frontal units carried out a ‘Scorched Earth’ demand from
Stalin that was based on the destruction of all possible aids to the German, and led
to thousands of Russian civilians being shot, and thousands of homes, hospitals,
and schools being burnt to the ground. Also, thousands of prisoners that had been
captured during the War who were not Soviet were murdered. During this mass
retreat to South-Eastern Siberia, much of the Russia population was left behind to be
captured by the invaded German army.
On 8 September 1941, after Hitler had repositioned his troops, there began a 900
day siege of Leningrad. At this time, specifically, on 21 November 1941, the
Germans took Rostov, but the Russian’s were able to push them back to the Mius
River (a river that runs through Ukraine to Russia.) This was the first major loss for
the Germans, and a significant moment on the Eastern Front. Following this was the
November winter, which caused a hold on the previously planned advance on
Moscow, allowing Russia to gain a stronger position and push Germany back once
again. Germany was unprepared for the Russian winter which the Russian troops
had experience in, and knew how to adapt. This led to further advancement by
Russia troops.
The German’s, combined with the Finnish to encircled Leningrad and prevent both
the escape of civilians, and the import of resources. The winter of 1941-1942 caused
mass destruction within the city. Food supplies quickly diminished, and the only
available food became 125g of bread, that was mainly sawdust or other inedible
ingredients. Rationing became strict, and in temperatures of below -30OC, people
soon resorted to eating their pets, and later to cannibalism. Over 700 deaths from
starvation occurred a day, and hungry gangs would hunt out innocent, and
defenceless people. Cannibalism became such a widespread problem that a
specialized police force was created with the sole purpose to eliminate cannibalism.
A full-scale offensive conducted by the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts, was the
beginning of a powerful Russian offensive that slowly pushed the Germans back,
and gained the Russians a 7 mile corridor that provided some amount of relief to the
distressed city of Leningrad. From January 1943 until January 1944 the siege
continued, and it was not until the summer of 1944 that the Finnish forced were
broken, and the siege was lifted.
The Battle of Stalingrad:
The Battle of Stalingrad played a major part in the turn of the war. It began on 23
August 1942 and lasted until the 2 February 1943. It was one of the bloodiest battles
in history, and consisted of over two millions casualties (give or take due to multiple
recourses providing multiple estimates). The intense battle escalated to building-tobuilding fighting, with the German’s; despite having control of most cities at this time,
unable to break the last Russian forces holding them off at the Volga River. On 19
November 1942, the Russians launched Operation Uranus, a two pronged attack,
which was an attack on the German flanks that were protected by weak Romanian
and Hungarian forces. The harsh German winter made Hitler’s badly prepared forces
even weaker. This was escalated by his determination to not surrender, and his
fanatical belief that the German forces could not be broken and or defeated. This led
to the encirclement of the German 6th army, and the eventual destructed of it by
February 1943. This became famous as it was the first German army to be
completely destroyed. After the battle, 110,000 German soldiers were captured by
Russian forces, with only 6,000 surviving.
Following The Battle of Stalingrad, the German army repositioned their forces to
mark an attack on the city o Kursk. However, due to a long waiting period needed for
weapons, the Russian army were able to build a huge line of defences to combat the
German forces. Germany failed to break the defences, and after being pushed back,
the Russian forces advanced in a counter-offensive. They were able to push the
German’s even further back, and the success marked the first summer victory, as
well as the first failure of the German Blitzkrieg tactic.
After these major battles that marked significant points in The Great Patriotic War,
the Eastern Front continued to be a brutal and violent warzone that echoed the death
of many millions of troops. After forcing the German forces back out of Russia, the
USSR troops advanced on Berlin. On 16 April 1945, Germany was breached by the
Russian troops, and a harsh fight continued as the Russian troops advanced toward
the centre of the capital. Before Berlin was taken, Adolf Hitler and many other high
rank Nazi’s committed suicide.On the 2 May, Berlin was taken, and Nazi Germany
surrendered.
Websites:
http://www.naval-history.net/WW2CampaignsRussianFront.htm
This website provides a chronological analysis of The Great Patriotic War, from PreWar 1939, until 1945. It gives detail on all the major parts of the war, from a focused
Russian point of view, but isn’t strictly focused on Russia, and provides a solid
amount of information from the viewpoint of England, the USA and others.
The language used is easy to follow, and the clearly dated structure of the website
makes any information simple to find. The content of this site is simple, and focused
on the important information. The short, decisive language used to describe the
Eastern Front 1941-1945 makes it easy to follow and learn. It is overall a very good,
clear site for information on the Eastern Front.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/eastern_europe_world_war_two.htm
This website provides a more in depth selection of information on each of the most
significant moment in The Great Patriotic War, from the Siege of Leningrad to the
Battle of Stalingrad. What is good about this website is that it provides lots of
statistics and figures that reinforce the information. The amount of links, and the
amount of text could be a bit daunting, but it is overall a solid access for information.
These sites are easily accessed through a Google search for anything around
the title of ‘Eastern Front 1941-1945’. It will appear in the second or third pages
for searched of a similar kind.
Article:
‘The Russian Version of the Second World War’ (The History of the War as Taught
to Soviet Schoolchildren).
Edited by Graham Lyons.
First published in Great Britain 1976, by Leo Cooper LTD.
This book is a great source of information on the many battles that took place during
the Great Patriotic War. It provides a large amount of figures, as well as detailed
information about the strategies and individual actions that took place during the war.
It covers the entire War, from USSR preparation until the defeat of Third Reich and
negotiations with the allies at the end of the war.
”The Fascist command threw into the offensive 36 divisions, 2,000 aircraft and 1,500
guns. During the battle periods the enemy air force made more than 70,000 flights
and dropped more than a million bombs.” – This quote describes the harsh fighting
at the 1942-43 Battle of Stalingrad. However, with this being a Soviet book that
describes the wars as they were described to Soviet schoolchild, the reliability of the
source is debatable. This is emphasized through the recurring exaggeration of Soviet
success, shown through titles such as ‘The Heroic Defence of Stalingrad’, as well as
the repeated slurs against Nazi Germany and other Russian enemy of the Second
World War. Nevertheless, it does still provide solid information with a large amount of
detail.
This is a Russian propaganda poster from World War II. The caption says “Napoleon
suffered a defeat. The same will happen to Hitler.” This highlights the Russian aim to
emphasize the power of the Russian army by comparing it to vast power of the 1812
army that saved Europe from Napoleon’s army.
Despite World War II propaganda comparing
Stalin’s army to the power of the Russian army
from the 19th
century rule of
the Tsar,
propaganda like
this poster from
revolution
against the Tsar.
This World War II Russian poster (right) highlights the Russian focus on uniting with
the allies to illuminate the threat and power of Hitler and Mussolini. It also presents
the image that the allies are strong, and in a powerful position, whereas Hitler and
Mussolini are cowards, hiding from the allies, with their weaponry; a tank and a
plane, immobile.
.