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Download World War Two on the eastern front
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Called the “Great Patriotic War” in Russia The bloodiest war ever fought in Europe A war fought between races and ideologies rather than by states The Soviet Union lost around 12 million civilians and 10 million soldiers in the war Nazi Germany lost around 5 million soldiers and suffered 1.5 million civilian casualties (including from allied strategic bombing) 14% of its population 10% its population The population of Canada was 11 million in 1939 Germany’s invasion of Russia appears to be one of Hitler’s biggest mistakes He felt compelled to invade due to his racial ideology and the perceived need of lebensraum “We’ll take away its character of an Asiatic steppe, we’ll Europeanize it… There’s only one duty: to Germanize this country by the immigration of Germans and to look upon the natives as Redskins” – Adolf Hitler The Soviet Union’s military appeared weak during their 3.5 month war with Finland On June 22nd 1941, Germany caught the Soviet Union completely off guard when Operation Barbarossa Stalin, who did not think Germany would invade, suffered a nervous breakdown Soviet armies collapsed, with over 4 million soldiers being taken prisoner (POW) Many people in the western USSR welcomed the Germans as liberators Germany was helped by Axis friends Romania, Hungary, Finland, Slovakia, Croatia and Bulgaria The German blitzkrieg was so successful that they gained 200 miles in one month The Soviets practiced “scorched earth,” where they burned farms and destroyed factories, mines and roads as they retreated The soviets managed to relocate many of their factories to Siberia The Germans reached the outskirts of Moscow on October 10th 1941 However, Hitler did not equip his soldiers for winter and his soldiers and equipment started freezing Marshall Zhukov managed to successfully defend the Soviet capital and start counterattacking This marks the failure of Operation Barbarossa The battle on the Eastern Front was a war of extermination The Germans used brigades called Einsatzgruppen to find and kill Jews and communist party members Local collaborators would often help the Nazis find and kill Jews The Slavic inhabitants of the western USSR were deprived of health care, education and basic services to reduce their numbers in preparation for German colonization 60% of Soviet POWs were died in German POW camps or gas chambers 7 million Soviet civilians were victims of Genocide Blond haired blue eyed Belorussian and Ukranians were spared for future use as slaves Many civilians became to Partisans to fight Nazi occupation One of the decisive battles of World War Two Started in late August 1942 Represented the farthest extent of German conquests Hitler was obsessed with taking Stalingrad Stalin was obsessed with defending it Each threw everything their respective countries had into the battle, even though the city had only moderate strategic value There was a battle for every house At one point, Germany controlled 90% of the city The Soviets managed to break the Hungarian and Romanian flanks and surrounded the city The Germans lasted until February, when they surrendered, with 300,000 casualties The largest tank battle in history In the spring of 1943, Germany made its last major offensive against the Soviets The Germans wanted to encircle a Soviet army, however Soviet intelligence learned of this The Soviets used defense in depth and defeated the Germans By 1944, the Germans were pushed out of Soviet territory and Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary had all surrendered