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Operation Barbarossa: Hitler’s Biggest Mistake

Operation Barbarossa: June 22, 1941

y 3,000,000 German soldiers. y 3,400 tanks.

Operation Barbarossa 3.2.4

• By summer 1941, Hitler was supreme in

Europe. Now he turned his attention to

the USSR, a country he had long wanted

to control for Lebensraum & resources

(such as the wheat lands of Ukraine

region & oil fields in the Caucacus region)

• On June 22,1941, Operation Barbarossa,

the invasion of the Soviet Union began.

The battlefront stretched 1800 miles,

from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea

Operation Barbarossa

• The Nazis swept through the buffer zone that Stalin had established in Poland & pushed onward into the USSR. The Soviets resisted but were forced to retreat.

• In less than three weeks of the attack, 300,000 Russians had been captured, 2,500 tanks, 1,400 artillery guns and 250 aircraft captured or destroyed.


• As they fell back, the Soviets carried out Stalin's scorched earth policy, this meant to destroy anything that may be used by the advancing Germans

• Burning farm equipment, crops, transportation routes, everything that might be of use to the advancing German Army & also evacuating entire industrial factories (e.g. tank) deep into Russia


• Despite Scorched Earth, the Germans continued their steady advance& had overrun the Ukraine & were approaching Moscow within 4 months after invading

• The Soviet Union seemed to be on the verge of collapse. In Oct, 1941, with German power at its greatest extent. Hitler boasted that victory was his before the winter


• At the end of 1941, the German advance came to a halt. Nov saw the onset of a bitter Russian winter


• The Nazis had not prepared for winter

conditions. German tanks were

immobilized by lack of anti-freeze, winter

oils & thousands of poorly dressed soldiers

(they had summer uniforms) died from

exposure


• The Soviets on the other hand, showed no

signs of surrendering. Accustomed to cold

weather, they slowly prepared to

counterattack.

• Before spring arrived in 1942, the Soviets

had made gains against the invaders


• By the summer of 1942, German forces

had regained the initiative & were

advancing deep into southern Russia

• The Caucasian Oil Fields & Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad: August 1942- February 1943

German Army Russian Army

1,011,500 men 1,000,500 men

10,290 artillery guns 13,541 artillery guns

675 tanks 894 tanks

1,216 planes 1,115 planes

Battle of Stalingrad 3.2.4

• For Hitler, taking Stalingrad would serve

the purpose of crushing Russian morale

(symbol of communism), controlling a

major industrial centre & cutting off oil

transportation to the Soviet economy

• For Stalin, it was the last attempt to stop

the German blitzkrieg & save the USSR

• In attempting to take the city, the

Germans destroyed buildings & other

infrastructure which became obstacles for

its mechanized/blitzkrieg army

Battle of Stalingrad

• The Germans were forced to get out of

vehicles & fight ‘hand to hand’ combat,

this exposed the weaknesses of the

German army

• Russia would not surrender until the last

man, woman & child was unable to fight

• In the meantime, Soviet armies were

built-up near the city for a counter-attack

• In Nov 1942, Soviet armies in a a surprise

attack, surrounded the German army at

Stalingrad, cutting off all land supply lines


• With the approaching winter & lack of supplies, General Paulus pleaded with Hitler to allow him to surrender. Hitler refused this request, but the German army did surrender in Feb 1943


• This was a major turning point in the war, & the first major defeat of the German army in Russia (it lost 750,000 casualities, 91,000 captured, 900 aircraft destroyed, 4000 tanks destroyed)

• It boosted the morale of the Allies, from here on there would be no turning back & the Russians continued to drive the Germans back from the east for the rest of the war

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