Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa (Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the German codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that commenced on June 22, 1941. It was to be the turning point for the fortunes of Hitler's Third Reich in that the failure of Operation Barbarossa arguably resulted in the eventual overall defeat of Nazi Germany. The Eastern Front which was opened by Operation Barbarossa would become the biggest theatre of war in World War II, with some of the largest and most brutal battles, terrible loss of life, and miserable conditions for Soviets and Germans alike. The operation was named after the emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire.

German preparations

Allegedly, the Germans feared the Red Army was making preparations to attack them, and it was thus presented as a preemptive war. Readers of Hitler's Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") should however not have been surprised to see him invade the Soviet Union. In that book, he makes clear his belief that the German people needed Lebensraum ("living space", i.e. land and raw materials), and that it was to be looked for in the East. It was the stated policy of the Nazis to kill, deport, or enslave the Russian population, whom they considered inferior, and to recolonise the land with German stock. The entire urban population was to be exterminated by starvation, creating an agricultural surplus to feed Germany and allowing the replacement by a German upper class.

Related Topics:
Red Army - Preemptive war - Mein Kampf - Lebensraum - Agricultural surplus - Upper class

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German nazi-ideologist Alfred Rosenberg, during preparations, in line with these general ideas, suggested the administrative division of the Soviet territory to be conquered in the following Reichskommissariaten:

Related Topics:
Ideologist - Alfred Rosenberg - Reichskommissar

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• Ostland (Baltic States and Belarus)
• Ukraine (Ukraine and adjacent territories),
• Kaukasus (Caucasus area),
• Moskau (Moscow metropolitan area and the rest of European Russia)

Such suggestions intended to destroy Russia as a political entity in accordance with the geopolitical Lebensraum idea ("Drang nach Osten"), encourage non-Russian nationalism and promote German interests for the benefit of future "Aryan" generations in the centuries to come.

Related Topics:
Geopolitical - Drang nach Osten - Russian - Aryan

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Before implementing Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were nominally on friendly terms, having signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact shortly before the German and Soviet invasion of Poland. It was ostensibly a non-aggression pact in which the Third Reich and the Soviet Union had agreed how to divide the border states between themselves. The pact surprised the world because of their mutual hostility and their opposed ideologies. But Hitler had long wanted to conquer western Russia in order to exploit its untermensch Slavic population. So the pact was simply for (mutual) short-term convenience, and the Nazis had no qualms about breaking it.

Related Topics:
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - Poland - Non-aggression pact - Border states - Hitler - Untermensch - Slavic

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Stalin's own bloodthirsty reputation made the Soviet Union a tempting target for the Nazis. During the late 1930s, Stalin had killed millions of people during the Great Purge, including large numbers of competent and experienced military officers and strategists, effectively leaving the Red Army weakened and leaderless. The Nazis often emphasized the brutality of the Soviet regime when targeting the "inferior" Slavs in their propaganda.

Related Topics:
Great Purge - Red Army

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Operation Barbarossa was largely the brainchild of Hitler himself. His general staff advised against fighting a war on two fronts. But Hitler considered himself a political and military genius, and indeed at this point in the war he had achieved a whole series of lightning victories against what appeared to be insurmountable odds, while the generals wanted to prove that they were needed at all. First, his brashness and willingness to take risks, combined with the discipline of his troops and the Blitzkrieg tactics, had won him the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia with hardly a struggle, then Poland, Denmark and Norway with only slightly more trouble. Then he achieved the rapid collapse of the French armies by slashing through Luxembourg north of the Maginot Line pocketing large numbers of Allied troops, then south to the Swiss border. The northern pocket collapsed and fell back on Dunkirk. The forces of Britain, driven from French soil, held out in the home country because of their naval superiority and parity in air power. Unable to force Britain's capitulation - though vacillating toward an invasion - lacking sufficient naval assets and a strategic bomber force, Hitler, impatient to get on with his long desired invasion of the east, managed to convince himself Britain would sue for peace once the Soviet Union was knocked out of the war.

Related Topics:
Hitler - Blitzkrieg - Sudetenland - Czechoslovakia - Poland - Denmark - Norway - Luxembourg - Maginot Line - Dunkirk - Britain

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:We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down — Hitler

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Hitler was overconfident due to his rapid success in Western Europe, as well as the Red Army's ineptitude in the Winter War. He expected victory in a few months and did not prepare for a war lasting into the winter; troops lacked adequate clothing. He hoped a quick victory against the Red Army would encourage Britain to accept peace terms.

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In preparation for the attack, Hitler moved 3.2 million men to the Soviet border, launched many aerial surveillance missions over Soviet territory, and stockpiled vast amounts of material in the East. Yet the Soviets were still taken by surprise. This has mostly to do with Stalin's unshakeable belief that the Third Reich was unlikely to attack only two years after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. He also was convinced the Nazis would probably finish their war with Britain before opening a new front. Despite repeated warnings from his intelligence services, Stalin refused to give them full credence, fearing the information to be British misinformation designed to spark a war between the Nazis and the USSR. The German government also aided in this deception. They told Stalin that the troops were being moved to bring them out of range of British bombers. They also explained that they were trying to trick the British into thinking they were planning to attack the Soviet Union, while in fact the troops and supplies were being stockpiled for an invasion of Britain. It has been established that communist spy Dr. Richard Sorge gave Stalin the exact launch date; also Swedish cryptanalysts led by Arne Beurling knew the date beforehand. As a result of all this Stalin's preparations against a possible German invasion in 1941 were halfhearted.

Related Topics:
Stalin's - Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - Richard Sorge - Arne Beurling

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Germany had trouble attempting to devise a strategy that would ensure a successful invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler, OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) and the various high commands did not have a unified plan going in. The OKW desired a straight line to Moscow, but Hitler wanted to march into resource-rich Ukraine and the Baltics before taking on Moscow. The resulting squabble disrupted logistical planning for the invasion, delaying it for more than a month after the original invasion date in May.

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The ultimate strategy Hitler and his generals agreed upon involved three separate army groups assigned to capture specific regions and large cities of the Soviet Union once the invasion began. Army Group North was assigned to march through the Baltics, march into northern Russia, and either take or destroy the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). Army Group Center would take the straight line to Smolensk, and ultimately Moscow, marching through what is now Belarus and through the west-central regions of Russia proper. Army Group South was poised to strike the heavily populated and agricultural heartland of Ukraine, taking Kiev, before continuing eastward over the steppes of Southern Russia all the way to the Volga and the oil-rich Caucasus.

Related Topics:
Army Group North - Saint Petersburg - Army Group Center - Smolensk - Moscow - Belarus - Army Group South - Ukraine - Kiev - Volga - Caucasus

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