Operation Barbarossa and the Battles of Leningrad and

Operation Barbarossa and the Battles of Leningrad and Stalingrad By Noa Drochak, Austin Holmes, Matt Morgan, and Nate Reich

Operation Barbarossa Captain Barbossa Barbarossa battle

Overview: Operation Barbarossa was the German army’s advances into the Soviet Union during 1941, from June to December. Germany gained territory, so they won, however Germany did not conquer key Russian cities and ended up surrendering. Caused by conflicting ideologies, Lebensraum, invasion of Poland, oil fields, and Hitler’s overconfidence and nationalism.

Stalingrad

Thesis: Despite the triumphant early military strategies of Germany and the siege of Leningrad, Hitler failed to recognize the power of the Soviet army. The result was Germany's failure to seige key cities Moscow and Stalingrad, ultimately causing German troop devastation and Russia’s reclaim of their territory.

Timeline: 1941 June 22 - Operation Barbarossa Begins German armies invade Soviet territory: the north head for Leningrad, central head for Moscow, and south head for Kiev. July 10 until November 7 - the Karelian Army invades the USSR from Finland July 15 - north army makes easy progress, as well as central army defeating Smolensk and the capture of 300, 000 at a Soviet camp.

Timeline: 1941 August 12 - after a slow start in the south, Hitler still insists on destroying the south-west front. All center troops are halted and brought to the south, meanwhile north troops make ground on Leningrad. September 15 - Germany completes the encirclement of Leningrad with long-range artillery and begins to siege the city. September 26 - Operation Typhoon is ordered to capture Moscow.

Timeline: 1941 October 20 - stage one of Operation Typhoon halted after stiff competition and struggling supply lines. Also, mobile units were slowed due to muddy conditions. November 15 - After initial German success, stage two of Operation Typhoon is paralysed by 20 degree frost. Soviet forces become even stronger. December 5 - Germany begins to fall against Soviets; Hitler abandons the Moscow offensive for the winter and retreats.

Timeline: 1941 -1942 December 6 - Russia builds a 200 mile long road from Leningrad to Zaborie in just 27 days but it costs 3700 lives with very little benefit. The death total in December reaches 52, 000 deaths. December 13 - after Moscow is saved, Stalin determines to fight back towards Germany with an offensive. March 1942 - the Soviet offensive has won small victories in the center and north, but fails in the south. At this point all fronts have run out of resources and the offensive is terminated.

Timeline: 1942 June 30 - Germans south army has fought all the way to Sebastopol in Crimea. June 28 - the German summer offensive begins in Kursk, Russia. August 19 - first German attempts to take Stalingrad. August 25 - state of emergency declared in Stalingrad after terror raids. Heavy soviet response fighting halts the German advance.

Timeline: 1942 November 8 - After four massive German attacks on Stalingrad, the red army prepares Plan Uranus to push back Germans 250 miles away from Stalingrad. November 19 - 3, 500 soviet guns and mortars open fire, and blow Stalingrad free. By the second day of the attack, the south-west front has moved 25 miles. November 24 - the Red Army launches the annihilation of encircled German troops, but due to the amount of troops it does not succeed.

Timeline: 1942 -1943 December 24 - Germans regroup after counter striking the advancing Soviets for a brutal 11 days. January 8, 1943 - Germans do not accept the ultimatum proposed by Soviets to cease fire or be annihilated January 10 - Operation Ring begins and the Red Army opens its final heavy assault on the Germans. January 31 - Marshal Palus is trapped in Stalingrad, and surrenders the Southern army. Two days later the Northern group surrenders.

Key Details: Feodor von Bock was the leader of the central army. He tries to catch Stalin off guard. Eventually tried to capture Moscow, but did not after taking detours south to help.

The Siege of Leningrad September 8, 1941 - January 27, 1944

Thesis: The German besiegement of Leningrad brought suffering and hardship down upon the civilians of one of Russia’s key cities, revealing the strength of the Russian people and revitalizing the Soviet war effort.

Planning After beginning its invasion of Russia in June 1941, Germany quickly made its way up to the city of Leningrad, known today as St. Petersburg. Germany mainly wanted to capture the city because it ran about ten percent of the war production in the USSR, and was a major point for the morale of the Soviets.

German Advance The city was cut off from the south by the German army, and from the north by the Finns. While the Germans pursued the ambition to keep traveling north to conquer Leningrad, the Finnish army was content with staying put. At first, the German forces marched towards Leningrad with the intent to destroy it entirely. However, as their assault slowed to a crawl as they reached within ten kilometers of the city, Hitler ordered that Leningrad should be cut off from supplies and starved.

The Siege -The entire siege lasted about 900 days (the last main road into the city was cut off on September 8, 1941, and the blockades were lifted January 27, 1944. - Before the siege, the population of Leningrad was about 2. 5 ~ 3 million people. - The death toll afterwards totaled one million civilians and 300, 000 Soviet soldiers

Relief Attempts 1: The Sinyavino Offensive This was an attempt by the Soviets in late 1942 to break the German blockade. This first attempt failed to breach the defenses of the German soldiers, but it succeeded in halting the German attacks upon Leningrad. 2: Operation Iskra was a second attempt in January 1943 to open a hole in the German line. The attack was able to open a gap a few miles wide, where a railroad could be built in order to transport more supplies to Leningrad. 3: Lifting of the siege The siege was finally lifted on January 27, 1944, a year after Iskra, by a final push by the Soviet troops that expelled the Germans from the south.

Impacts of Leningrad The Siege of Leningrad was a sizeable loss for the USSR, with millions of deaths and the loss of some of their production power for the war. However, the siege also showed the triumph of the human spirit and the strength of the people in Leningrad as they endured the endless hardship within the city. Seeing this perseverance endowed the rest of the Soviets with a greater drive to fight and defeat the Germans, in order to defend their nation and the people within it who were threatened by Germany.

The Battle of Stalingrad August 23 rd, 1942 -February 2 nd, 1943

Thesis: The German army’s unpreparedness for heavy Russian resistance in Stalingrad caused the momentum of the German war machine to come to a grinding halt, turning the tide on the Eastern front in favor of the Russians.

Background: As the German army advanced further into Russia, they decided to focus on a single front in the hopes of bringing such a defeat upon the Soviets that they would be compelled to surrender (Chen). They decided upon the Southern Front with Army Group South as their area of focus (Chen). The first city in line for conquest was Stalingrad, present-day Volgograd.

Objectives: Germany: -Capture Stalingrad to force USSR to surrender (Rees) -Victory would also secure Caucasus oil fields to the south Russia -City is symbolically named after Stalin and losing the city would decrease morale (Rees) -Stalin had recently issued Order Number 227, which ordered all troops to never retreat under any circumstances, with the penalty of death (Merridale)

Background: As a result, both sides were willing and able to battle as hard as they could to prevent the other from taking it. Finally, on April 23 rd, 1941, the Germans began their air raids on Stalingrad (Chen). The battle had begun.

Important Figures: Axis: Russian: -Friedrich Paulus-German field marshal in charge of invading forces -German 6 th Army-Army division under the command of Paulus -German 4 th Panzer Army-Tank division of the German forces in Stalingrad -Andrey Yeryomenko-Russian Colonel General in control of the southern Eastern front -Georgy Zhukov-Russian field marshal in charge of Red Army in Stalingrad

German Advance: The Germans saw initial success in their advances with Army Group South, splitting it into two groups. Group A would be in the South, advancing towards the Caucasus oil fields, and Group B would stay in the North, with the intent of taking Stalingrad. Group B consisted of the German 6 th Army and the German 4 th Panzer Army. As the Germans experienced such initial success, they began placing foreign troops from Hungary, Romania, Italy, and Croatia to guard their Northern and Southern flanks. The foreign troops were less experienced and much less equipped than the Germans. (Chen)

The Battle: After the German air raids destroyed 80% of the structures, General Yeryomenko began trying to fight the Germans head-on, using conventional warfare around the city such as tank-on-tank battles and infantry pushes, but they were largely ineffective against the highly trained and equipped German army (Rees). After seeing the results of the initial battles, he ordered the Russians to dig in around the city. This move forced the Germans to send men on in foot into the city, and prevented them from using their tanks and planes out of fear of friendly fire. The Germans engaged the Russians in the streets in bloody fighting that would take the next six months (Chen).

The Battle: As the Russians dug in, the entire city was a scene of fighting. “Every building was turned into Soviet fortresses, and even the sewer tunnels became battlegrounds” (Chen). Finally, on November 19 th, Georgy Zhukov launched the Soviet counterattack. Codenamed Operation Uranus, it was a plan to break the stalemate in the city by surrounding it and starving out the troops inside. The Soviet troops would push the vastly inferior Romanian, Hungarian, and Croatian troops to the North and South to cut off the German 6 th Army already inside the city. This worked very well, and the Soviets easily defeated the foreign soldiers to surround the Germans (Chen).

The Battle: After the German entrapment within the city, Hitler ordered them to hold their position, instead of breaking out to join their allies and retreat. He believed they would be able to fly in supplies to the troops in order to continue the occupation. However, the Russian winter, combined with the underestimation of how many supplies the troops actually needed, led to a severe lack of supplies for the Germans. However, Hitler refused to allow them to leave or surrender. Finally, on December 23 rd, 1942, the Soviets took Tatsinskya airfield, where the Germans had been stationing their supply planes. The Germans were unable to resupply their troops any longer. After one more month of fighting, the Germans surrendered on February 2 nd, 1943 (Chen).

Effects: The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point for the Eastern front, and ultimately the war. After the German defeat, they did not win a single battle on the Eastern front. They had suffered nearly a million casualties, and lost the entirety of the sixth army. The German momentum was destroyed and the Russian determination was restored. Much of the other Axis Powers’ armies (other than Germany’s and Finland’s) were destroyed or diminished (Rees).

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