Hitlers Invasion of Russia
In 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact, which secretly promised Russia half of Poland, Bessarabia and the Baltic States. Germany had promised this because they were afraid of an alliance between Britain, France and the USSR. During 1940 the Soviets invaded the Baltic States and Bessarabia. This brought them close to the Romanian oil fields, which were the Germans main source of oil. They then began to put pressure on Finland, Germany’s chief source of nickel. At this time the German high command began thinking of attacking Russia to protect its resources and ordered the build up of forces along the Eastern Front. By 1941 Germany had already successfully invaded France, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland and Poland and was engaged with British forces in North Africa. America had already taken military action against Germany when it dropped depth charges on a U-boat in the North Atlantic on the 10th of April. Hitler was concerned that Britain and the United States might form an alliance with USSR and decided that the time was right to invade. The German strategy was to simultaneously attack Leningrad, Moscow and Smolensk and they began their attack with a massive artillery bombardment which caught
The siege of Moscow was meant to be Hitler’s last victorious win in Russia. But like the other sieges, it lasted too long and was poorly prepared. Hitler, in trying to make it the short swift war he had dreamed of, out ran his supply roots. This meant his tanks had only a limited amount of fuel to advance and fight with. However it was not only fuel, which was in demand, there was no ammo, medical supplies, food or warm cloths to go around. And with the record winter that year, his men froze. The siege dragged on for 7 months, draining away at both sides, and for the Germans it felt, as there was an endless amount of Soviet troops flowing in. The Germans had no choice but to retreat. The battle for Stalingrad, which began in September 1942, was the most bloodthirsty battle during the invasion of the USSR. The city became the symbolic crux of the entire war. The two great armies fought hand-to-hand, street-to-street and house-to-house. The Germans again moved in too fast not waiting to receive sufficient supplies. This soon led to around 250,000 German troops being surrounded. Here the Germans suffered immense losses and being surrounded meant they relied on the Luftwaffe, who could only provide 1/6 of the needed daily supplies. The supply runs, however relied on favorable weather and as the deadly winter set in they became fewer. German soldiers fought among themselves for food and warmth and by February 1943 the remaining 91,000 German soldiers surrendered. Only 6,000 returned to Germany at the end of the war. The German line on the Eastern Front was never broken again after Stalingrad; they simply made an orderly retreat. Hitler only tried once more at The Battle of
Some topics in this essay:
German Napoleon,
Stalingrad September,
Papa Guinea,
Battle Kursk,
Finns Germany,
Army South,
Leningrad Ukraine,
Moscow Smolensk,
Army North,
Vietnam Troops,
artillery bombardment,
central forces,
army north,
eastern front,
attack leningrad,
german soldiers,
january 1944,
german troops,
hitler central,
germans main,
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Approximate Word count = 1134
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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