In Leningrad over one million people died of starvation and cold. .
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Operation Barbarossa, in which Germany launched a huge land campaign on the Russian soil, was the start of the War's turning point. Operation Barbarossa was a main fault in the German plan; they attacked to quickly on Russia, taking too much ground too fast. They didn't completely defeat all troops before moving on, so they ended up being semi-surrounded. Also the Russian troops that were left behind were able to sabotage the offence by cutting communication lines and destroying their food and ammunition supplies.
Why was the Soviet Union successful in the attack? Firstly she only had one front to fight on, and being one of the largest countries in the world, her army was huge - large enough to outnumber the Germans at ease. Russian advancement had obliterated 607 divisions of the German Army - approximately 6 million men - while Britain and the USA together only managed 176. This had imposed a major blow to the German morale and Army, as Barbarossa absorbed up to 75% of the Army, and yet had placed the Russians on the upper hand. The Russian Tactics of 'Scorched Earth' was also a blow to Germans, as supplies had to come from the other occupied countries and diverted to the East rather than being used on the West to secure their position tightly. It was also the case that the Germans had underestimated their enemy. Their indoctrination of being the superior race placed the regard of 'untermensch' which meant 'sub-human' on the Russians. As they began to realize, they were already beleaguered deep inside the encirclement. The Russians, as defenders, fought courageously under patriotism - unlike the deteriorating Germans. The two examples are the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk.
In Stalingrad, the German 6th Army was surrounded as a result of operation Uranus which was devised by General Zhukov who led the Stalingrad defense successfully.
