Barbarossa – Lecture Notes
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The key to understanding is more psychological than military…
In Hitler’s mind this isn’t just defeat, it is total and utter destruction
Irony – Stalin believed Hitler wouldn’t attack. Stalin, a devious tyrant had
placed his trust in the least rational of men
Next to the Jew, Stalin was Hitler’s worst enemy… an obsession.
Hitler signed the Nazi/Soviet Pact in order to crush the USSR more
effectively later on.
3 pronged attack:
Leningrad
Moscow
Kiev
Hitler’s mistake: he had to help Mussolini in Greece & Yugoslavia, which slowed
down his Russian drive
Hitler was blind to the strategic realities of Russia
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Barbarossa – a holy Roman Empire crusader who had failed in his mission
to the east and had drowned
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“I do not expect my generals to understand me, but I expect them to
obey my orders”
In the USSR, Stalin’s purges produced an atmosphere of fear – more of Stalin
than the Germans
Why did Stalin never heed the massive warnings of the USA and Britain?
1.
too blinded by his ideological beliefs to hear what US and Britain were
telling him
2.
unable to understand why Hitler hated him so much
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when the truth was known, Stalin couldn’t face the consequences… he
became paralyzed
Hitler lost the war – because he hated his own people?
Stalin won – because he convinced the people that he loved them and their
homeland?
In Stalin, madness never gained the upper hand. In Hitler, madness conquered.
Operation Barbarossa
 Background – USSR attacked Finland in the “Winter War” – November 30,
1939
 Hitler is threatened as USSR occupies Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania,
Estonia) in June 1940 – reversing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
 Germany occupied Romania in October 1940
 Germany intelligence miscalculates Soviet strength although…
Hitler’s goals:
1. Lebensraum
2. Ukraine = food
3. Caucuses = oil
4. Destroy commies!
Statistics:
 2000 Soviet aircraft destroyed by Day 2 (strongest air force in the world
gone in just 48 hours)
 2000 mile front
 153 German divisions initially attacked USSR
 a total of 8 million German soldiers would fight in the east
 German motorized divisions advanced 50 miles on the first day (200 miles
in the first week)
 In the first 6 months, the USSR lost 3 million soldiers
Effects of Stalin’s Purges…
By 1938
 3 out of 5 Red Army marshals have been executed
 13 out of 15 Red Army commanders ………
 110 out of 195 divisional commanders …………
 186 out of 406 brigadiers ………..
 all 11 deputy commisars for defense …………
 75 out of 80 Military Soviets ……………
 all military district commanders ………
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Many of the replacements were inferior or incapable to those executed
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However, Stalin’s industrialization program brings their military up to the
largest in the world by 1941
German successes in the first 6 months:
Leningrad: encircled, blockaded and sieged
Kiev/Kharkov/Smolensk – fallen cities with 1 million captives
USSR’s economic base – ½ of industry captured
Autumn Rains and “General Winter” – coldest in 50 years!
USSR retreat – echoes of Napoleonic War?
Germans advance thousands of miles
Mud, snow, cold
Scorched Earth policy
“Never did a population suffer so much from both sides in a war”
Russians – stripped the corpses of their fellow countrymen for clothing
Germans – did the same, ripped up floorboards to check for food, such as
potatoes underneath… furniture and parts of houses used for firewood
The combination of battle stress and the horrors of this war increased the suicide
rate among German soldiers
Russian counter attack
Moscow – halted 50 km from Moscow
Defensive fortifications built at Moscow 
 620 miles of earthworks
 400 miles of anti-tank ditches
 370 miles of barb wire fencing
1 million starve in Leningrad, but Zhukov is reinstated and reinforcements from
allies along with the winter allows the Soviet forces to drive the German panzer
attacks back.
Moscow is connected by road and rail to bring supplies
The new T 34 tank with a wide track is produced
More Soviet troops are diverted from Siberian front as Richard Sorge (a
Comintern spy) gains information that Japan is planning to attack USA, not USSR
9 million Soviet reserves (400 divisions) are added
As Germans retreat, Hitler is enraged and fires many Panzer commanders,
announcing himself leader of the army
He lectures his generals to stand, but to no avail as the “Napoleonic Retreat”
ensued.
Spring of ’42 – a new German plan  “Operation Blue”
Hitler and Guderian argue as Hitler commands him to divert from Moscow and
help in the South at Kiev.
New attack plan is made on Stalingrad
Stalingrad
City is 40 km long, situated on the Volga River
The symbolic importance is huge as it bears Stain’s name
It sits strategically on the caucuses oil fields
Hitler’s big mistake is to not allow General Paulus to retreat
Historical significance:
1. First German army group to surrender – huge boost to USSR morale
2. Germany denied oil – vital transport routes through the Black Sea
3. Germany now on the defensive
4. Liberation of Eastern Europe
5. Cold war implications!
Primary docs:
Guderian  “The enemy, the size of the country, and the foulness of the
weather were all grossly underestimated.”
Hitler to Guderian: “Had I known Russian tank strength… I would not have
started this war.”