Leningrad
and
Stalingrad
Significance?
• Blitzkrieg failed to deliver the knockout
blow to Russia
• Thus Germany would have to fight through
the winter
• The German army laid siege to Leningrad
and Stalingrad, hoping to starve the
civilians into surrender or annihilation
Problem?
• “The German army is
like an elephant
attacking a host of
ants. He will crush
and kill thousands,
perhaps millions; but
in the end, their
numbers will
overcome him, and
he will be eaten in the
end. “
– - German Soldier
Stalin's order 227
Translated to english by our friend Frank.
----------------------------------------------------------The Order of the National Commissar for the Defense of the Soviet Union.
July 28 1942, Moscow.
The enemy throws new forces to the front without regard to heavy losses
and penetrates deep into the Soviet Union, seizing new regions, destroying
our cities and villages, and violating, plundering and killing the Soviet population.
Combat goes on in region Voronej, near Don, in the south, and at the gates of
the Northern Caucasus. The German invaders penetrate toward Stalingrad, to
Volga and want at any cost to trap Kuban and the Northern Caucasus,
with their oil and grain. The enemy already has captured Vorochilovgrad,
Starobelsk, Rossosh, Kupyansk, Valuyki, Novochercassk, Rostov on Don,
half Voronej. Part of the troops of the Southern front, following the panicmongers, have left Rostov and Novochercassk without severe resistance and
without orders from Moscow, covering their banners with shame.
The population of our country, who love and respect the Red Army, start to
be discouraged in her, and lose faith in the Red Army, and many curse the
Red Army for leaving our people under the yoke of the German oppressors,
and itself running east. Some stupid people at the front calm themselves with
talk that we can retreat further to the east, as we have a lot of territory, a lot
of ground, a lot of population and that there will always be much bread for us.
They want to justify the infamous behavior at the front. But such talk is
falsehood, helpful only to our enemies.
Each commander, Red Army soldier and political commissar should understand
that our means are not limitless. The territory of the Soviet state is not a desert,
but people - workers, peasants, intelligentsia, our fathers, mothers, wives,
brothers, children. The territory of the USSR which the enemy has captured and
aims to capture is bread and other products for the army, metal and fuel for
industry, factories, plants supplying the army with arms and ammunition,
railroads. After the loss of Ukraine, Byelorussia, Baltic republics, Donetzk,
and other areas we have much less territory, much less people, bread, metal,
plants and factories.
•
We have lost more than 70 million people, more than
800 million pounds of bread annually and more than 10 million
tons of metal annually. Now we do not have predominance
over the Germans in human reserves, in reserves of bread. To
retreat further - means to waste ourselves and to waste at the
same time our Motherland. Therefore it is necessary to
eliminate talk that we have the capability endlessly to retreat,
that we have a lot of territory, that our country is great and rich,
that there is a large population, and that bread always will be
abundant. Such talk is false and
parasitic, it weakens us and benefits the enemy, if we do not
stop retreating we will be without bread, without fuel, without
metal, without raw material, without factories and plants,
without railroads. This leads to the conclusion, it is time to
finish retreating. Not one step back! Such should now be our
main slogan.It is necessary to defend each position, each
meter of our territory, up to the last drop of blood, tocling for
each plot of Soviet land
and to defend it as long as possible. Our Motherland is
experiencing hard days.We must stop, and then to throw back
and smash the enemy regardless of cost. The Germans are
not so strong, as it seems to the panic-mongers.
Leningrad
• Old capital of Russia
• Home of the Russian Revolution (when
known as St. Petersburg)
• Base of the Soviet Baltic fleet
• For three years, all land routes into the city
were blocked
• Civilians had not been evacuated
• One route in and out- the ‘Road of Life’
across Lake Ladoga
(continued)
• The two-and-a-half year siege caused the
greatest destruction and the largest loss of
life ever known in a modern city
• On Hitler's express orders, most of the
palaces of the Tsars, and other historic
landmarks located outside the city's
defensive perimeter were looted and then
destroyed
• The siege of Leningrad is the most lethal siege in world
history
• The 872 days of the siege caused unparalleled famine in
the Leningrad region through disruption of utilities, water,
energy and food supplies. This resulted in the deaths of
up to 1,500,000 soldiers and civilians
• In the winter of 1941-42, rations were down to 50 grams
of bread per person, per day
– 1 gram = 1 paper clip of weight
– 60% of this ‘bread’ was made of sawdust
• Starving, the people of Leningrad resorted to eating
leather briefcases, the paste behind wallpaper, and
cannibalism
World at War Red Star Clip
• 11 minutes – 24 minutes (poem)
1942- Stalingrad- THE Battle
• Valued by Hitler as a propaganda piece (personal test of
wills) and a key piece in taking the oil and wheat in the
Caucasus
• Stalin issued Order 227 and refused to allow civilians out
in order to make the soldiers fight harder
• 80% of the city was destroyed by the Luftwaffe
• Bloodiest battle in history (2 million total casualties)
• Street by street fighting
– At one point, the Germans owned 90% of the city
• Broke the back of the Nazis… turning point in the war
“The Soviets understood that, in Stalingrad, the best
defense would depend on anchoring their defense lines in
numerous buildings overseeing strategically important
streets and squares. Such a strategy would hold for as long
as possible all the ground the Soviets could take in the city.
Thus, they converted multi-floored apartment blocks,
factories, warehouses, street corner residences and office
buildings into strongholds bristling with machine guns, antitank rifles, mortars, mines, barbed wire, snipers and small 5
to 10 man units of submachine gunners and grenadiers
prepared for house-to-house combat. Bitter fighting raged
for every ruin, street, factory, house, basement and
staircase. The sewers were the sites of labyrinthine
firefights. The Germans, calling this unseen urban warfare
Rattenkrieg ("Rat War"), bitterly joked about capturing the
kitchen but still fighting for the living room.”
Strain of the Battle
• German commander developed an
uncontrollable eye tic
• Soviet commander developed a skin
rash so bad that he had to bandage his
hands entirely
• Some Soviet munitions factories built
tanks while fighting raged in the
building…
• For periods of the battle, the average life
expectancy of a Soviet soldier arriving in
the city was less than 24 hours
Some have
argued that
the Germans
lost more
men trying to
take this
house than
taking Paris
Soviet
counterattack…
•Battle lasted for about 6
months
•Germans surrounded
•Hitler orders them to be
resupplied by air
•3000 tons a day dropped to an
army that needs 5000
•Starvation
•German General Paulus begs
Hitler to allow a break out…
told to stand and fight
•Hitler promotes Paulus to field
marshal and tells him ‘No
German field marshal has ever
been captured alive’
•Paulus and his 91k men
surrender… less than 6 k ever
see Germany again… 22
German generals captured
Post Stalingrad- Germans Always
on the Retreat from Soviet Armies
Hansen
Name ______________
The Battles of Leningrad and Stalingrad
World War II
•
Significance?
–
Blitzkrieg failed to __________________________
–
Thus Germany would have to fight _________________
–
The German army laid ___________ to Leningrad and
Stalingrad, hoping to ___________________________
__________________ or annihilation
•
Problem?
–
“The German army is like an _________ attacking ___
_______ _________________. He will crush and kill
thousands, perhaps millions; but in the end, _________
_______________________, and he will be eaten in the
end. “ German Soldier
•
What is the central point of Stalin’s Order 227?
_____________________________
__________________________________
•
Leningrad
–
Old _________ of Russia
–
Home of the _______________________________
(when known as St. Petersburg)
–
Base of the Soviet _____________________
–
For three years, all ____routes into the city were blocked
–
Civilians had not ______________________
–
One route in and out- the ________________________
____________________________________________
–
–
–
–
–
–
•
The two-and-a-half year siege caused the greatest destruction
and the largest loss of life _____________________________
On Hitler's express orders, most of the __________________
____________________________________ located outside
the city's defensive perimeter were looted and then destroyed
The siege of Leningrad is the most lethal siege in __________
The 872 days of the siege caused unparalleled famine in the
Leningrad region through disruption of utilities, water, energy
and food supplies. This resulted in the deaths of up to
_________________ soldiers and civilians
In the winter of 1941-42, rations were down to _____________
__________________________________________________
•
1 gram = 1 ___________________ of weight
•
60% of this ‘bread’ was made of _______________
Starving, the people of Leningrad resorted to _____________
_________________________________________________
World at War Clip- What happened to the tears of the people in
Leningrad, according to the film? ______________________
__________________ Explain! ________________________
__________________________________________________
•
•
•
•
•
1942- Stalingrad- ______________
–
Valued by Hitler as a propaganda piece (_____________
_______________ ) and a key piece in taking the oil and
wheat in the _______________
–
Stalin issued Order 227 and refused to allow civilians out
in order ___________________________________
–
80% of the city was destroyed by ___________________
–
________________________ (2 million total casualties)
–
Street by street fighting
–
At one point, the Germans owned ___________________
Broke the back of the Nazis… ___________________________
–
Strain of the Battle
–
German commander developed an _________________
–
Soviet commander developed a ___________ so bad that
he had ________________________________________
–
Some Soviet munitions factories built tanks while ______
______________________________________________
–
For periods of the battle, the average life expectancy of a
Soviet soldier arriving in the city ____________________
Battle lasted for about _____________________
–
Germans _________________
–
Hitler orders them to _______________________
–
3000 tons a day dropped to an army that needs ________
–
Starvation
–
German General Paulus begs Hitler to allow a break out…
____________________________________
–
Hitler promotes Paulus to field marshal and tells him
______________________________________________
________ . Meaning? ____________________________
–
Paulus and his 91k men ________… less ________ ever
see Germany again… 22 German _________________
Post Stalingrad- Germans ___________________ from Soviet
Armies
Enemy at the Gates Film Clip –
–
–
What is interesting about the way guns are handed out to the
Soviet soldiers? ___________________________________
_____________________________________________
What happens when the Soviet forces retreat at the end of the
clip?
________________________________________________