The planning for the war with Soviet Russia commenced on 29 July 1940. Hitler, Keitel, Jodl and Goering met at the Berghof for a series of private meetings, with the first directive, Operation Aufbau Ost, issued in August 1940.
Military Intelligence
In the summer of 1941 the Red Army presented an enigma to German Military Intelligence. The modern Red Army was created by Trotsky (assassinated 1940) and Tukhachevsky (executed 1937) who paid with their lives. In August 1939 following the Nazi-Soviet pact to partition Poland, the Red Army deserted the fixed Stalin line defences, annexed Bessarabia and Bukovina, 'absorbed' the Baltic States and advanced the western frontiers of the Soviet Union by hundreds of kilometres.
Stalin purged the Red Army in 1938 - the greatest numerical loss was born by the Soviet officer corps from the crucial rank of Colonel downwards to company commander level. German infiltration of the Balkans and the winter 1940-41 deployment of troops to the Finnish frontier further weakened their defences.
Russian forces were deployed in Military Districts, north to south, from Leningrad, Baltic, Western, Kiev and Odessa Commands.
Operation Barbarossa
At 03.00hrs, 22 June 1941, three million German soldiers attacked Russia in three Army Groups: North under Feld Marshall von Leeb, Centre under Feld Marshall von Bock and South under Feld Marshall von Rundstedt. Panzer forces under Kleist, Guderian, Hoth and Hoepner attacked in powerful thrusts towards Moscow, Leningrad and Ukraine. The Luftwaffe destroyed the Russian Air Force on the ground with the Panzers quickly surrounded the Soviet defenders. German forces advanced at least 80km on day one.
Stalin, disbelieving his front commanders, was incommunicado until 3 July.
An Elephant Attacking a Host of Ants
The stubborn resistance of individual Soviet soldiers was remarkable. The general Soviet practice of throwing up their arms to surrender, then reaching for their guns as the German infantry approached, was disconcerting. German patrols in Russia was regularly disappeared, first one soldier failed to return, until, a section was eliminated. The bodies of German soldiers were often mutilated.
The First Crisis
Within eight weeks the Wehrmacht was losing momentum. Supplies of food, ammunition and machinery maintenance tools for armoured vehicles were in short supply. The armies were more dispersed as each fought deeper along their own axes and bypassed resistance to exploit weaknesses.
By the middle of July the German front ran along a north-south line from the mouth of the Dniester on the Black Sea to Narva on the Estonian frontier. German maps of Russia did not conform to reality. The road from the frontier to Moscow was unfinished, most of it was a sandy track.
Leningrad, Ukraine and Moscow
The Germans halted outside Leningrad and a 900 day siege ensued. The industrial complex of the Ukraine and their wheat fields were secured. This operation was a strategic failure because it did not win the war for Germany. Marshal of the Soviet Union, Budenny concentrated one and a half million men around Kiev. Three German Panzer Corps were sent from Army Group Centre due south to close off the Soviet forces and capture them. Guderian warned of bypassed Soviet forces with sufficient strength to attack his armoured columns. One third of the Soviet Army had been eliminated. Out of every one thousand, only thirty Soviet soldiers would see their homeland again.
The inordinate delay in taking Moscow meant that the long winter of 1941 closed off the strategic window for attacking Moscow.
Bitva na Mockba
The Battle for Moscow commenced on 12 October when Hoepner crossed the Ougra river. The Soviet spy Rote Kapelle conveyed details of German Army dispositions to Soviet High Command.
Marshal Zhukov's forces kept the armoured pincers of Hoth and Guderian apart, thereby halting another devastating envelopment of the Soviet Army. The Wehrmacht lived by the sword, but if that sword should blunt! Ukrainian's welcomed German troops as their liberators from bolshevism. Many Soviet prisoners and officers of the highest ranks were depending on victory for the Wehrmacht. Ordinary Russian civilians cooperated with the Germans until well into the autumn.
The autumn Ratsupista (time of mud) reduced the advance to a crawl. The German Generals resisted the advance on Moscow. The troops were tired and under constant attack from the Soviets.
By the early days of November Zhukov had transferred 17 fresh armiess with armour from the Far East to Moscow. Zhukov allowed Hoth and Hoepner to the north and Guderian to the south to operate without heavy opposition and let them wheel towards Moscow. German troops were fighting in impossible weather conditions. On 10 December the temperature was -63 Celsius. The Gefrierfleisch Orden 'Order of the Frozen Meat' was issued.
17 fresh Soviet Far Eastern Armies struck savagely on Army Group Centre, on the night of the 4th-5th December, the Germans could not retreat or they would expose their flanks to the onslaught. The Germans doggedly held onto Rzhev, Vyazma and Orel and retreated c.100km. The Wehrmacht suffered their first defeat of World War 2 on Der Ostfront.
In Conclusion
The Wehrmacht had altered out of all recognition, crucified by the Russian winter, stripped of its most eminent commanders and Hitler was in open contempt of his Generals. This precipitated a dangerous crisis.
Sources
- Barbarossa by Alan Clark, Macmillan and Co. Ltd 1991
- German Army Handbook by W. Davies, Military Book Society 1973
- German Infantryman Eastern Front 1941-43 by D Westwood, Osprey Publishing 2003
- Hitler's War: Germany's Key Strategic Decisions by H Magenheimer 2004
Michael Manning - ' The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity' W.B.Yeats
