Sub Topic 1: The Initial Operation
Operation Barbarossa was the first attack Hitler made on the Soviet Union officially during World War II, ending the Non-Aggression Pact. Adolf Hitler launched this massive attack against the Soviet Union with 3 million soldiers and about 150 divisions. Germany only had three percent on the world's crude oil supply and needed Soviet’s vast oil fields. His goal was to seize from North Cape to the Black Sea, a total of 2,000 miles. He believed it would be a quick win for the Axis because the Soviet Union had lost numerous battles in Finland and appeared weak. This tactic would also place more distance between German troops and Britain and France who had recently declared war on Germany. Adolf Hitler declared before the attack, “We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down” (Barbarossa). However, Hitler underestimated the resources of the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin's willingness to have massive loss of these resources. Hitler had created a “superior” Aryan race that he believed needed more “lebensraum” or living space than the other “sub-human” races and by gaining Russia they would gain that land. However, German soldiers were not prepared for the cold winter months in the Soviet Union that would follow and had created a two front war that could not be sustained. Adolf Hitler had officially declared war on the Soviet Union and broken the Nonaggression Pact when Operation Barbarossa was initiated.
Sub Topic 2: Hitler's Hatred of Communism
Adolf Hitler targeted several groups in World War II including Jews, Bolsheviks, and Communists. Communism is a political theory derived from Karl Marx, wanting a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person is ultimately equal. Nazism was based on socialism, fascism, and social Darwinism. It was put into effect by the Nazis in Germany from 1933 to 1945 including the principle of government predominance of Germanic groups assumed to be racially superior. These two principles clearly go against each other in ideology with communism wanting citizens to be equal and nazism wanting a certain ethnical group to be superior over the others. In his book “Mein Kampf” Hitler states his malice towards Bolsheviks as, “common blood-stained criminals… the scum of humanity… the spawn of hell” (Hitler). Adolf Hitler believed Germany was the next war target of Bolshevism and convinced the people of Germany to believe it also. He blamed the Soviets for causing unrest in the German army during World War I. Hitler also called communists and Bolsheviks a, “mortal enemy to our future” (Hitler). When he entered and attacked the Soviet Union he wanted to enslave the Slavs and kill the Jewish population . Since the Soviet Union had a Jewish population of 2,525,000 or 3.4% , Adolf Hitler wanted to exterminate them. Another of Hitler's reasons for attacking the Soviet Union was to destroy Bolshevism and Communism, enslave the Slavs, and kill the Jewish population.
Sub Topic 3: Stalin Fights Back
When Hitler invaded and attacked the Soviet Union, Joesph Stalin fought back in several ways. When Germany declared war on the Soviet Union, the Soviet citizens fled East with all resources they could take, burning what was left behind. On July 3, 1941 Joseph Stalin announced the scorched earth policy over the radio, “In case of forced retreat all rolling stock must be evacuated, the enemy must not be left a single engine, a single railway car, not a single pound of grain or gallon of fuel. The collective farmers must drive off their cattle and turn over their grain to the safekeeping of the state authorities for transportation to the rear. All valuable property including metals, grain, and fuel that can not be withdrawn must be destroyed without fall. In areas occupied by the enemy, guerrilla units must set fire to forests, stores, and transports” (Gregorovich). While this policy was in place, neighborhoods would be burned down on Stalin's command if he felt they were falling into enemy territory. Nearly six million cattle were taken from the Ukraine to East Russia. Guerrilla troops destroyed the Dneproges Dam which supplied hydro-electrical power to a considerable portion of the Soviet Union and was the largest in Europe. Eventually, the German soldiers did not have enough shelter or clothing as the winter set in. Communication also became more difficult as Soviets destroyed telegraph and telephone wires. Soon the German supply lines grew too overstretched and they were forced to retreat.
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