The Eastern Front

Taught by: [Imperator]



Sections in order

1. Operation Barbarossa 1941
2. Leningrad 1941-1944
3. Stalingrad 1942-1943
4. Kursk 1943
5. The Baltic and the Balkans 1944
6. The Warsaw Uprising 1944
7. Berlin 1945




Operation Barbarossa 1941

In 1941, Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union to destroy communism, exterminate Russian Jews, and gain lebensraum or "living space" for the German people. On June 22, 1941, 3.2 million German troops and 1 million troops from other Axis nations flooded into Russia and quickly smashed most opposition. Facing them were only 2.6 million Soviet troops. At first Stalin refused to believe reports that Hitler had broken their non-aggression pact. It did not take long for him to realize that the Soviet Union faced annihilation at the hands of Hitler's military.

The German attack was focused into three separate prongs. The first prong headed north through the Baltic with objectives to encircle and level the city of Leningrad. The second attack was in the south with orders to move through the Ukraine and capture Kiev. The last of the three German attacks was in between the northern and southern prongs with its goal to reach Moscow, capital of the Soviet Union. At the same time, Finland, who had lost territory to Russia in 1939, would attack the northern flank of Leningrad and break out all along Finland's border with the Soviet Union.


Map of Axis attacks into the Soviet Union.

With the help of surprise and speed created by Blitzcrieg, the German armies rapidly advanced deep into the Soviet Union. There was not much resistance from the stunned Russians but small fierce local actions and skirmishes slowed the German advance more and more. Despite this 5 days after the start of the operation Axis forces had reached up to 200 miles into Russia. The speed of the German advance caused the tank formations to be far in advance of the infantry. Therefore Hitler ordered all tanks to halt and let the infantry catch up. These orders were held for over a week until finally lifted but not before giving the Russians time to establish some defensive positions.

In the Baltic region, Lithuanian rebels, who were cheered by the German invasion, began an uprising to free their country from Soviet rule. 30,000 Lithuanians engaged the Red Army only adding to the Soviet Union's desperate situation. On June 23, Lithuania declared independence from Moscow. As German forces moved ever further north, Estonian rebels also began to fight for their independence. By September 9th, German troops were withen 7 miles of Leningrad before having much of their tanks sent to the center for an all out attack on Moscow.

In the Ukraine, opposition to German troops was much heavier and the Russians even launched a massive counter attack involving over 1000 tanks. German panzers engaged the Russians and the battle lasted for 4 days before the Russian forces were defeated. On September 16, the city of Kiev was encircled by German troops and the battle to take the city raged for 10 days before Germany defeated Russian troops and captured 600,000 prisnors.

The central prong of Germany's attack moved far faster than the north or south but the quick advance left many Soviets behind German lines. Operations to clear these pockets out were surprisingly bloody with heavy casulties to both sides. After temporarily losing most of its tanks to both the north and south fronts, the center was reinforced in preparation for the attack to sieze Moscow. In mid October, German units were 90 miles away from Moscow. By December 2 they were just 15 miles from the city. However increasingly cold weather was slowing the attack down and the first snowstorms of winter began to have devastating effects on the men and material of the Third Reich. German troops were unequipped for winter because Hitler had believed Russia would be defeated before the cold weather came and tanks had to be kept running throughout the night to keep the engines from freezing. The German advance ground to halt and on December 5th the Soviets launched a major counter attack that pushed German forces away from Moscow. The fight for the Russian capital was effectively over.


Soviet troops in winter gear near Moscow in 1941.




Leningrad 1941-1944

From the start Hitler's generals argued for a lightning strike straight at the Russian capital. Hitler, however, wanted the main focus of the attack to be aimed at Leningrad, the birthplace of Bolshevic ideas. He believed that capturing or destroying the city would hand the Russians a severe morall blow that would cripple them. Unable to be swayed by his generals, Hitler placed a majority of German forces in the northern prong. After advancing through the Baltic states, German forces reached Leningrad and began the siege that would last for 29 months.

The siege of Leningrad (modern-day St. Petersburg) lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 and cost the lives of an estimated 1,000,000 city residents. On September 4, 1941, German forces began shelling the city and four days later the city was encircled. Just as preparations were being made to storm the city, Hitler decided to move troops away from Leningrad to strengthen the drive towards Moscow. This weakened German power in the area sufficently to force a formal siege instead of a direct attack on Leningrad.

From that point on, Leningrad was subjected to constant artillary fire and air raids. Much of the city was reduced to rubble and with the city encircled, supplies could not reach the people. Food rations were quickly implemented to conserve what was available. Over a short time rations were drastically reduced to 1/3 the normal food intake needed for an adult as less and less food made its way into Leningrad. Domestic pets, rats, horses, and other livestock became the only source of food for many people before even these sources were gone. Some reports of cannibalism also began to appear. The city's population was starving and as the Russian winter got colder, problems were literally compounded. The ground froze making it nearly impossible to bury the thousands of dead. Soon thousands of corpses littered the streets. By the end of September, oil and coal reserves were used up leaving citizens exposed to the harsh weather. Below freezing temperatures caused water mains to freeze and brake, leaving people without water.


The siege of Leningrad.

With the colder temperatures Lake Ladoga, to the east of Leningrad, froze over. The Russians quickly utilized this by creating the "Road of Life" over which supplies were brought in to the besieged city. It also provided an evacuation route for thousands of wounded soldiers and citizens. The first crossings started on November 20, 1941 and continued for 152 days. The lifeline was constantly coming under attack from German artillary and aircraft making the crossing extremely dangerous. Nonetheless, traffic continued and in 1942 a railroad and oil pipeline was established across the frozen lake.

As German troops began to fall back all across the eastern front, food rations were increased in Leningrad and the city's situation stabilized. In January 1943, Russian forces launched Operation Spark which connected Soviet controlled territory to the city via a small corridor of land. By January 1944, the Red Army had pushed German forces away from Leningrad finally ending the siege of 900 days.




Stalingrad 1942-1943

With Hitler's armies stalled around Leningrad and Moscow, the Germans decided to launch a new offensive into southern Russia and the Caucus region. This area was a major oil center and supplied the Red Army with nearly all of its oil needs making it even more important. To the north of the oil fields was the city of Stalingrad, a major industrial town that produced tanks and ammunition for the Soviet war machine. This city was a critical strategic point that would need to be controlled if the southern oil fields were to be controlled as well. These factors would turn Stalingrad into one of the bloodiest engagements to take place in World War II.

When the German forces in the Caucus stalled for lack of fuel, attention turned slightly to the north. Hitler placed General Friedrich von Paulus in command of the army that would assault Stalingrad. In September of 1942, Paulus pushed quickly to the outskirts of the city and met little resistance. Then as Russian defenses came into play, the Germans slowed and began a massive preemptory bombardment of Stalingrad. Aircraft rained bombs down and artillery blasted away. It wasn’t long before the city was completely reduced to rubble. Heavy fighting resulted as the Germans launched their main attacks on the outskirts of the city. The Russian commander Vasily Chuikov, sought to make Germany’s air superiority useless by engaging the enemy at very close range. This tactic would make it too risky for aircraft to bomb Russian positions because of the chance of bombing their own men. The Russians fought tooth and nail but it was not enough. Paulus’s army cracked their lines and the Soviets retreated into the city. The tank factory in the northern half of Stalingrad soon began to send unpainted tanks straight off the assembly line and into the thick of battle.

On October 14, German tanks broke the defenses around the factory and acres of warehouses and production lines became a bloodbath. Glass from shattered windows littered the ground and blood lay stained upon the walls. 8000 Russian men guarding the factory rushed thousands of Germans and fought hand-to-hand with knives, bayonets, and pistols. By the end of two days, over 5000 of them were dead or wounded. The Germans had managed to take nearly all of Stalingrad except for isolated positions around the tank factory and a thin strip of land still held by the Russians along the Volga River. In some places this remaining Soviet area ran only 200 yards deep.


Soldiers move through the ruins of Stalingrad.

As thousands of Russians died in Stalingrad, reinforcements flooded across the Volga from the eastern side of the river in anything that would float. German artillery and machine gun fire rained down into the freezing water. Often, when the Russian boats got to shore, all the reinforcements had already been killed in the crossing by German fire. The river began to run red with blood as more young men were thrown into the jaws of death. Casualties were equally catastrophic on the German side. Despite the slaughter, neither side was gaining much ground.

With Stalingrad in stalemate, the Russians prepared for a massive attack to relieve Chuikov’s battered forces. More than one million men, thousands of tanks, and hundreds of airplanes were gathered for the drive. The strike would hit both of Paulus’s flanks from the north and south simultaneously and push towards the city of Rostov on the Black Sea, thus surrounding the Germans in Stalingrad. In a strategic blunder by the Germans, only the Hungarians, Italians, and Romanians, respectively from west to east, protected the German north flank. These demoralized, poorly trained, and ill-equipped men were far from able to repel a strong Russian attack. With this great weakness, Paulus’s troops in Stalingrad were as good as dead.

The Russian attack began on November 19, 1942 and only four days later, the entire German army in Stalingrad was encircled in a pocket roughly 40 miles by 50 miles. Within this circle were two airfields that were crucial to Hitler’s remedy for this new disaster. As it would not be long before the Germans began to starve and run out of ammunition, Hitler charged Goring, Commander of the Luftwaffe, to fly supplies into Stalingrad. The size of the operation would be immense. With over 150,000 Germans to feed, more than 60 tons of supplies would have to be flown in everyday to keep the army strong enough to fight. Goring confidently assured Hitler that it could be done. He was gravely mistaken.

For the next several weeks, the Russians continued to tighten their grip on Stalingrad and the German pocket shrank more and more. Totally overburdened by strains from duties on the eastern front, the Luftwaffe was unable to spare enough aircraft to get the neccesary supplies inside the pocket. Bad weather and increasing numbers of Russian fighters also lowered the tonnage being brought in drastically. Then the Pitomnik and Gumrak airfields in the Stalingrad pocket were captured on ---------, finally cutting off the German defenders from outside aid.

Freezing weather and lack of supplies soon began to destroy the German army. Horses that were being used for transportation were quickly devoured leaving little else to eat except rats. Most Germans were to weak to fight and didn't last long in the winter blizards.



Kursk 1943


German troops and Tiger tanks prepare for the start of Operation Citadel.




The Baltic and the Balkans 1944

Blah




The Warsaw Uprising 1944

As the Red Army tore forward into German occupied Poland, the capital city, Warsaw, became an objective for the Soviets. Polish resistance fighters in the capital heard the sounds of battle in the distance and believed that soon they would be liberated, sparking what would come to be known as the Warsaw uprising.




Berlin 1945


Soviet forces raise the hammer and sickle over the Rieschtag.




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