Operation Barbarossa - The largest military attack in the WWII

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in WWII. The operation was named after Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire. The original goal was the rapid conquest of the European part of the Soviet Union and the Ukraine, west of a line connecting the cities of Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan.

It was 5:30 a.m., June 22nd 1941, a meeting between the German ambassador and Molotov, where it was first announced the declaration of war because of repeated violations of the Russo-German Pact. The two largest and most powerful armies confronted each other from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea along a 3000 kilometer line.

Over 3 million German soldiers and 3300 tanks cross the Russian border. The German armies were divided into three groups for the operation: Army Group North, Army Group Center, Army Group South. Facing them is the world's largest army comprised of 230 divisions of 14,000 men each, with 20,000 tanks (many obsolete.) The Russian Army was organized into four Military Districts. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) destroys over 2,000 Red Air Force aircraft. Many are caught on the ground in the first hours of the assault. The numerically strongest air force in the world is wiped out in 48 hours. The Commander of Russian Aviation, General Rychagov, is given the death sentence for "treasonable activity" (i.e. defeat.) By Day 17 of the attack, 300,000 Russians had been captured, 2,500 tanks, 1,400 artillery guns and 250 aircraft captured or destroyed. This was only in the territory attacked by Army Group Centre.

“It is probable that history will regard June 22, 1941, as the apocalyptic date of the military calendar. No military plan of the scope of Operation Barbarossa had ever before been launched, for never before had techniques of organisation, transport, and communication been available on such a scale.”

Barry Pitt

    However the operation failed. The German advance had been so fast that it had compromised the whole army’s supply and communication lines. The orders of Hitler caused loss of time. The delay was such that the impact of the winter occurred before the Germans had reached the objectives set by Hitler. Very few in the German Army were equipped to cope with the cold. Also The Germans had grossly underestimated the mobilization potential of the Red Army: its primary mobilization size (i.e. the total of already trained units that could be put on a war-footing in short time) was about twice as large as they had expected. In addition, data collected by Soviet intelligence excluded the possibility of a war with Japan, which allowed the Soviets to transfer forces from the Far East to the European theatre. Hitler's plans also miscarried before the onset of severe winter weather; he was so confident of a lightning victory that he did not prepare for even the possibility of winter warfare in the Soviet Union. Yet his eastern army suffered more than 734,000 casualties (about 23 percent of its average strength of 3,200,000 troops) during the first five months of the invasion, and on 27 November 1941, General Eduard Wagner, the Quartermaster General of the German Army, reported that "We are at the end of our resources in both personnel and materiel. We are about to be confronted with the dangers of deep winter." The German forces were not prepared to deal with harsh weather and the poor road network of the USSR. In autumn, the terrain slowed the Wehrmacht’s progress. Few roads were paved. The ground in the USSR was either a very loose sand in the summer, a sticky muck in the autumn, or heavy snow during the winter. The German tanks had narrow treads that gave little traction and poor flotation in mud. In contrast, the new generation of Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV were far more mobile. The 600,000 large western European horses the Germans used for supply and artillery movement did not cope well with this weather. The small ponies used by the Red Army were much better adapted to this climate.

The outcome of Operation Barbarossa was at least as detrimental to the Soviets as it was to the Germans, however. Although the Germans had failed to take Moscow outright, they held huge areas of the western Soviet Union, including the entire regions of what are now Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic States, plus parts of Russia proper west of Moscow. The Germans held up to 500000 sq.mi. of territory with over 75 million people at the end of 1941, and would go on to seize another 250,000 sq. mi. before being forced to retreat after military defeats such as Stalingrad and Kursk. In all the occupied areas, anti-German partisan activity rapidly escalated, and so did brutal German reprisals. The Germans also held on as stubbornly as possible in the face of Soviet counterattacks, resulting in huge casualties on each side in many battles.

    The failure of Operation Barbarossa arguably resulted in the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany, and was a turning point for the fortunes of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Most significantly of all, Operation Barbarossa opened up the Eastern Front, which ultimately became the biggest theatre of war in human history, with some of the largest and most brutal battles, deadliest atrocites, terrible loss of life, and miserable conditions for Soviets and Germans alike.