Germany's WWII offensive against Russia [Operation Barbarossa], 70 years later

History News network ^ | 06.22.11

[Perdogg]

DW: What was the objective of the military offensive "Operation Barbarossa," which began on June 22, 1941?

Wolfram Wette: The objective was to conquer the Soviet Union, to decimate its population, to exploit the land - in order to colonize the country with Germans in the distant future. So it was a war for the capture of "Lebensraum," or "living space," in the East. They wanted to colonize the Soviet Union up to the Ural Mountains in order to create an self-sufficient, strongly protected Greater German Reich from the Atlantic to the Urals.

[Perdogg]

ping

[Java4Jay]

I thought it was to capture the oil fields

[stefanbatory]

that’s only a small part...

[iowamark]

Full article at:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15154398,00.html

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
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[30Moves]

It always comes down to logistics. Ha, railroads were a different gauge - his supply line was too long and vulnerable.

What an overreach.

[YankeeReb]

I think that’s why Hitler split his forces sending half to Russia & half south to Romania. The oil fields of the USSR were in Siberia, he knew he couldn’t take all that, he just wanted Moscow. Same mistake Napoleon made.

[cunning_fish]

Siberian oil fields weren’t discovered untul late 60s.

Soviet had their oil from Azerbaijan and Chechnya in 40s.

It wasn’t a war for oil.

BTW, Romania was Hitler’s ally and a member of Axis.

[ETL]

Above: Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov signs the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact while German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop and Soviet leader Stalin look on under a portrait of Lenin, August 23, 1939. News of the Pact stunned the world and paved the way for the beginning of World War Two with Hitler assured the Germans would not have to fight a war on two fronts.
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/pact.htm
___________________________________________________

"...at the time of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, the Communists suddenly transformed the 'Anti-Nazi League' into the "Hollywood Peace Forum," calling for American neutrality and using the slogan 'Let's Skip the Next War.'..."
--Ronald Radosh, from his book, Red Star Over Hollywood: The Film Colony's Long Romance With the Left
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4251

[Hoodat]

If Japan had attacked the Soviet Union instead of the United States, Moscow would have fallen.

[sphinx]

Overreach is correct, but it’s also 20/20 hindsight. Germany had occupied much of European Russia in WWI and, with an assist from Lenin, had knocked Russia out of the war in 1917. Hitler thought he could easily do in 1941 with mechanized troops what had already been done a generation earlier without tanks, trucks, and blitzkrieg. France, a far more formidable opponent in WWI, had gone down like a house of cards. It’s not difficult to understand how Hitler connected the dots. And always remember, he almost pulled it off. It was a very close run thing.

[PzLdr]

The oil fields, the Donets basin, the Ukraine,the industry near Leningrad.

[Patton@Bastogne]

.


Not so about Japan defeating Russia ... Japan lost a bloody skirmish against the Soviets in 1938 ...


Soviet general Georgy Zhukov soundly defeated the Japanese in the Battle of Nomonhan (Khalkhin Gol) in 1938.


Here is the Wikipaedia account:


Nomonhan (Khalkhin Gol)In 1938 Zhukov was directed to command the First Soviet Mongolian Army Group, and saw action against Japan's Kwantung Army on the border between Mongolia and the Japanese controlled state of Manchukuo in an undeclared Soviet-Japanese war that lasted from 1938 to 1939.


What began as a routine border skirmish — the Japanese testing the resolve of the Soviets to defend their territory — rapidly escalated into a full-scale war, the Japanese pushing forward with 80,000 troops, 180 tanks and 450 aircraft.


This led to the decisive Battle of Khalkhin Gol. Zhukov requested major reinforcements, and on 20 August 1939 his "Soviet Offensive" commenced, with an artillery barrage, nearly 500[4] BT-5 and BT-7 tanks, and over 500[5] fighters and bombers; the first fighter-bomber offensive in Soviet Air Force history.[6]


Zhukov ordered what seemed at first to be a conventional frontal attack; however, he had held back two tank brigades, which in a daring and successful manoeuvre, were then ordered by him to advance around both flanks of the battle. Supported by motorised artillery, infantry, and tanks, the two mobile battle groups encircled the 6th Japanese Army and captured their vulnerable supply areas.


By 31 August 1939, phase three of the campaign had been completed, and the Japanese had been cleared of the disputed border, which essentially brought a Soviet victory during the undeclared war at Nomonhan (Battle of Khalkhin Gol).[7]


Zhukov had deployed ingenious underwater bridges at Nomonhan, bridges that would take the Germans by surprise[8] later in the Eastern Front.


The Soviet Army would replace their fireprone gasoline powered BT-tanks with diesel engines; and the lessons learned from the Mongolian plains would be incorporated into future Soviet tank armor, mobility, and main guns, leading directly into the development of the new T-34 medium tank.[8]


At the end of the campaign, combat veterans of Nomonhan were dispatched to units which had not seen combat, who would later benefit from the experience of the battle-hardened men.[9]


Zhukov would later write about the advantages of interspersing experienced soldiers within green regiments.[9]


For this operation Zhukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.


Outside of the Soviet Union, however, this battle remained little-known, as by this time World War II had begun. Zhukov's pioneering use of mobile armour went unheeded by the West, and in consequence the German Blitzkrieg against France in 1940 came as a great surprise.


However, Zhukov had been vindicated, as he had always insisted, since actual combat at Nomonhan 1939 had given him the experience needed to fight the Germans.[10]




.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

In his new WW II history, “Storm of War,” Andrew Roberts argues that had Hitler made an alliance with Poland and accepted the non-Russian residents of eastern Russia as allies, he could have whipped the USSR and won the war.
Hitler alienated the Japanese who could have attacked from the other side of the USSR, drawing millions of Soviet troops away from the German onslaught.
Instead, Hitler fought a political war vs. a military war.

[PzLdr]

Actually, No. The German forces were split, initially, because of geography. In western Russia, the Pripyet Marshes split Belorus from Ukraine almost to Smolensk. Except for some horse cavalry and leg infantry, the bulk of the German forces found the swamps impassable.

The oil fields in question were in the Caucausus, at Maikop, Baku... They were, in fact the primary target [initially] of the German 1942 offensive, ‘Case Blue’.

Finally,taking Moscow wan’t a high priority for Hitler. That was Brauchitsch [German Army C in C], and Halder, the Army Chief of Staff. Hitler was primarily, for economic reasons, interested in the flanks, i.e the wealth of Ukraine, and the industrial capacity from the Leningrad area.

[PzLdr]

That wasn’t going to happen, because FDR’s oil embargo gave the Japanese Navy priority and the deciding vote on where the war would be fought. The war in Asia was initiated over the Indonesian oil fields.

[Roger_Wildcat]

Japan had a great big battle with the Soviet Union just before the start of WW2. It called the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. Soviet forces led by General Zhukov defeated the Japanese Army in the Battle of Khalkin Gol, which started in May 1939 to the end of August of the same year.

The signing of the peace treaty between Germany and Soviet Union occured a few days before before the end of the battle. It killed any hope that the Germen will come to the aid of the Japanese at that point. The battle of Khalkin Gol ended around August 31th. The losses that the Japanese took in the battle convinced them to look elsewhere to expand and they were really was not interested in having another go at the Soviets after this.

Oh, and the invasion of Poland started the next day on September 1st.

[Roger_Wildcat]

1939 actually.

[30Moves]

I agree - he alienated pretty much everyone. Having Poland as a base of operations would have turned the tide.