War on the Eastern Front 2.4 Operation Barbarossa, 22 June 1941 On 22 June 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa — the invasion of the Soviet Union — and thus opened a new fighting front. The massive attack involved approximately 3.3 million men, 3500 tanks and thousands of aircraft along a 2900-kilometre front from Leningrad in the north to Odessa in the south. His goals were to: • gain land (‘living space’ or lebensraum) • gain much-needed agricultural and oil resources • gain a slave labour force from people Hitler considered racially inferior • destroy the Soviet Union’s Communist government. The attack surprised Soviet forces and they were unable to respond effectively. German forces captured the cities of Minsk and Smolensk within weeks. They laid siege to Leningrad in August, took the city of Kiev and captured over 600 000 Soviet troops in September and were on the outskirts of Moscow, the Soviet capital, by November 1941. By this stage, over one million Russians were dead, over three million were prisoners of war and the Soviet Union had lost control of approximately 60 per cent of its aluminium, coal, iron and steel resources. Germany’s forces then began to fall victim to shortages of fuel and equipment and to the bitterly cold Russian winter for which they didn’t have proper clothing. The cold also made it hard for them to operate their tanks. They were unable to gain control of Moscow, and Leningrad remained under siege but not defeated. Against the advice of his generals, Hitler redirected the bulk of his troops towards the south of the Soviet Union. SWEDEN ROMANIA YUGOSLAVIA HUNGARY SOVIET UNION GREATER GERMANY FINLAND SLO V A K IA B A L T I C S E A Warsaw Lvov Kursk Minsk Kiev Leningrad Moscow Smolensk Stalingrad Kharkov Dvinsk Riga Key German front line, July 1941 German advance, December 1941 German advance, November 1942 0 250 kilometres 500 750 The Battle of Stalingrad, 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943 In June 1942, the German army’s goals were to defeat Soviet forces in the south of the Soviet Union, to capture and control the Baku oilfields, and to cut off Stalingrad on the River Volga. Stalingrad was one of the Soviet Union’s key industrial and manufacturing cities and an important rail and water link between the north and the south. Communist: political party that controlled Soviet government from 1917 to 1991 Source 1 Map showing Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union from 1941 to late 1942 Source question What evidence does source 1 provide of the success of Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union? Retroactive 10: Australian Curriculum for History 64
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War on the eastern Front2.4operation Barbarossa, 22 June 1941On 22 June 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa — the invasion of the
Soviet Union — and thus opened a new fi ghting front. The massive attack involved
approximately 3.3 million men, 3500 tanks and thousands of aircraft along a
2900-kilometre front from Leningrad in the north to Odessa in the south. His goals
were to:
• gain land (‘living space’ or lebensraum)
• gain much-needed agricultural and oil resources
• gain a slave labour force from people Hitler considered racially inferior
• destroy the Soviet Union’s Communist government.
The attack surprised Soviet forces and they were unable to respond effectively.
German forces captured the cities of Minsk and Smolensk within weeks. They laid siege
to Leningrad in August, took the city of Kiev and captured over 600 000 Soviet troops in
September and were on the outskirts of Moscow, the Soviet capital, by November 1941.
By this stage, over one million Russians were dead, over three million were prisoners of
war and the Soviet Union had lost control of approximately 60 per cent of its aluminium,
coal, iron and steel resources.
Germany’s forces then began to fall victim to shortages of fuel and equipment and
to the bitterly cold Russian winter for which they didn’t have proper clothing. The cold
also made it hard for them to operate their tanks. They were unable to gain control of
Moscow, and Leningrad remained under siege but not defeated. Against the advice of his
generals, Hitler redirected the bulk of his troops towards the south of the Soviet Union.
SWEDEN
ROMANIA
YUGOSLAVIA
HUNGARY
SOVIET UNION
GREATER
GERMANY
FINLAND
SLOVAKIA
BA
LT
IC
S
EA
Warsaw
Lvov
Kursk
Minsk
Kiev
Leningrad
Moscow
Smolensk
Stalingrad
Kharkov
Dvinsk
Riga
Key
German front line, July 1941
German advance, December 1941
German advance, November 1942
0 250
kilometres
500 750
the Battle of Stalingrad, 23 august 1942 – 2 February 1943In June 1942, the German army’s goals were to defeat Soviet forces in the south of the
Soviet Union, to capture and control the Baku oilfi elds, and to cut off Stalingrad on the
River Volga. Stalingrad was one of the Soviet Union’s key industrial and manufacturing
cities and an important rail and water link between the north and the south.
Communist: political party
that controlled Soviet
government from 1917
to 1991
Source 1
Map showing Germany’s
invasion of the Soviet
Union from 1941 to late
1942
Source question
What evidence does
source 1 provide of the
success of Germany’s
invasion of the Soviet
Union?
retroactive 10: australian Curriculum for History64
German forces were initially successful
as they proceeded south and, by 23 August
1942, they had encircled Stalingrad. In
early September, German air force bombing
destroyed most of the city. General von
Paulus’ Sixth Army advanced into the city,
where it soon found itself engaged in months
of street fi ghting, battling Soviet soldiers for
control of the city. One million Soviet troops
— supported by tanks, aircraft and rocket
batteries — came to defend Stalingrad and
leaders kept sending in reinforcements. As
winter set in, the German troops were cut
off from ammunition and food supplies and,
facing starvation, had no rations for their
12 000 wounded soldiers.
By 2 February 1943, General von Paulus and all the German troops had surrendered.
The battle marked an important turning point in the war. From Stalingrad onwards,
Soviet troops began to regain territory and the German forces were in retreat.
the Battle of kursk, July–august 1943In July 1943, the Germans waged a counter-attack against Soviet troops at Kursk. By
this time, Soviet forces had vast resources at their disposal — tanks, aircraft and anti-
tank rockets — all of which, unlike the Germans, they could quickly replace. They also
had the advantage of several months of forewarning, which enabled them to prepare a
sophisticated and effective defence system that would wear the Germans down.
With Luftwaffe aircraft called home to assist with defence against Allied bombing
attacks on Germany’s railroads and factories, Germany’s troops at Kursk were severely
weakened. The great tank battle of Kursk
ended in German defeat and confi rmed
Germany’s retreat from the Soviet Union.
German forces were in retreat on
the eastern front from the time of
the Russian victory at the Battle of
Stalingrad in early 1943. Stalin had
long demanded that his Allies establish
a western front so that Russia did
not have the full burden of defeating
Germany in Europe. This was slow
to eventuate, and planning for an
invasion force to defeat Germany from
the west continued throughout most of
1942 and 1943.
Source question
What types of information could a historian learn from sources 2 and 3?
aCtIvItIeS
CHeCk kNoWLeDGe aND uNDerStaNDING
1 How did Germany’s situation on the Russian Front change in the period from June 1941 to August 1943?
2 What was the signifi cance of war on the eastern front for (a) Germany and (b) the Allies?