Essay on The Failure of Operation Barbarossa

During WWII, with his nonaggression pact with Stalin, Hitler annexed Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and the USSR and attacked eastern Poland. Although Hitler honored the pact, he only did so until he found it convenient to attack the USSR in June 1941. In December 1941, he assumed personal command of war strategy. (Warlimont, 1964). It only led to disaster. In early 1943, he refused to admit defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad. He brought death to lots of German troops. As the war turned against Hitler, his horrible extermination of the

They were relying on the capture of the Russian oil fields to supply their army with fuel after their stockpiles had run out. Their lack of fuel is evident even in this battle as Friedrich Von Paulus, who was commanding the sixth army’s assault on Stalingrad, advance towards the city was very slow due to the fuel rations and at one point his army was even brought to a complete halt outside Kalach, as they had completely exhausted their fuel supply. The outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad exacerbated the Germans shortage of fuel, limiting the vital supply for their planes and tanks. Without fuel, the German panzer tanks and the mighty German Luftwaffe would be useless, thus rendering two of Germany’s greatest assets worthless. The Germans could not win the war without a reliable source of fuel. Therefore, the Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point in World War Two because it stopped the German advance into Russian thus denying them access to the Caucasus oil wells, exacerbating Germany’s fuel crisis and crippling the German army.

<br>As the war progressed, Hitler became more risky in his decision making, and made the crucial error of invading Russia in June 1941. This opened Germany up to communist attack by breaking the Soviet-German non-agression pact of August 1939, and also a two front war, and Hitler was forced to divert forces to Russia, which could have been spent on defeating Britain. Hitler's aim of invading Russia had been postponed due to the distractions in both North Africa, and also south eastern Europe. Hitler felt an urgency to begin the move to the east, even though the British remained undefeated in the west. The invasion of Russia was the largest military campaign of the war.

As Germany advanced on the city of Stalingrad, Hitler decided to rush the battle and try to finish it quickly. Because of this mindset, his army was severely underprepared to fight a drawn out battle in the Russian winter. German general Blumentritt recalled “The railheads (train tracks) were as much as 200 kilometers behind the front, and the bare nature of the countryside meant that there was little timber (wood) available for constructing defenses. There were no proper trenches or fixed positions” (Document 3). The Soviets had a major advantage over the Germans of the aspect of being resupplied. While they could receive support from nearby or within the city, Germany had to rely on supplies coming from a long way out. If supply shipments were cut off by the Soviets, the Germans were forced to continue fighting with limited resources. Also, the Battle of Stalingrad is a prime example of how much changed between the first and second world war. The vast majority of World War I was fought out of trenches, with soldiers moving very little. World War II was fought in the style of urban warfare, surrounded by streets and buildings, nearly the polar opposite of trench warfare. The Germans were not trained to fight an urban style battle, and thus struggled upon reaching the city of Stalingrad. When the cold Russian winter came, German suffering reached an all time high. A soldier named Wilhelm

Captain Dennis W. Dingle’s dissertation, presented before the faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1977, concerns the significance of the Soviet Union’s decisive victory at Stalingrad and its impact on the outcome of the Second World War. While much of this information is irrelevant for the purpose of answering the thesis question I have proposed, it does contain indispensable statistics showcasing the economic and military might of the two most pertinent combatant nations in the Second World War in the timeframe of December of 1941 and July of 1943.

In the first stages of the Russian counter attack against the German army, led by General Friedrich Paulus, the German plan for strategic retreat was stopped by Hitler himself who, in a radio message to Paulus, would say that surrender is not an option and to continue fighting until the German’s were unable to continue. This evidently selfish and stubborn behavior from the leader of Nazi Germany forced the German army to brave the Russian winter and later force their surrender in 1943 by restricting the power of his generals on the front lines. The loss of manpower from this defeat would start the downfall of the power of Nazi

On the German side, Hitler was running out of options. Russia has destroyed twenty-five German divisions, the worst defeat ever inflicted on them. On the western front, the Allies had captured Rome and were attacking 155 miles north. The D-Day invaders had destroyed another two German armies while they pushed through France. He was being surrounded on all sides and needed to make a drastic move. He reasoned that since Allies had come so far so fast, they would have to halt eventually to allow their supplies to catch up with them. During

The invasion of the Soviet Union can be seen as one of Hitler’s greatest blunders. In 1941 Hitler and Stalin were in a non-aggression pact. Hitler decided to waive that pact and invade the Soviet Union in 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. Hitler’s decision to invade the Soviet Union was a great risk and ultimately led to the 3rd Reich’s downfall. The Soviet Union was a country full of vast resources and a higher population than Germany. There seems to be so many risks involved with attacking the Soviet Union. So why was the Soviet Union attacked by Germany in 1941?

Hitler concentrated too much of his military strength on Stalingrad. The capture and destruction of the city was of more symbolic value than strategic advantage. The military high command was in disarray due to a combination of disagreements and dismissals. Hitler frequently interfered in detailed operations overriding the decisions of his military commanders. This caused confusion throughout the chain of command and resulted in a distinct lack of unity. One consequence was the existence a long and vulnerable flank along the Don River manned by troops from Hungary, Italy and Romania. These troops lacked motivation and were left ill equipped, making the task of the Red Army an easier one. It is interesting to speculate that had Hitler kept out of military planning, events may have been considerably

The German’s defeat at the battle of Stalingrad was the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime. Hitler’s control over his army and his army’s confidence in him was extremely weakened. All over Germany morale had sunk. During this time, Hitler made many false promises to the people of Germany. One being that they would never be driven out of Stalingrad. After their complete and utter annihilation at Stalingrad, the German public’s opinion of Hitler definitely took a turn for the worse. Hitler lost face both his military supporters and his political

It was nearly unimaginable to the world when Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered his German forces to the Soviet Union on February 2, 1943. The Battle of Stalingrad, a major Second World War battle began with the German’s offensive on July 17, 1942 and ended with the German surrender on February 2, 1943. It was on August 5, 1942 that Adolf Hitler ordered an attack on the city of Stalingrad. This battle went down as one of the bloodiest battles in history, taking large tolls on both sides and most importantly marking the turning point for Hitler in the Second World War. The “master race” had taken its first major blow, proving to the world that they were not invincible. And in fact, Germany would not rise again after this truly

Germany was not able to claim victory during World War II due to poor military guidance. Hitler’s military tactics led

Why was Germany unable to translate tactical and operational victories into strategic success during World War II? Cite evidence from H200 to support your answer.

The defeat of Germany in World War Two was due to many factors. All of these factors were influenced by the leadership and judgment of Adolf Hitler. Factors such as the stand fast policy, Hitler’s unnecessary and risky decision making in military situations, for example when attacking the USSR, and the declaration of war on the US. Plus other factors, like Hitler’s alliance with Italy, despite its obvious weaknesses, and the pursuit of the final solution, can all be attributed to the poor leadership and judgement of the Fuhrer, which would eventually lead to the downfall of the Third Reich.

The vast majority of Russia’s attacks in Germany were failures; even some of the highest-ranking Generals saw the war as complete chaos. The Army reserves consisted of little or untrained peasants or farm hands who had no idea about being a soldier. The weather was also an unforgettable factor as soldiers had to face freezing winters, and developed sicknesses in the masses such as Typhoid and Cholera.