The Nazi advances in Russia led to the major battles of Stalingrad and Leningrad. About 3.9 million troops poured into Southern Russia with 600,000 motor vehicles and 750,000 horses; showing that horses are still important. It was the largest military operation to date, in terms of manpower and casualties. This invasion ended the Soviet-German alliance.
Figure 4: A Map of the German invasion of the USSR
The goals of the Germans included removing the Soviet Union as a threat by demobilizing its soldiers, having access to the agricultural land of the Ukraine, subjecting the Soviets to forced labor, weakening the Allies, and having access to Soviet raw materials including oil.
At the time the Soviet Union looked like an inviting target, an idea reinforced by Hitler’s racial ideas that viewed the Slavic race with contempt. The Soviet Union was just emerging from a disastrous war with its much smaller neighbor, Finland. This was a Pyrrhic victory in which the Finish lost 48,000 soldiers to the Soviet’s 125,000. Additionally, most of the Soviet officer corps had been eliminated in the 1930s. Those that remained lacked experience or vision. Further, Stalin’s tops military aides argued that tanks could not replace horses even as German Panzer units defeated France. After the end of the Russian Civil War, Stalin’s strategies discovered that much of military thinking and not advance was the secret to winning a war.
Upon the surprise attack by Nazi, Stalin could not be found. The conversation reportedly was: “Comrade Stalin is not here and I don’t know where he is. I have an exceedingly important message which I must immediately relay to Comrade Stalin personally.” “I can’t help you in any way,” the first replied and hung up. Another conversation reportedly was “The Germans are bombing Sebastopol. Should I or shouldn’t I tell Stalin?” “Inform him immediately!” “You call him, I’m afraid.” “No, you call him.” Stalin was slow to react. His friends claimed he looked tired and unsure of himself. Mothers remembered that he was depressed and certainly he was going to be overthrown; he disappeared for 2 days without any contact. Stalin cursed throughout the initial days stating: “Everything is lost. I give up. Lenin founded our state and we’ve fucked it up.” His only effective order was the evacuation of factories and 20 million people from the the path of the Germans. . Nothing was to fall into German hands.
Joseph’s Stalin’s (eventual) speech on the Nazi invasion: Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Men of our army and navy! I am addressing you, my friends! The perfidious military attack on our Fatherland, begun on June 22nd by Hitler’s Germany, is continuing.In spite of the heroic resistance of the Red Army, and although the enemy’s finest divisions and finest airforce units have already been smashed and have met their doom on the field of battle, the enemy continues to push forward, hurling fresh forces into the attack… The peoples of the Soviet Union must rise against the enemy and defend their rights and their land. The Red Army, Red Navy and all citizens of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of Soviet soil, must fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages, must display the daring initiative and intelligence that are inherent in our people…In areas occupied by the enemy, guerrilla units, mounted and on foot, must be formed, diversionist groups must be organized to combat the enemy troops, to foment guerrilla warfare everywhere, to blow up bridges and roads, damage telephone and telegraph lines, set fire to forests, stores, transports.
