German-Soviet War: WWII's Bloodiest Front

The German-Soviet War, known in the USSR and today's Russia as the Great Patriotic War or, in Western Europe, as the Eastern Front of the Second World War (1939-45), began in June 1941 with Operation Barbarossa and ended in Germany's total defeat in May 1945. The German-Soviet campaign involved such key battles as Kiev (Kyiv), Moscow, Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), Stalingrad (Volgograd), and Kursk. This particularly brutal front of the war witnessed the largest troop movements, sieges, and battles in history, as well as tens of millions of combatant and civilian deaths.

Hitler v. Stalin

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), leader of Nazi Germany, attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941 with the largest army ever assembled. Despite the two states signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939, a non-aggression agreement, Hitler was ready in 1941, having conquered most of Western Europe, to turn his attention to the East. Hitler hoped to smash the Soviet Red Army and grab huge swathes of territory, what he called Lebensraum ('living space') for the German people, that is, new lands in the east where they could find resources and prosper. Of particular interest were resource-rich regions in Ukraine and the Caucasus oil fields. Other reasons for the attack included the belief that the leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), intended to attack Germany's vital source of oil from the Ploiești fields in Romania and Hitler's desire to destroy Bolshevism, the ideological enemy of Nazism. It was also hoped that knocking the USSR out of the war would oblige Britain to sue for peace. Finally, conquest would represent new opportunities to further impose Nazi race theory, since Jewish people and Slavic people were regarded as politically or racially inferior to the Nazis and Germanic people.

Hitler was confident of victory and promised his generals, "We'll kick the door in and the house will fall down" (Stone, 138) in a matter of weeks. The lack of a plan B if this did not happen was a serious flaw in the whole operation. Not for the first time, a Western European army would head into the vast depths of Russia unaware it faced not one enemy but three: the opposing army, the problem of logistics, and the harsh winter conditions. Stalin called the fighting on the Eastern Front (his Western Front) a 'Patriotic War', and he demanded total resistance to the invaders. The Soviet people, both military and civilian, men and women, certainly rose to the occasion.

Key battles of the German-Soviet War included:

Battle of Białystok-Minsk in 1941

Battle of Smolensk in 1941

Battle of Kiev in 1941

Battles of Kharkov in 1941, '42, and '43

Siege of Leningrad in 1941-44

Battle of Moscow in 1941-2

Siege of Sevastopol in 1941-2

Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-3

Battle of Kursk in 1943

Battle of Smolensk in 1943

Battle of Berlin in 1945

Read More

Why Did Hitler Attack the USSR?

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the leader of Nazi Germany, was intent on attacking the USSR in the summer of 1941. With Western Europe subdued in 1940, Hitler could finally pursue his dream of territorial expansion in the East, destroy Bolshevism, the ideological enemy of Nazism, and grab a vast array of resources ranging from wheat to oil.

Hitler directed his generals to launch Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941. The leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), overcame a series of gigantic defeats and ensured his Red Army was continually replenished and resupplied so that the Axis invaders gained vast swathes of territory but no strategic victory. The German-Soviet war dragged on until 1945 and ended in Germany's total defeat as the Second World War (1939-45) came to a close in May 1945. Although often dismissed as Hitler's great folly, the reasons why he attacked the USSR are many and varied, ranging from suspect ideological motives to practical economic necessity.

Adolf Hitler & Generals, 1943

State Treasury of Poland (Public Domain)

Motives to Attack the Soviet Union

The reasons Hitler attacked the USSR in 1941 include:

The identification of communism as a long-standing ideological enemy of Nazism and the Germanic people.

The realisation that Germany's massive rearmament had exhausted and indebted the economy, which now needed an external boost of wealth.

The belief that the USSR might soon stop shipping raw materials to Germany, as it was obliged to do by the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

The belief that the USSR intended to take over the oil fields in Romania, which were vital to Germany's economy.

The desire for Lebensraum ('living space') for the German people, that is, new lands in the east where they could find resources and prosper.

The desire for the resources of Ukraine and the oil fields of the Caucasus.

The belief that Slavic people were racially inferior to Germanic people and so were 'ripe for conquest'.

The belief that Stalin's purges had seriously weakened the fighting capabilities of the Soviet Red Army.

The consideration that the Red Army had failed to subdue Finland in the Winter War of 1939-40.

The belief that the USSR was amassing troops to attack the Third Reich.

The hope that eliminating the USSR from WWII would oblige Britain to seek peace terms, removing the threat of an invasion of the Continent.

The belief that the USSR must be attacked and conquered before the United States entered WWII.

Battle of Kursk: Largest Tank Battle in History

The Battle of Kursk (Jul-Aug 1943), which involved nearly 6,000 tanks, was the largest tank battle in history and ended in a decisive victory for the Red Army in WWII (1939-45). Two Axis armies had attempted to cut off a Red Army bulge in the Eastern Front but were defeated due to the Soviets possessing pre-battle intelligence, excellent ground defences, and superior numbers. The Soviet victory at Kursk, which includes for some historians the taking of Orel (Oryol) and Kharkov (Kharkiv) immediately after, was "the decisive turning-point of the German-Soviet war, the point after which the Soviet forces permanently held the initiative" (Dear, 516).

The German-Soviet War

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the leader of Nazi Germany, had launched Operation Barbarossa, the code name for the attack on the USSR, on 22 June 1941. Early victories such as the Battle of Kiev in 1941 led to great territorial gains and the capture of some 2 million Red Army soldiers, but still the Soviet Union fought on. Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the Soviet leader, reacted to the initial defeats and brutal nature of the campaign by declaring this a 'Patriotic War' where everyone must offer nothing less to the enemy than a 'relentless struggle'. The Red Army won its first victory at the Battle of Moscow in January 1942, successfully held out in the siege of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), and destroyed Hitler's Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad (Volgograd) in February 1943. As the Axis invaders were pushed back westwards, the Red Army struck again in the summer of 1943, this time in the largest tank engagement in history.

Read More

Siege of Leningrad: A City's Epic Stand Against Nazi Forces

The siege of Leningrad was one of the most brutal campaigns of World War II, lasting from September 1941 to January 1944. Adolf Hitler believed that capturing the city, along with Moscow, would cripple the Soviet Union. However, Leningrad's resilience in the face of extreme hardship—resulting in over one million civilian deaths—became a powerful symbol of Soviet defiance. Despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the city survived thanks to Red Army counterattacks and vital supply lines across frozen Lake Ladoga.

Key Facts:

Duration: September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944

Casualties: Approximately one million civilian deaths

Supply Routes: Trucks and boats used to deliver vital supplies via Lake Ladoga

Nazi Forces: Over 500,000 troops in Army Group North alone

Historical Context

The siege began during Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's massive invasion of the USSR, involving forces from several Axis countries. The operation aimed to capture key Soviet cities and exploit natural resources.

Historical Significance

The siege of Leningrad remains one of the longest and deadliest in history, highlighting the resilience and strategic brilliance of the Soviet people. It marked a significant turning point in World War II, as the Axis forces' failure in Leningrad weakened their control over Eastern Europe. The story of Leningrad's siege is both a testament to human endurance and a pivotal moment in modern history.

Eyewitness Accounts of WWII's Eastern Front

The Eastern Front (1941-5), called the Western Front or Great Patriotic War by the Soviets, was by far the bloodiest of the Second World War (1939-45). In this article, the memories of those who experienced the conflict firsthand are presented, both from the German and Soviet side. Also presented are the memories of civilians who were reluctantly caught in the burning stage lights of this most terrible theatre of war.

Operation Barbarossa

Many German and Axis soldiers started the campaign with optimism, believing Hitler's claim that the USSR's Red Army was rotten and would soon crumble. One German soldier, Bernhard Bechler, reassured his sister as he departed for the Eastern Front:

I said 'Listen, we will part now. In a few weeks I'll ring you from Moscow.'…I was utterly convinced that this would happen, and I was in fact proud of our plans.

(Rees, 40)

Nazi propaganda had also spread the message that the Red Army was a brutal and unprincipled fighting force that should be given no quarter. This view was reinforced by experience for many German soldiers. Walter Schaefer-Kehnert, an artillery officer in a panzer division, recalls one episode:

When they counter-attacked and we had to leave the wounded behind and then we came back again, we found all the wounded had had their heads split open with short infantry blades. Now you can imagine our soldiers, when you see your wounded friend has been brutally killed, then they were furious.

(Rees, 50-1)

Axis soldiers were also told that they were fighting a war against Bolshevism, the main enemy of Nazism, and so they were ordered to shoot political officers (commissars) serving in the Red Army. Walter Traphöner remembers:

…when we caught any of them, they just had to be killed. We never really asked about the reasons for anything much. I mean they were just blokes who were supporting their system, just like with us. The commissars just had to be killed…we wanted to prevent the Bolsheviks from conquering the world.

(Rees, 51)

The new front went well for the invaders in the summer of 1941. The Red Army in WWII began the conflict in disarray. The Soviets were poorly organised, poorly equipped, and caught by surprise by the sheer scale of the Axis offensive. Viktor Strazdovski, then just 18, recalls:

The 60-millimetre guns that we were given were trophies left from World War I – they didn't have modern sighting devices. And we had only one rifle between five soldiers…When I was sent to the place where the Germans broke our defence line, you can imagine how we felt – we felt we were doomed. There were four of us, with two rifles between us, and we didn't know in which direction we would run into the Germans. The woods around us were ablaze. On the one hand we couldn't disobey our order, but on the other hand we felt doomed.

(Rees, 65)

Read More