The Nazi Invasion of the USSR, 1941

What was the Nazi invasion of the USSR?

Nazi Germany launched a campaign called Operation Barbarossa to invade the Soviet Union.

When was the Nazi invasion of the USSR?

The Nazi invasion of the USSR began on 22nd June, 1941.

What happened during the initial Nazi invasion of the USSR?

The 4 key events of the initial invasion were:

• ❖ The German army was split into three different Army Groups which attacked the USSR in the north, the centre, and the south along the Soviet-Polish border.
• ❖ Army Group North moved towards Leningrad and began their siege of the city.
• ❖ Army Group Centre moved east to Minsk, Smolensk and Moscow.
• ❖ Army Group South aimed for Ukraine and, after taking Kiev, headed to Kharkov.

Why did the Soviet Union suffer from setbacks during the initial Nazi invasion of the USSR?

There are 5 key reasons why the Soviet Union suffered setbacks during the initial Nazi invasion between 1941 and 1942:

• ❖ Stalin was not expecting the Nazi invasion, despite being warned that the Nazis were preparing to invade.
• ❖ Stalin failed to provide leadership during the first week of the invasion by isolating himself. Either he was suffering from shock or he was avoiding being overthrown, but it left the Red Army without clear direction.
• ❖ The Red Army had been weakened by Stalin's Great Purge of 1936-38 because the most experienced officers had been killed.
• ❖ Nazi tactics were very effective at pushing the Soviet troops back. 'Blitzkrieg' or lightning war deployed tanks, the air force and ground troops in combination, enabled the Germans to advance very quickly. The German army was also very large.
• ❖ The German Army could encircle and capture the Red Army because of Stalin's order to not retreat.

What was the extent of the setbacks that the USSR suffered during the initial part of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union?

By the end of the initial Nazi invasion of the USSR, the USSR had suffered in the following 3 key ways:

• ❖ 45% of the Russian population was under Nazi occupation.
• ❖ Lost vital farming areas and suffered a reduction in production of supplies for the war.
• ❖ 3 million soldiers were captured.

How did the Soviet Union survive the Nazi invasion of the USSR?

There were 4 main reasons that helped the USSR survive the invasion:

• ❖ Factories and people were physically moved to the east of the Ural mountains to protect them from German attacks. Stalin implemented a scorched earth policy, so what was left was burnt to prevent the Germans from using it.
• ❖ The start of the Nazi invasion was delayed and they therefore faced difficult winter conditions before they could take Moscow and Leningrad. They were not prepared for the freezing cold.
• ❖ Propaganda, centred around Stalin, motivated the people to keep working and fighting.
• ❖ When the Red Army counter-attacked in December 1941, it was very successful and pushed the Nazi German Army back from Moscow.

Why was the Soviet Union successful in the end against the Nazi invasion of the USSR?

There were 6 main reasons why the USSR finally defeated the Nazis:

• ❖ They received around $11 billion of military equipment, as well as food and vital transport such as trains, from the Allies.
• ❖ Between 1942 and 1943, the Soviets produced aircraft and other arms much faster than the Germans as it spent so much on its war economy.
• ❖ Stalin was a very good wartime leader, setting up the Soviet High Command or STAVKA. He followed the advice from very able generals such as Zhukov, whereas Hitler made some very poor military decisions in his war with the USSR.
• ❖ The Battle of Stalingrad proved to be a disaster for Nazi Germany, because they lost the whole of the elite Sixth Army.
• ❖ The people of the Soviet Union rose to the challenge. They supported the Soviet war effort through sheer hard work and enduring enormous suffering, such as starvation and lack of power.
• ❖ There were harsh punishments for civilians and soldiers if they did not perform. Workers who were late to work could be imprisoned and soldiers that refused to fight could be shot.