2. Operation Barbarossa, the Battle of Stalingrad and the significance of the Russian campaign

Question 1

Operation Barbarossa:

what played vital role in defeat of Nazi Germany?

Answer 1

Soviet Union

Question 2

Operation Barbarossa:

Hitler’s motive of invasion was?

Answer 2

was ideological (lebensraum),
racial (Slavs of Russia inferior -> slave force for Germans and Jews in Russia),
strategic (defeat Russia = isolate Britain)
economic (provide land, grain, oil and other resources needed by Reich)

Question 3

Operation Barbarossa:

when did Wehrmacht begin Operation on Soviet Union?

Answer 3

22 June, 1941 with the largest invasion force that had been seen to that time

Question 4

Operation Barbarossa:

statistics of what invaded the poorly prepared Soviet frontier defences?

Answer 4

3 million troops with panzers, field guns and aircraft

Blitzkrieg tactics

Question 5

Operation Barbarossa:

In first three weeks of campaign, the losses of the Red army were paramount, with ?

Answer 5

2 million dead

Question 6

Operation Barbarossa:

However, these factors denied Hitler his much needed quick victory:

Answer 6

• size of Soviet Union (“The vastness of Russia devours us” – General Rundstedt),
• determination and resilience of Soviet resistance (industry met demands of war and produced high quality and quantity tanks to match panzers),
• ruthless nature of Stalinist regime (threat, propaganda, execution etc),
• Hitler’s interference towards generals

Question 7

Operation Barbarossa:

what did Germany suffer?

Answer 7

harsh Russian winter and war of attrition they could not win – brought same result as WW1- economic decline and collapse of Germany

Question 8

Operation Barbarossa:

what was Leningrad facing?

Answer 8

under constant siege by Wehrmacht from Sept 1941 to Jan 1944

Question 9

Operation Barbarossa:

October, Hitler launched?

Answer 9

Operation Typhoon, attack on Moscow

Question 10

Operation Barbarossa:

effect of Russian Winter?

Answer 10

German soldiers who were neither equipped nor trained for such freezing conditions. When close to Moscow, soldiers weak due to short of food, medicine and ammunition

Question 11

Operation Barbarossa:

General Zhukov in charge of defence of Moscow showed?

Answer 11

organisational skills plus weaponry (e.g. tanks) appropriate to Russian winter turned tide against the Wehrmacht,
allowing for Soviet counter attack in December, pushing Germans back up to 300km in places

Question 12

Operation Barbarossa:

outcome?

Answer 12

Moscow saved, Blitzkrieg failed and Hitler faced drawn-out campaign against revived Red Army

Question 13

Operation Barbarossa:

what does David Christian see failure of Barbarossa as

Answer 13

crucial moment in war

Question 14

Operation Barbarossa:

Christian quote?

Answer 14

“…A longer, more savage war enabled Russia to exploit to the full its huge reserves of raw materials and labour. In this sense, the Battle of Moscow was a turning point”

Question 15

Operation Barbarossa:

Bullock?

Answer 15

“…the great gamble had failed and 1941 would end without the long-heralded victory in the east”

Question 16

The Battle of Stalingrad:

what focus after failure of Barbarossa?

Answer 16

focus on Stalingrad, named after Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, for psychological victory. Not strategically important

Question 17

The Battle of Stalingrad:

what did Hitler launch in April?

Answer 17

a two pronged attack, Operation Blue

Question 18

The Battle of Stalingrad:

what did General Paulus launch in August?

Answer 18

massive two day aerial bombardment which destroyed more than three-quarters of the city, with Germans occupying 90% of city at one stage

Question 19

The Battle of Stalingrad:

fighting done in?

Answer 19

close proximity, often ending in hand to hand combat

Question 20

The Battle of Stalingrad:

key figures in fighting?

Answer 20

Lone snipers

Question 21

The Battle of Stalingrad:

what did General Zhukov do at Stalingrad?

Answer 21

trapped German forces inside the city (Operation Uranus)

Question 22

The Battle of Stalingrad:

what happened for five months?

Answer 22

German and Soviet forces fought for control of Stalingrad, and in November, the 300 000 German troops left inside city were cut off and forced to surrender, despite refusal by Hitler

Question 23

The Battle of Stalingrad:

Martin McCauley?

Answer 23

“…Germany’s greatest defeat was a turning point. From now on it was not a matter of how the war would end, but when”

Question 24

Significance of Russian Campaign:

what were major turning points in conflict in Europe?

Answer 24

Surrender at Stalingrad and the subsequent defeat in Battle of Kursk in July 1943

Question 25

Significance of Russian Campaign:

effect of loss of major tank battle?

Answer 25

German forces would never launch great offensives on the eastern front again

Question 26

Significance of Russian Campaign:

what was the biggest german defeat?

Answer 26

Russian campaign

major turning point in war

Question 27

Significance of Russian Campaign:

what did German defeat boost?

Answer 27

Soviet and Allied moral

Question 28

Significance of Russian Campaign:

Hitler was deprived of?

Answer 28

raw materials and lost millions of men he could ill-afford to lose

Question 29

Significance of Russian Campaign:

what was the Germany army now on?

Answer 29

the defensive while the Red Army began the long advance that eventually took its troops to Berlin

Question 30

Significance of Russian Campaign:

what does AJP Taylor state?

Answer 30

“Attrition not strategic penetration, was the Russian method, and it was succeeding” – the German army was being worn down

Question 31

Significance of Russian Campaign:

What does Overy state about Soviet success at Kursk?

Answer 31

“was the most important single victory of the war…it was the point at which the initiative passed to the Soviet side”