INCLASS-The Great Patriotic War

Question 1

Why did the Nazi’s capitalise on the populace’s disdain for Bolshevism and their racial theory

Answer 1

due to the ideology of the Aryan race.

Question 2

It was a war of attrition, the Soviet Casualties were prodigious. What do these words mean?

Answer 2

attrition (hope to wear the other down)

prodigious (large effort)

Question 3

How many men in the USSR were lost each day from 1941-42

Answer 3

15,000

Question 4

15,000 men a day died in the USSR from the war, how did this compare to British troops?

Answer 4

in one week, Soviet deaths matched the loss of all British troops killed between the Normandy landing in 1944 and the end of the war in 1945

Question 5

How many Soviet Troops became prisoners of war?

Answer 5

5 million

Question 6

How many Soviet prisoners of war were shot or died?

Answer 6

4 million

Question 7

Why did Soviet prisoners have no protection?

Answer 7

as the USSR had not signed the Geneva Convention

Question 8

What was the Geneva Convention?

Answer 8

this was an international agreement made in 1906 and 1929 to lay down the humane ways in which POWs be treated

Question 9

What year was the Geneva Conference?

Answer 9

1906 then again in 1929

Question 10

Despite official Soviet press and Stalin’s radio broadcasts, how did the Soviet leader and his military high command treat their troops?

Answer 10

with indifference or deliberate brutality.

Question 11

What did the Soviet battle order state during the war?

Answer 11

that if one was to desert during a battle or to surrender then their families were to be arrested, and on sight the deserter would be shot. Those who fell into the German’s hands were deemed as traitors.

Question 12

Why did German forces besiege the city of Stalingrad?

Answer 12

to seize the oil fields of the Caucasus

Question 13

While the city Stalingrad was not of a major strategic value, why was it important to Stalin and Russia?

Answer 13

as it bore Stalin’s name and so Stalin himself demanded the city be defended to the death.

Question 14

What happened to the German forces as a result of Hitler refusing to allow retreat?

Answer 14

the German forces were deprived of supplies and reinforcements, battered and starved into submission. Surrendered on the 31st January 1943

Question 15

When did German forces surrender at the Battle of Stalingrad?

Answer 15

31st January 1943.

Question 16

What was the German loss at the Battle of Stalingrad?

• how many troops died
• how many became prisoners, how many survived
• Which army was destroyed

Answer 16

200,000 German troops died
91,000 became prisoners, 6,000 survived this
Hitler’s Sixth Army which was the most successful had been destroyed

Question 17

How many Soviet troops were killed in the winter months between 1942-43 at the Battle of Leningrad?

Answer 17

over 1 million

Question 18

What was the life expectancy of a soldier at the front?

Answer 18

24 hours

Question 19

Which newspaper used their success in propaganda against the Sixth Army?

Answer 19

Red Star Soviet

Question 20

Why did the Germans think of starting the Battle of Kursk?

Answer 20

asThe German’s realised that if they launched a panzer attack (fast armoured tank units) then they could break through the Soviet line and gain initiative on the eastern front.

Question 21

What is a panzer attack which Hitler had aimed to launch against Stalin in the Battle of Kursk?

Answer 21

a fast armoured tank unit attack

Question 22

What was the German code name for the Battle of Kursk campaign?

Answer 22

Operation Citadel

Question 23

When was Operation Citadel (Battle of Kursk) initiated?

Answer 23

5th June 1943

Question 24

After how many days did Hitler call off Operation Citadel?

Answer 24

12 days

Question 25

Why after 12 days did Hitler call off Operation Citadel?

Answer 25

to prevent another devastating defeat

Question 26

How did the German forces compare to the Soviet’s in the Battle of Kursk?

• troops
• German tanks
• Aircraft

Answer 26

German troops-700,000
Soviet troops-1,300,000
German tanks-2400
Soviet tanks-3,400
German aircraft-1800
Soviet aircraft-2100

Question 27

What did Kursk confirm what Stalingrad had first revealed?

Answer 27

that the Soviet forces were winning the war

Question 28

When was Operation Bagration in Belorussia, a Soviet offensive?

Answer 28

the summer of 1944

Question 29

Which offensive did the Soviet launch in the summer of 1944?

Answer 29

Operation Begration in Belorussia

Question 30

What did Soviet forces defeat in the Operation Bagration in Belorussia offensive in the summer of 1944?

Answer 30

the 1.2 million strong German Army Group Centre