Operation Barbarossa Flashcards
Why did Operation Barbarossa fail?
Britain assisted in delaying the start of Operation Barbarossa by organising a coup in Yugoslavia which diverted the Germans attention from April until June.
This 2 month delay led to extreme cold temps when they were getting near Moscow in November.
2 month also allowed Russia to better prepare p.
Russians learned from their defeat against the Finns and therefore were better prepared, using skis, good antifreeze, snow goggles
Germans had thin clothes and inadequate preparation for cold temperatures. Guns and artillery froze
-40 degrees
Terrible leadership from Hitler and bad logistics
Why did Barbarossa cause so much destruction on the Eastern Front?
Massive amount of soldiers deployed - 4 million in countries bordering eastern front
Extreme treatment of innocent civilians and rampant behaviour of German troops - raping and killing citizens
500,000 Germans employed in slave labour - comrade kill your German
Hitlers extreme hatred of Slavs - harsh treatment, unecessary bad decisions led to German deaths
Why did the Germans attack Stalingrad?
not original plan, defeated by red army so switched strategy, needed oil fields
stalingrad supplied lubricants petrol and oil to russian soldiers
stalingrad was main centre for communications
volga river ran through the city, very useful for transport
stalingrad had big railway station
victory against stalingrad would provide great propaganda and morale boost due to the name
What were the most important cause of Russian victory at Stalingrad?
Soviets had better preparations and equipment - pill boxes, barage balloons, anti tank guns
German shortage of oil - luftwaffe unable to deliver supplies
Hitler bad leadership - refused to allow retreat when operation Uranus started Nov 19th
Soviet pincer movement in november, n and s armies cut off 6th army
excellent leadership of russian army - stalin, chuikov
stubborn bravery of soviet troops, because of good propaganda and patriotism
Why did Operation Barbarossa start?
1) He hated the Soviet regime because it was communist
2) They were Slav and he hated Slavs
3) There was a large population of Jews in Russia
4) He was overconfident as he had defeated Poland in 6 weeks and France in 3 week
5) The British seemed weak, as they had lost a lot of equipment
6) Russian had lost vs Finland, Stalin killed half red army commanders
7) He wanted living space for the German people, lebanschraum
8) The British encouraged an ante German seizure or power in Yugoslavia, and then controlled Greece; in order to delay Germany for 3 months.
When did OB start?
22 June 1941
When was Stalin told that Japanese were not attacking USSR?
14 September
Which months did rain and mud slow German advance?
July and October
When did german troops reach surburbs of moscow and how far were they?
2nd december, 20 miles
When did Zhukov counter attack?
5th december
when did german offensive towards Caucasus and Stalingrad start?
7th June 1942
Who commanded german 6th army?
who commanded troops as stalingrad?
Von Paulus
Chuikov
When did pincer movement start?
19th November
when did von paulus and 6th army surrender?
1st Feb 1943
What was the German Army called which attacked Moscow?
Army Group Centre
