The impact of the war on the Soviet Union Flashcards
Operation Barbarossa and the Stalinist reaction; the course of the war; the USSR under occupation and the fight-back; the Soviet economy; mobilisation and evacuation of industry; foreign aid
when was operation Barbarossa launched
03:15 berlin time
22nd June 1941
What was operation Barbarossa
German invasion of the USSR
how many personnel and tanks did Germany send to operation Barbarossa
3.8 million people
3,500 tanks
how many personnel and tanks did the red army have on the frontline for operation Barbarossa
2.6-2.9 million people
11,000 tanks
How did Stalin’s belief in the Nazi Soviet pact impact Barbarossa
Earthworks and fortresses had not been built and armaments factories had not been moved East as Stalin had trusted in the non-aggression of the pact
How did the purges impact operation Barbarossa
the purges had gotten rid of many of the most experienced generals of the Russian army and a large number of military personnel
had to rely on inferior personnel who had been promoted for political reasons
what time did Stalin order a counter-attack in reaction to Barbarossa
6:30 am
over 3 hours after the initial invasion
How did Stalin react to Barbarossa
late to order counter-attack
went AWOL after the fall of Minsk - June 28th
September 1941 refused to allow the army at Kiev to retreat until it was too late
showed no urgency in defending Leningrad
Wanted to move the capital to Samara
How many Soviet planes were destroyed in the first 24 hours of Barbarossa and why
1200
reserve squadrons stood lined up without camouflage
the soviet air force was thinly spread
Where was the Northern prong of the German offensive headed and did it achieve its aim
aim: Leningrad
Leningrad under siege by 25th September - cut off the land rout to Leningrad and blockaded the port
Where was the centre prong of the German offensive headed and did it achieve its aim
aim: Moscow
Operation Typhoon (plan to capture Moscow) launched September 30th
end of October and throughout November German forces advanced towards the Moscow-Volga canal
Where was the Southern prong of the German offensive headed and did it achieve its aim
Aim: Southern oil fields
got as far as the black sea
Kiev evacuated 17th September
what percentage of the Soviet population was under German occupation after Barbarossa
45%
How much of the nations industrial plant was in German hands after Barbarossa
2/3
how much did iron and steel production drop after Barbarossa
60%
How much had livestock and grain stocks been reduced by Barbarossa
Livestock - reduced by 60%
grain stocks - reduced by 40%
How much territory did the Germans take in Barbarossa
500,000 square miles
How many soldiers were lost defending Barbarossa
5 million soldiers reduced to 2.3 million
How did Stalin’s recovery of nerve enable the USSR to survive Barbarossa
From July 3rd Stalin returned and became a competent military leader
e.g. gave many radio speeches to rally support for the war effort and raise morale
How did Nazi racism enable the USSR to survive Barbarossa
Nazi’s planned to use the resources of the USSR to sustain the German army and population and in the process killing millions of Russians through starvation - surrendering was not an option
How did compulsion to fight enable the USSR to survive Barbarossa
order 270
penal battalions - option was either to win or to be killed
When was order 270 and what did it do
August 16th 1941
ordered Red Army personnel to fight to the last and virtually banned commanders from surrendering
set out severe penalties for senior officers and deserted
What were penal battalions and how many did commanders have
groups of gulag prisoners, POWs, disgraced soldiers and deserters
not allowed weapons until they entered the line
often attacked through minefields whose bodies marked the passage of the normal army
Each front line commander had 10-15 battalions at their disposal
How was the economy reorganised to cope with Barbarossa
July-Dec 1941 2593 industrial enterprises moved east - transported in 1.5 mill railway freight cars
16.5 million workers moved - 11 hour work day, 6 days a week
every citizen over 14 eligible for industrial labour
How did winter enable the USSR to survive Barbarossa
Russia only had 40,000 miles of tarmac and 50,000 of railways - Germans forced through mud and fields which vehicles were not equipped for
By Autumn 1941 20% of the original invasion force had gone and 2/3 of its armoured vehicles
How did luck enable the USSR to survive Barbarossa
Barbarossa delayed by 3 weeks due to situation in Yugoslavia - attack faced Winter
Operation Typhoon launched too late
Richard Sorge was a Soviet double agent in Japan and knew Japan would not attack - troops could be transferred from Siberia to West
who led the defence of Moscow and when
Zhukov
5th December 1941
saved Moscow
When was the siege of Leningrad
began September 25th 1941 after the German Army Group North cut off the land route to Leningrad and the port was blockaded
the siege lasted 900mdays
who organised the defence of Leningrad
Zhukov and Zhdanov
how did Zhukov and Zhdanov try to defend Leningrad
organised workers militia of 36,000
streets barricaded
air raid shelter built
1/2 million evacuated before land route was cut off
small boats brought in food, munitions and petrol from lake Ladoga
factories remained open producing tanks and munitions
how many died during the siege of Leningrad
1.5 million estimated
from starvation and the cold
rationing during the siege of Leningrad
ration cards issues but were insufficient to feed the whole population
by December workers and soldiers had 8 ounces of bread a day - people resorted to eating cats and dogs
2,000 people arrested for cannibalism
How did Zhukov defend Moscow form operation Typhoon
shock armies to break through German lines
by the end of 1941 German lines had been pushed back
comparison of Stalin and Hitler leadership
Stalin delegated - e.g. Zhukov to defend Moscow
Hitler - denied generals request to withdraw from operation Typhoon and took personal control of the army
what was operation blue and when was it
Launched June 28th 1942
aimed to gain control of the South to control the oilfields in the Caucasus
reached the Don river in just over a week and Rostov (gateway to the South) had fallen by July 23rd
Hitler then split his forces 1 group to take the oilfields and one to head to Stalingrad
What was operation Uranus
plan to save Stalingrad from the approaching German forces
planned by Zhukov in August 1942 but could not be launched until November
when did operation Uranus begin
19th November 1942
when did the German commander surrender at Stalingrad
31st January 1943
how was Stalin shown to be a good leader before the battle of Kursk
Stalin wanted to undertake an immediate pre-emptive attack on the Germans as they had calculated an attack on Kursk was coming
He allowed his plan to not be carried out and instead followed the command of the army officers who wanted to hold back a massive reserve force to be unleashed when the German advance stalled
When was the battle of Kursk and what happend
summer 1943
largest tank battle in history
600 German tanks vs. 850 Soviet tanks
When was operation Bagration launched and what was it
22nd June 1944 after the launching of the allied attack on Normandy
large scale offensive against the Nazis into Eastern Europe
when had Minsk been taken back by Bagration
4th July 1944
What had happened by March in Bagration
the Baltic coast was under Soviet occupation
where did allied and Soviet forces meet after Bagration and when
end of April 1944
met at the Elbe river for the final assault on Berlin
When did the Germans surrender
7th May 1944 after Hitler shot himself on April 30th
How did the red army retreat impact people
the army used scorched earth tactics as they retreated destroying anything that could not be taken
how many towns and villages were devastated by the war
1700 towns
70,000 villages
what was the civilian death total
12 million by 1945
How was normal life dislocated
displacement from invasion
mass deportations
mobilisation of the army or work in munitions factories
How many Jewish people were killed at Babi Yar
34,000
What did the Germans do with the Soviet people on the occupied land
conscripted to work in German war factories
Hitler ordered the instant execution of soviet commissars
What happened to the tartars
Stalin was suspicious of ethnic minorities who might collaborate with the Germans
deported 240,000 Crimean tartars to central Asia in 1944
How many soviet troops were killed or captured throughout the war
5.9 million
what did the Germans do while occupying
whole village were burned to the ground
many civilians had to resort to living in holes in the ground
what did Stalin do with the partisans
by 1943 introduced a centralised military structure to the partisan brigades
what did GNP fall to
1942 GNP 66% of the pre war level
When was the committee of evacuation created and what did it do
24th July
move whole factories and their workforce to the East
how quickly did the factories become functioning
by the end of 1942 only 1 of the 27 major factories that had been relocated was not yet functioning
how much of national income was spent on military
56%
what cultural freedoms were allowed
Russian folk tradition
from 1942 the re-establishment of a state-sanctioned Russian orthodox church hierarchy
how much did agricultural production drop and why
dropped by 40%
best agricultural land occupied by German forces
recruitment of agricultural workers to replace factory workers who were replacing fallen soldiers - collectives stripped of their most valuable workers
what was lend lease
programme through which the US gave economic aid and vital machinery to the USSR
how many trucks did the US supply to the USSR
300,000
how did food from the US and Britain help
essential in preventing mass starvation
spam played a significant role in feeding the red army
how much communications equipment was supplied by the US
33,000 radio stations
380,000 field telephones
956,000 miles of cable
how did communications equipment help the war effort
Operation Uranus (turned the tide in the battle of Stalingrad)
and subsequent campaigns only possible because of improved signal intelligence
