Stalin had signed Nazi-Soviet Pact – 1939, believing it would buy his under-prepared country more time before any Nazi invasion of the USSR. Stalin continues to trust in the Pact, despite intelligence reports warning him about German preparations for invasion, months before it began.
The war, which Stalin had tried to avoid, nearly destroyed the USSR; but fighting the war, and ultimately achieving victory, transformed the Soviet Union into a military industrial superpower.
The Great Patriotic War:
1941: June – German invasion of the USSR
December – German offensive pushed back from Moscow
1942 – June – New Germans offensive towards the Caucasus oilfields
October – German advance halted at Stalingrad
1943 – February – German surrender at Stalingrad
July – New German offensive defeated at Kursk
November – Kiev liberated by the Red Army
1944 – January – Siege of Leningrad ends
December – Soviet forces reach Budapest
1945 – January – Warsaw captured by the Red Army
February – Yalta summit meeting to plan post-war world
May – Final defeat of Germany
August – Surrender of Japan
Operation Barbarossa and the Stalinist reaction:
Operation Barbarossa:
Codename for German invasion of the USSR was launched on 22nd June 1941. It was intended to win a decisive victory in a matter of weeks, well before the onset of winter.
The invasion was originally planned for 1st June but was delayed until 22nd June following the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia.
The invasion forces were split between three huge army groups, one heading towards Leningrad, one into Ukraine and one towards Moscow.
Stalin’s immediate reaction:
Stalin – taken no direct action in the spring to prepare for German invasion, either because he did not believe it would happen or because he worried that if he increased Soviet defences, this would provoke attack.
When the German attack came on 22nd June 1941, Stalin did nothing. It was nearly 2 weeks before he spoke publicly about the invasion. Moltov, Stalin’s foreign minister made a radio broadcast in his place on 22nd June.
Stalin’s speech on 3rd July stressed themes of patriotism, religion and unity. He called on all the peoples of the USSR to join in. patriotic war against fascism.
Poor leadership was an issue in the early stages of the war:
Stalin was indecisive
The Soviet army had inexperienced commanders
Stalin refused to allow is southern armies to retreat from Kiev until it was too late. This brought a massive defeat in the south in September 1941.
The Course of the War:
Stage 1: June 1941 to summer of 1942:
Summary: Soviet Russia struggled to survive against successive German offensives, suffering massive losses of people and territory.
Key Dates: 8th Sept 1941: siege of Leningrad begins
5th Dec: German advance on Moscow halts; the first sign of German hesitation in the war
23rd August 1942: bombardment of Stalingrad begins
Key details: 3 million German troops invaded the USSR in June 1941
The German advance was swift and there were huge losses for the Soviets
On 15th October the Soviets attempted peace negotiations, but Hitler ignored their offer.
Turning Points:
18th October 1941: Intelligence reports from Japan allowed Stalin to bring troops back from Siberia to defend Moscow. This, plus bad weather conditions, meant German capture of Moscow waa avoided.
Stage 2: 1942 to summer of 1943:
Summary: Soviet Russia stabilised its war effort, built a powerhouse economy, and halted German advances.
Key dates:2nd Feb 1943: Surrender of German Sixth Army at Stalingrad
12th July: Battle of Prokhorvka
13th July: Kursk offensive called off
Key Details: The war was turning into a war of attrition and Hitler did not have the resources to compete.
Mass production of the T-34 tank was central to Soviet success in the Battle of Prokhorvka.
Turning points: 2nd Feb 1943: Hitler made a major error in refusing to pull his troops out of Stalingrad. The defeat of his Sixth Army was a military and psychological disaster for the Germans.
Stage 3: 1943 to summer of 1945:
Summary: Soviet armies moved on to the offensive, recapturing vast areas that had been occupied, and finally defeating the Germans.
Key Dates: 6th Nov 1943: liberation of Kiev
28th Nov: Tehran summit
4th Jan 1944: Soviet troops enter Poland
27th Jan: siege of Leningrad ends
Key details: From August 1943 onwards, there was a chain of Soviet victories across Eastern Europe, but the Germans were resilient defenders and it tool until April 1945 for the Red Army to reach Berlin.
Turning points: 12th July 1943: The Soviet victory at Prokhorvka was a springboard for Soviet counter attacks. This was the start of the Soviet offensive that eventually won the war.
The USSR under occupation and the fight back:
The Soviet Union was ravaged by the war, first by the huge destruction caused by the German advance, then by the Soviet ‘scorched earth’ tactics as the Red Army retreated.
Life for civilians on the Home Front was unrelentingly harsh. Food, fuel and shelter were all in short supply. Many factories, hospitals and houses were destroyed.
Approximately 12 million civilians died in the war. Of those alive in the USSR when the war started, one in eight were dead by 1945. 1700 towns and cities and 70,000 villages were also destroyed in the war.
German and Soviet brutality and repression contributed to the suffering:
German Examples:
Thousands of Soviet soldiers held as Prisoners of War
Thousands of Soviet Workers conscripted to work in German war factories
Captured Soviet commissars executed immediately
Vicious reprisal against partisans
Massacres and deportations of Jews
Soviet Examples:
Thousands arrested or executed as slackers, deserters and defeatists
170,000 military personnel were executed for treason during the war
Mass deportation of ethic minorities
Harsh treatment of people from liberated western areas
Harsh treatments of returned prisoners of war.
The fight back:
The experience of total war, shaped by massive propaganda campaigns, brought Soviet people together. While some criticised the war and Stalin’s leadership, huge sacrifices were made by millions to defend their country. Powerful unifying factors included:
Fear and hatred of the Germans
Deep patriotism in defending the Motherland
An underlying faith in Stalin and the defence under fascism
The Soviet war economy:
Mobilisation and evacuation of industry:
Rapid mobilisation:
In early stages of the war, Stalin’s errors lost millions of Red Army men and equipment. However, Stalin increased mobilisation rapidly.
In 1941, the Red Army had 4.8 million soldiers. Conscription to the red Army over the course of the war added 29.5 million.
This rapid and massive and conscription was a major strength for the USSR.
The evacuation of industry:
The German invasion and occupation of the western regions of the USSR destroyed the basis of the Soviet economy, in both industry and agriculture.
Soviet industry was relocated from western areas to the Urals and further east, behind the reach of German bombs.
Whole factories were dismantled and moved, together with equipment and workers, via 20,000 trains to the east. For example, 5000 factories were moved from Moscow.
Improved military resources:
During 1942, the USSR began to build a huge industrial base for war production, especially tanks and aircraft.
The centrally controlled command economy proved to be particularly effective during wartime, helping the USSR to produce the resources it needed.
Huge improvements were made to military vehicles and to military tactics. The T-34 tank was equal to the German Tiger tank, in come up fighting but was also quick to manufacture and easy to repair.
The USSR could withstand the loss of thousands of T-34 tanks in battles because it had the capacity to build thousands more in its factories hidden away from German attack in the Urals mountains.
Foreign aid:
The scale of foreign aid given to the USSSR was vast. Huge quantities of armaments, industrial goods and foodstuffs were transported to the USSSR from the USA. For example, 3000,000 American trucks were supplied through the US Lend-Lease scheme.
The USSR downplayed the scale of foreign aid, but it is clear that it was an important factor in the USSR; s ability to mobilise for total war, a vital in the winter of 1942 to 1943, when the USSR was recovering from heavy losses earlier in the war.