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OPERATION BARBAROSSA |
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| June 1941 | ||
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planned invasion of Russia by the German army was going to be called
Operation Fritz. The Hitler, always one for a link with history decided
on Operation Barbarossa. He named it after the Roman Emperor, Frederick
Barbarossa, who had marched eastwards in 1190 to take the holy Land from
the infidel. For Hitler it was a crusade
against the communist and the Jew.
WHY DID THEY ATTACK? 1) Lebensraum (living space). Hitler had mad it clear for many years that Germany was too small and land would be taken from the east to expand into.
2) Resources for war. Russia is rich in oil, coal and wheat. It would also give a ready supply of slave labour.
3) To conqueror the 'undermen'. Hitler had a hatred of Russians and the Communist system inparticular.
The German forces badly underestimated the fighting capacity of the Russians and the extrems that they could endure (Leningrad and Stalingrad would proves this). This and the 'scorched earth' policy that the Russians used so that no land or resources were available to the Germans meant that the weeks or months to take the Russians went on into years. The final thing that helped the Russians was the extrems of cold. The Russian winters stopped the Germans in their tracks and allowed the Russians to fight back. By 1944, the Russians had turned a defeat into victory.
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Above you can see the objectives of Operation Barbarossa. Hitler believed the campaign would be easy. It should only take a few months. The cartoon below illustrates this.
The back of the car reads "Joy ride to Moscow; there and back before lunch"
With temperatures of -40C German soldiers, ill prepared died by their thousand.
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