Hitler Invades Russia

June 1941

• By the fall of 1940 the invasion id Britain was not going well
• In anger Hitler makes a critical decision to turn his attention to Russia
• Joseph Stalin was warned that Hitler might invade but he did not believe Hitler would backstab him
• Hitler’s generals advise him that an invasion of Russia might be a big mistake
• Some of the reasons are:
• The country is too large and too cold to occupy
• Joseph Stalin will want revenge on German people for Hitler’s betrayal
• German forces are being spread out to the limit across Europe and supply lines are getting longer and war materials decreasing
• German tanks and trucks will probably breakdown in the cold or will get stuck and frozen in deep mud
• German trains cannot run on Russian rails because the space between each rail is different
• Stalin will order a Scorched Earth Policy – burn or blow up anything the Nazis army will have , nothing will be spared
• Stalin will use all his trains to transport food, grain, military equipment and whole factories beyond the range of Hitler’s artillery and bombers beyond the Ural Mountains

• Joseph Stalin will sacrifice much of Western Russia in order to set up defenses around the three major cities of Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad
• Moscow the capital and Leningrad will hold at a great cost of lives, 1,250,000 soldiers and civilians
• The Battle for Stalingrad will be fierce, briefly the Germans capture but eventually the Germans will have to surrender to Russian forces under General Zhukov
• Approximately 110,000 German soldiers surrender at Stalingrad, representing a major turning point in the war, in favour of the allies
• The Russians are suddenly fighting on the allied side to defeat Hitler
• By 1944, the German forces are still fighting in Russia but will be forced to retreat back into Germany in order to protect Berlin
• The Russians will seek revenge for more than 20 million soldiers and civilians killed during World War Two