Eastern Front (World War II)

• 1. Origins And Ideology

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  On the 11th of August 1939, Adolf Hitler declared his intention to invade the Soviet Union to Carl Jacob Burckhardt, League of Nations Commissioner. He stated that everything he undertook was directed against the Russians and that if the West proved too stupid to grasp this, he would come to an agreement with them to beat the West first. The Molotov, Ribbentrop Pact signed in August 1939 created a non-aggression agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union. A secret protocol within this pact aimed to return Central Europe to pre-World War I status by dividing it between the two powers. Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were designated for Soviet control while Poland and Romania were to be partitioned. Nazi ideology viewed the war as a struggle between Nazism and Jewish Bolshevism. Heinrich Himmler and other leaders saw the conflict as ensuring territorial expansion for the Germanic Übermenschen at the expense of Slavic Untermenschen. Wehrmacht officers told their troops to target people described as Jewish Bolshevik subhumans or Mongol hordes. Hitler referred to the war as a war of annihilation which was both ideological and racial. The Nazi vision codified in later documents called for partial deportation of populations to West Siberia and eventual extermination. Conquered territories were to be colonized by German settlers while existing inhabitants faced enslavement.

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• 2. Operation Barbarossa

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  The German invasion began just before dawn on the 22nd of June 1941 when Operation Barbarossa commenced. At 03:15 that morning, 99 of 190 German divisions including fourteen panzer divisions deployed against the Soviet Union from the Baltic to the Black Sea. They were accompanied by ten Romanian divisions, three Italian divisions, two Slovakian divisions, and nine Romanian brigades. The Luftwaffe immediately attacked Soviet airfields destroying numerous aircraft parked on airstrips before pilots could leave the ground. Inexperienced Soviet pilots were decimated by veteran Luftwaffe counterparts who often flew inferior models. For the first month the Axis offensive conducted on three axes remained completely unstoppable. Army Group North advanced through the Baltic states toward Leningrad via Pskov and Novgorod regions. Local insurgents seized control over most of Lithuania, northern Latvia, and southern Estonia prior to German arrival. Army Group Centre's panzer groups converged east of Minsk reaching the Beresina River in just six days. Their next target was Smolensk which fell on the 16th of July but fierce resistance slowed the advance. Hitler halted a central thrust at Moscow to divert the 3rd Panzer Group northward. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group moved south in a giant pincer maneuver with Army Group South advancing into Ukraine. This decision caused a severe leadership crisis as field commanders argued for an immediate offensive toward Moscow. Hitler overruled them citing importance of Ukrainian agricultural resources and massing Soviet reserves in Gomel area. Army Group South took heavy casualties in the Battle of Brody while Third and Fourth Romanian Armies fought through Bessarabia toward Odessa. At Uman the group captured about 100,000 Soviet prisoners in a huge encirclement. Advancing armoured divisions met Guderian near Lokhvytsa cutting off large numbers of Red Army troops east of Kiev. Kiev surrendered on the 19th of September capturing 400,000 Soviet prisoners.

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• 3. Turning Points And Stalingrad

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  Operation Typhoon set in motion on the 30th of September saw the 2nd Panzer Army rush along the paved road from Oryol to Plavsk. The 4th Panzer Army transferred from Army Group North surrounded Soviet forces in two huge pockets at Vyazma and Bryansk. On the 27th of November the 4th Panzer Army reached within striking distance of the Kremlin when it arrived at Khimki. By the 6th of December it became clear that the Wehrmacht lacked strength to capture Moscow so the attack was suspended. Marshal Shaposhnikov began his counter-attack employing freshly mobilized reserves including well-trained Far-Eastern divisions. Although plans were made to attack Moscow again on the 28th of June 1942 the offensive reopened in a different direction. Army Group South took initiative anchoring front with Battle of Voronezh then followed Don river southeastwards. Rostov recaptured on the 24th of July when 1st Panzer Army joined drove south toward Maikop. Meanwhile 6th Army drove toward Stalingrad for long period unsupported by 4th Panzer Army diverted to help 1st Panzer cross Don. A leap across Don brought German troops to Volga on the 23rd of August but next three months saw Wehrmacht fighting street-by-street through Stalingrad. Soviet resistance comprising 62nd Army under Vasily Chuikov had stiffened significantly. Operation Uranus started on the 19th of November when two Soviet fronts punched through Romanian lines converging at Kalach on the 23rd of November trapping 300,000 Axis troops behind them. Germans rushed to transfer troops to relieve Stalingrad but offensive could not get going until the 12th of December. By that time 6th Army in Stalingrad was starving and too weak to break out. On the 31st of January 1943 90,000 survivors of 300,000-man 6th Army surrendered. Hungarian 2nd Army also wiped out during this period.

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• 4. The War Of Annihilation

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  Nazi Germany waged a war of annihilation throughout Eastern Europe as part of its Lebensraum settler-colonial agenda. Military operations characterized by brutality included scorched earth tactics wanton destruction mass deportations starvation wholesale terrorism and massacres. Genocidal campaigns and the Hunger Plan sought extermination and ethnic cleansing of more than hundred million Eastern Europeans. German historian Ernst Nolte called the Eastern Front the most atrocious war of conquest enslavement and annihilation known to modern history. British historian Robin Cross stated no theatre was more gruelling and destructive nor fighting more bitter. The use of foreign forced labour took place on unprecedented scale contributing to mass extermination of populations. Germans abducted approximately 12 million foreign people from almost twenty European countries with about two-thirds coming from Central and Eastern Europe. Counting deaths and turnover about 15 million men and women were forced laborers at one point during war. In wartime German forces brought into Reich 6.5 million civilians in addition to Soviet POWs for unfree labor in factories. Five point two million foreign workers and POWs repatriated to Soviet Union while 1.6 million went to Poland. One point five million returned to France and 900,000 to Italy along with 300,000 to 400,000 each to Yugoslavia Czechoslovakia Netherlands Hungary and Belgium. Stalin ordered retreating Red Army to initiate scorched-earth policy denying Germans basic supplies as they advanced eastward. Destruction battalions formed in front-line areas had authority to summarily execute any suspicious person. These units burned down villages schools and public buildings while NKVD massacred thousands of anti-Soviet prisoners.

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• 5. Allied Material Support

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  The United States and United Kingdom provided substantial material aid to Soviet Union through Lend-Lease program despite never sending ground troops. British and Commonwealth forces contributed directly through service in Arctic convoys training Red Air Force pilots providing early material and intelligence support. Strategic air offensive by US Army Air Force and Royal Air Force damaged German industry tying up air force resources. Hundreds of thousands of tons bombs dropped on eastern allies Romania and Hungary primarily attempting to cripple Romanian oil production. Yearly shipments reached 360,778 tons in 1941 rising to 2,453,097 tons in 1942 then 4,794,545 tons in 1943. Total Allied shipments amounted to 17,499,861 tons over entire war period. Lend-Lease supplied 58 percent of USSR high octane aviation fuel and 33 percent of motor vehicles. It provided 53 percent of domestic production of expended ordnance including artillery shells mines and assorted explosives. The program delivered 30 percent of fighters and bombers plus 93 percent of railway equipment like locomotives freight cars and wide gauge rails. About 50 to 80 percent of rolled steel cable lead and aluminum came from these shipments. Soviet statistics show without aluminum shipments aircraft production would have been less than one-half or about 45,000 less of total 137,000 produced aircraft. Stalin noted in 1944 that two-thirds of Soviet heavy industry built with help from United States remaining third with Great Britain and Canada. Massive transfer of equipment and skilled personnel from occupied territories helped boost economic base further. Without Lend-Lease aid diminished post-invasion economic base would not produce adequate supplies except focus on machine tool foodstuff and consumer goods.

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• 6. Soviet Counter-Offensives

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  Operation Bagration launched on the 22nd of June 1944 was massive Soviet attack consisting of four army groups totaling over 120 divisions smashing into thinly held German line. More than 2.3 million Soviet troops went against German Army Group Centre which had fewer than 800,000 men. Red Army achieved ratio of ten to one in tanks and seven to one in aircraft over enemy. Capital of Belarus Minsk taken on the 3rd of July trapping some 100,000 Germans. Ten days later Red Army reached prewar Polish border costing Germans approximately 400,000 dead wounded missing and sick including 160,000 captured. Operation cost Red Army around 180,000 dead and missing plus 5,073 Poles along with 2,957 tanks and assault guns. Neighboring Lvov, Sandomierz operation launched the 17th of July 1944 routed German forces in Western Ukraine retaking Lviv. Soviet advance continued into Romania where coup against Axis-allied government occurred on the 23rd of August leading to occupation of Bucharest on the 31st of August. Romania and Soviet Union signed armistice on the 12th of September. In Poland as Red Army approached Polish Home Army launched Operation Tempest during Warsaw Uprising. Red Army ordered to halt at Vistula River whether Stalin unable or unwilling to aid resistance remains disputed. Slovak National Uprising started armed struggle between Wehrmacht and rebel Slovak troops centered at Banská Bystrica between August and October 1944. On the 8th of September 1944 Red Army began attack on Dukla Pass entering Slovakia two months later after high toll of 20,000 Red Army soldiers died. Under pressure from Baltic Offensive German Army Group North withdrawn to fight sieges of Saaremaa Courland and Memel.

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• 7. Final Campaigns And Collapse

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  The Eastern Front concluded with capture of Berlin followed by signing of German Instrument of Surrender on the 8th of May ending the war in Europe. The battles constituted largest military confrontation in history lasting from the 22nd of June 1941 to the 9th of May 1945. Of estimated 70, 85 million deaths attributed to entire World War around 30 million occurred on Eastern Front including 9 million children. Historian Geoffrey Roberts noted more than 80 percent of all combat during Second World War took place on Eastern Front. Soviet Union finally entered Warsaw on the 17th of January 1945 after city destroyed and abandoned by Germans. Over three days broad front incorporating four army fronts saw Red Army advance across Poland into Germany. In January 1945 Soviet forces won battle of Dukla Pass entering Slovakia after high casualties. By end of August 1944 Operation Bagration had cost Germans approximately 400,000 dead wounded missing and sick plus 2,000 tanks and 57,000 other vehicles. Final campaigns included sieges of Saaremaa Courland and Memel where German units resisted bitterly. The Red Army's advance systematically destroyed German Army Groups leading to unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. The conflict decisively determined outcome in European theatre making it main cause defeat of Axis nations.

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