Wwii: Info On Operation Barbarossa

Adolf Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union as early as June, 1940. This despite the fact that Soviet-German Pact had been signed in August of the preceding year. By that treaty non aggression was assured as was the provision of 650 million marks worth of foodstuffs and raw materials from the Russians in exchange for the supply of military equipment, machinery and plant from the Germans.

The German invasions of Denmark and Norway in early 1940 were apparently of no concern to the Soviets. In fact, their People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov said , "We wish Germany complete success in these defensive measures." After the successful Nazi actions Molotov offered "his Government's warmest congratulations on the splendid success of the German armed forces."

When the Soviets moved on the Rumanian states of Bessarabia and Bukovina in June, 1940, the Nazis, in turn, showed a lack of concern. Even when Russia invaded Finland, the Baltic States and Rumania, Hitler was still able to announce, "The agreement signed in Moscow between the Reich and the Soviet Union has established precisely once and for all their respective areas of influence. Neither Germany nor Russia has so far set a single foot outside these areas."

Having said this, however, Hitler sent the 18th Army to the Eastern front. He obviously wanted to counter the growing Soviet presence in the area. History, in fact, tells us that Hitler wanted to invade the Soviets at this time - the Autumn of 1940. However, his generals were unanimous that war against Russia could not be entertained for, at least, another year. For once, Hitler listened to their advice.

The main reason that Hitler's General's opposed an immediate invasion of Russia were that it threatened to stretch the military capacity of Germany with a war on two fronts. Hitler's response was that, by subjugating Russia, he would be eliminating Great Britain's last possible continental ally before the United States got into the war, which he expected to happen in 1942 or'43. Realising that his forces were not ready, however, he postponed Operation "˜Barbarossa' until May of 1941. According to Hitler's time-table, Russia's organized forces were to be completely crushed by October of that year - within five months.

Over the next few months diplomatic relations between Germany and the Soviet Union soured as a result of German indulgences in it's dealings with Hungary, Rumania and Finland. Fearing that the Russians might suspend the valuable supply of raw materials Hitler sent a letter to Stalin on October 13th, explaining these apparent transgressions and suggesting that Stalin send his Foreign Minister Molotov to Berlin to met with Hitler and discuss the future carving up of the post war world. So, on November 12, 1940 Molotov arrived in Berlin. He first met with German Foreign Minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop. According to Ribbentrop, Germany had virtually won the war and so now it was time to proceed with a division of the Old World. It was time, he said, for the four Totalitarian powers to all drive southward: Germany and Italy would take over Africa and Japan, South-East Asia. The large area between the Caspian Sea and Singapore was ear-marked for the Soviets if they were willing to join in on the master plan.

In response Molotov was careful not to show his hand. He made it clear that his primary concern was the agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany. Soviet interests lay to the south-west, not the south. Even Hitler was unable to change this focus. He tried to get Molotov, and therefore Stalin, to give up claims on Finland, Turkey and Bulgaria, but to no avail. On his return to Moscow, Molotov had no idea that his refusal to cooperate with the Nazis would result in war.

The failure of the talks with Molotov only strengthened Hitler's resolve to hit Russia, and hit it hard. He was determined to crush Soviet Russia before the conclusion of the war with England. From the beginning of 1941, the Germans began transporting 3,400,000 men, 600,000 vehicles and 600,000 horses into a concentrated area between the Black Sea and the Baltic. On arrival, on the spot feeding had to be organized and stocks of supplies made available sufficient to allow them to push forward at the required speed. All of this, of course, had to be done without arousing any suspicions amongst the Russians.

Despite rumors that there was a massive German buildup underway, Stalin was determined to appease Hitler and reestablish the spirit of the 1939 Soviet-German Pact. In April Stalin had been warned by Winston Churchill that Hitler was planning an invasion. Yet, he refused to take the warning seriously. Russian spy networks in the Far East and Central Europe corroborated Churchill's warning. By June 21, Russians had actually seen the Germans hiding in the forests, having actually crossed the border. Still Stalin took none of the measures which were clearly required if Russia was to prepare for the inevitable. He was convinced that Hitler would not break the non-aggression pact. He wanted to do nothing to furnish the Germans with a pretext for accusing the Soviets of breaking the treaty.

The result of the above was that the Russian military machine was no where near to being combat ready when the invasion began on June 22, 1941. In fact, when hostilities commenced, Stalin ordered that German firing not be answered, thinking that the attack was nothing more than a provocative act from a few ill disciplined German units. Fortunately for the world at large, however, Stalin was soon to awaken from this dream world and begin treating the Nazis for what they actually were - his bitter enemies. Four years later the Red Army would roll into Berlin and put the final nail in Hitler's 1000 year Reich.