7. The Scorched-Earth Policy of the Soviet Union resulted in untold misery and death for millions of innocent civilians
Whilst the scorched earth policy ordered by Hitler under the “Nero Decree” is widely known, with many Nazi commanders electing to refuse their Commander-in-Chief’s orders, less known is that the Allies ordered and performed similar destructive actions. Beginning from the initial days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Russian officials begun a “partial” policy of scorched-earth to deny the advancing Nazi forces access to vital infrastructure and requirements; these actions included the collapsing of mines, the destruction of roads and bridges, the sabotaging of electrical generators, and removal of telegraph networks.
As the war continued Stalin announced a scorched earth policy for Ukraine, announcing “in the case of a forced retreat…all rolling stock must be evacuated, the enemy must not be left a single-engine, a single railway car, not a single pound of grain or gallon of fuel…All valuable property, including non-ferrous metals, grain and fuel that cannot be withdrawn must be destroyed without fail. In areas occupied by the enemy, guerilla units….must set fire to forests, stores and transports.” As part of this devastating policy, the Soviet Union shipped 6 million cattle, 550 large factories, 300,000 tractors, and 3.5 million skilled workers from Ukraine into the Russian Republic, whilst concurrently destroying nearly 5,000 trains, 607 railway bridges, and 915 warehouses of goods. Most critically, Stalin’s policy also targeted the country’s electrical infrastructure, destroying the Dniproophes Dam – the largest hydroelectric dam in Europe – in addition to countless power plants and vital industries.
The effects of the Soviet Union’s scorched earth strategy cannot be underestimated. With the destruction of food, industry, and power sources, the remaining civilian populations of German-occupied Soviet territories suffered immensely. An estimated 20 million Soviet civilians died during the Second World War, many of which were directly correlated to this deliberately strategic choice.