8. The Myth That Hitler’s Invasion of the Balkans in the Spring of 1941 Doomed the Invasion of the USSR Shortly Thereafter
Another WWII myth revolves around Operation Barbarossa, the surprise German invasion of the Soviet Union, which ground to a halt amidst the Russian winter a few miles short of Moscow. It holds that the invasion would have succeeded if it had only started a month or two earlier than its actual launch date of June 22nd, 1941. The reason it did not start earlier, goes this narrative, is because Hitler got entangled in the Balkans, and invaded Greece and Yugoslavia in April of 1941. As a result, the launch of Operation Barbarossa was delayed.
The first flaw with this account is that gives winter top billing for stopping the German advance. However, other factors such as fierce Soviet resistance, the overextension of German supply lines as the Wehrmacht plunged ever deeper into the USSR, and autumn rains, had already brought the German advance to a halt before the first snowstorms. The Germans had to regroup before they resumed their advance on Moscow, and that gave the Soviets a breather. To be fair, Hitler’s soldiers were unprepared for the terrible Russian winter when it arrived. However, that was only one factor, and not the main one, for the German advance’s halt.