Hitler’s Invasion of Russia
General Frost, or the Russian winter, didn’t just stop Napoleon’s Grande Armée, but also Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa, his invasion of the Soviet Union. Operation Barbarossa began on June 22, 1941. Hitler’s army consisted of around three million men and 3,000 tanks. The German army was well-trained and effective; however, Operation Barbarossa was, in terms of German military strategy, a mistake.
There were several flaws to the German strategy from its earliest days. Germany lacked the needed logistical supports or industrial complex for an operation of the scale of Operation Barbarossa. The Germans were a conquering force; they hoped to eliminate the Jewish population and enslave the Slavic population of the Soviet Union.
Between June and September, the Germans advanced rapidly into the Soviet Union. There were minor logistical issues that summer, but they were relatively well managed, and the German invasion appeared to be going well. That fall, heavy rain slowed the advance of the Germans.
When the ground froze, Hitler’s generals forced their armies forward. As with Napoleon, these me lacked the supplies, clothing and provisions needed to survive the Russian winter. In early December, the Germans reached Moscow, but were quickly attacked and repelled. German forces began to retreat, slowly and with some difficulty. They were repeatedly attacked by Soviet forces, but did not suffer losses as great as Napoleon’s.
Hitler had believed that the invasion would be over by the fall of 1941, limiting any concerns about the weather or the Soviet winter. The German soldiers who survived Operation Barbarossa were often badly damaged by frostbite, having lost their noses, eyelids, fingers, and toes.
Like Napoleon before him, Hitler had underestimated the Russian winter. Operation Barbarossa came to an end by March 1942 and it benefitted the Allies. The two-front war had distracted the efforts of the German army, but had also brought a formal end to the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union. It also brought the power of the Soviet Union to the side of the Allies.