FREE ESSAY ON OPERATION BARBAROSSA

OPERATION BARBAROSSA

"Operation Barbarossa"
On June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa took the Soviets by surprise. By blitzkrieg
tactics, the three million Germans strong force struck deep into Russia, capturing whole
Russian armies. Though expecting the raid, Russian president, Josef Stalin, was forced to
sacrifice huge numbers of troops to stop the Germans' approach. The Germans were quick in
forcing Russia to surrender due to the harsh conditions of the approaching Russian
winter.
Operation Babarossa was the codename used for the invasion of the Soviet Union by Hitler
and his men. While only 3 million German soldiers entered in the raid, 5 million died in
total, when it was all over. This figure is minuscule if compared to the 20 million
Russians that lost their lives. Operation Babarossa was also the largest war fought
during World War II, and also the bloodiest. 
Josef Stalin the current leader of Russia was surprised even though he new the raid was
coming. Even though the German's got the drop on Russia, Russia possessed an inhospitable
climate, a vast area, and tremendous manpower reserves. Hitler said this to one of his
generals, We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come
crashing down, but shortly later he also stated, At the beginning of each campaign one
pushes a door into a dark, unseen room. One can never know what is hiding inside. Coupled
with the element of surprise, the Germans possessed better training, more extensive
experience, and were able to obtain superiority at the points selected for attack, thus
keeping the war on their side. The Russians had large amounts of obsolete equipment, were
poorly deployed to meet the attack, and lacked defensive positions, but did have the help
of their climate in the end. 
Stalin finally decides to go to serious action and stop the Germans from invading Moscow.
He makes a public announcement to all his people and asks them to put all their efforts
into the war, even though charities like the Red Cross were helping. He went on to
announce a scorched earth policy to deny the Germans a single engine, or a single railway
truck, and not a pound of bread nor a pint of oil. 
All of Stalin's efforts finally paid off when the Russian winter came around and not only
due to the cold climate but also the scorched earth policy Hitler ordered all troops out
if Russia. These late tactics Stalin by and some luck on the Russian side left Operation
Barbarossa a failure in its implements and also a failure all together. 
Works Cited
Fernandez, Jose A. "Operation Barbarossa" 22 Oct. 2000
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/2941/
Wilson, Mike "Operation Barbarossa" 22 Oct. 2000
http://cobweb.washcoll.edu/student.pages/karen.sieger/war/war.htm
"Invasion of Russia" 22 Oct. 2000
http://www.hyperaction.org.uk/RoathVillageWeb/War/russia.htm
"Nazi Invasion of Russia" 22 Oct. 2000
http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/molotov.htm
"German Invasion of the Soviet Union"
http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/barbar-1.htm
Knight, Amy "Joseph Stalin" 23 Nov. 2000
Microsoft Encarta 2000 Encyclopedia
Colton, Timothy J. "Union of Soviet Republics" 23 Nov. 2000
Microsoft Encarta 2000 Encyclopedia