Why did Operation Barbarossa fail?
Before Operation Barbarossa was launched, Hitler and Germany have great success on invasion and conflicts, except Battle of Britain. Hitler invaded Poland in 1931, attacked Belgium, France, and Holland, conflict with Britain. But when he comes to occupying Soviet Union, the operation was the beginning of Hitler’s ruin. Operation Barbarossa is a codification name for German’s invasion of USSR. That operation was launch on June 22, 1941, and because it was launched at that clip, Germany has to cover with one of the biggest job when they were occupying Soviet Union – winter. It was the largest military onslaught in World War Two. Operation Barbarossa was the turning point of World War Two, and ground why is because the invasion of Soviet Union is one of the biggest errors Hitler makes in World War Two. The thought of occupying Soviet Union is non the job, but the manner Hitler did it. Operation Barbarossa failed because Germany used weak military forces, had hapless logistics and planning, and failed to win the Battle of Stalingrad, which is one of the chief conflicts in Operation Barbarossa.
First of all, Germany has weak ground forces and military forces. Their status, military forces, ground forces were weaker than Red ground forces. One of the chief jobs is the winter in Russia. German’s ground forces and military forces can’t manage the winter in Russia. “The German armored combat vehicles had narrow paces with small grip and hapless floatation in clay. In contrast, the new coevals of Soviet armored combat vehicles such as the T-34 and KV had wider paths and were far more nomadic in these conditions.” ( Operation Barbarossa ) Harmonizing to the information above, Soviet Union has more dependable and improved vehicles than Germany’s. Their military forces such as armored combat vehicles were non good as Soviet Union’s. They were besides non prepared for the conditions and Soviet Union’s hapless route web, even making to certain finish was besides difficult for them. “Consequently, the military personnels were non equipped with equal cold-weather cogwheel, and some soldiers had to pack newspapers into their jackets to remain warm while temperatures dropped to record degrees of at least -30 °C ( -22 °F ) . To run furnaces and warmers, the Germans besides burned cherished fuel that was hard to re-supply.” ( Operation Barbarossa )
Besides transit job caused by the winter, German’s ground forces were besides affected by the winter. Their equipment and cogwheels were non fit for the conditions. For illustration, they have to fire fuel, which is a really of import supplies and really hard to acquire, to maintain them warm. On the other manus, Soviet Union’s military personnels have warmer vesture. Their vehicles such as aircraft besides weren’t in a good status, because sometimes fuel will stop dead and soldiers will hold to took clip to repair it, otherwise those vehicles can non be used. Lubricants for vehicles were besides useless every bit good in such a cold conditions in Russia. These supplies such as lubricators, oil, fuel, were highly of import, because these supplies keep German’s military forces such as guns, vehicles in action and a good status.
Second grounds were German’s hapless logistics and be aftering scheme. One of the grounds is because Germany was manner excessively confidents, they’ve over underestimated Soviet Union. That leads to unrealistic, hapless scheme and logistics. “The invasion had three chief aims. Army Group Center, dwelling of 1.3 million military personnels, 2,600 armored combat vehicles and 7,800 heavy weapon pieces, mounted a monolithic thrust on Moscow. Meanwhile, Army Group North, dwelling of 700,000 military personnels, 770 armored combat vehicles and 4,000 heavy weapon pieces.” ( Erik Sass, Operation Barbarossa: The Biggest Military Adventure in History ) Hitler uses the scheme called “blitzkrieg” , or “lightning war” . This is the same scheme Hitler usage to get the better of France and Poland, but this doesn’t work on Soviet Union. Soviet Union was besides surprised by this invasion, due to Stalin’s belief Germany won’t attack it’s ain allied, particularly after subscribing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Due to the trouble of acquiring fuel for supplies, Germany sometimes has non plenty fuel to make to the finish. Their ground forces doesn’t have enough ammo and other supplies as good. Food was ne’er of import to Hitler. Because it is difficult to acquire supplies while in the frontline of battleground or processing toward the heartland of Russia, Hitler has to take between nutrient, ammo, and warm apparels, Hitler largely choose ammo alternatively of others. “Commanders in the field relied on scrounging local farm animal to feed the soldiers and this continued until such clip when deficits resulted in military personnels eating their units ‘ horses.” ( MAJ Loganathan, Failure Of Logistics In “Operation Barbarossa” And Its Relevance Today ) By September 1941, Germany was winning and the invasion was successful so far. They have already conquered Kiev and Odessa, and forcing frontward to Leningrad and Moscow. “By December 1941, the combined German ground forcess had killed 360,000 Soviet soldiers, wounded one million, and captured two million more, for entire Red Army losingss of around 3.4 million by the terminal of the twelvemonth. In six months, German military personnels and their Alliess advanced up to 600 stat mis and occupied over 500,000 square stat mis of Soviet district, place to 75 million people.” ( Erik Sass, Operation Barbarossa: The Biggest Military Adventure in History )
Finally, Germany lost the conflict of Stalingrad, which is the turning point of this operation. Before this conflict, Hitler was largely success in this invasion. “Russians consider it to be the greatest conflict of their Great Patriotic War, and most historiographers consider it to be the greatest conflict of the full conflict.” ( Battle of Stalingrad ) The Battle of Stalingrad was started at 17 July 1942, in this conflict Soviet Union successfully defend the metropolis of Stalingrad. One of the grounds why Stalingrad is of import is that it was Russia’s chief communicating centre in the South. German’s commanding officer was General Paulus, and his chief end was to procure the oil field in Caucasus, on the other manus, Russia would seek non to allow Germany procure the oil field. German’s ground forces had to cover with and manage the winter in Russia while contending with Soviet Union. That makes Germany harder to get the better of their enemies.
Zhukov, Russian commanding officer, used scheme to travel around the metropolis and trap German’s ground forces. At this point, Hitler still refused to give up, and commanded General Paulus to keep their land. “Hitler ordered that Paulus should contend to the last slug, and to promote Paulus, he promoted him to field marshal. However, by the terminal of January 1943, the Germans could make nil else but surrender. Paulus surrendered the ground forces in the southern sector on January 31st while General Schreck surrendered the northern group on February 2nd, 1943.” ( Battle of Stalingrad ) 91,000 soldiers were taken as captives and about 150,000 work forces were lost. That’s a immense doomed for Germany and their military had been weaken since so.
In decision, Operation Barbarossa was one of the greatest errors Hitler had made. It was the turning point of World War Two. Operation Barbarossa failed because Germany used weak military forces, had hapless logistics and planning, and failed to win the Battle of Stalingrad, which is one of the chief conflicts in Operation Barbarossa. The major job that leads to the failure of this operation was the winter in Russia. That cause many major and minor jobs such as weaker military forces, hapless transit. Russian ground forces besides has better equipment, cogwheels, vehicles that suit the state of affairs more. Second is that Germany has hapless logistics and be aftering scheme. Germany has over underestimated Soviet Union, and their ground forces, supplies were excessively confident. That leads to unrealistic, hapless scheme and logistics. Finally, Germany lost the Battle of Stalingrad, which is a of import major conflict in Operation Barbarossa. German’s ground forces was surrounded and Hitler makes the incorrect call.
Plants Cited
“Operation Barbarossa” . New World Encyclopedia. Web. 12 May 2015.
MLJ Loganathan. “Failure Of Logisticss In “Operation Barbarossa” And It’s Relevance Day” . mindef. gov. seaborgium. Web. 12 May 2015.
“Battle of Stalingrad” . History.com. A+E Networks. 2009. Web. 12 May 2015.
Erik Sass. “Operation Barbarossa: The Biggest Military Adventure in History” . Mental_floss. Web. 12 May 2015.
Chris Trueman. “The Battle of Stalingrad” . History Learning Site. 2014. Web. 12 May 2015.
Professor Richard Overy. “The Soviet-German War 1941-1945” . BBC. Web. 12 May 2015.
Kennedy Hickman. “World War II: Battle of Stalingrad” . about instruction. Web. 12 May 2015.