Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa, the largest military operation of all time, was Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II which began on June 22, 1941. It was planned for earlier in the year, but was delayed due to Germany's need to conquer Greece first after Italy's disastrous effort to attack that country had met with failure.

The operation against the Soviet Union was a 'Blitzkrieg' ('lightning war') that saw the German Wehrmacht and its allies advance cover greater distances in less time than any of their other campaigns. Of course it would also need to, due to the vast land area that made up the Soviet Union and Russia in particular. The Luftwaffe worked in co-ordination with the Panzer Divisions to ensure as rapid an advance as possible. The attack aimed to reach the capital of the USSR, Moscow, before the dreaded Russian winter set in, but failed to do so. The Russians threw back the German armies at that time; their first military success.

The Germans began their offensive anew in 1942 after the winter had passed and again met with success, but the Russians were bolstered by supplies from the Allies including some from the United States and their continued mobilization of their own great manpower reserves. Also, the addition of the T-34 tank gave them a weapon that was in many ways superior to any other tank that had been seen in the war. The Battle of Stalingrad in late 1942/early '43 was the turning point in the War on the Eastern Front, and a Nazi victory became practically impossible after that as the size of the Soviet forces and their fighting ability continued to grow.

General Plan East

Plan of new German settlement colonies (marked with dots and diamonds), drawn up by the Friedrich Wilhelm University Institute of Agriculture in Berlin, 1942, covering the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, Crimea and Russia.

The General Plan for the East (Generalplan Ost) was a written memoranda for the extermination of 30 million Russians and other "subhumans" in Nazi parlance, to create living space (Lebensraum) for the German population. According to a 2020 study, about half the objective, or between 15.9 and 17.4 million civilians in Russia were murdered.

Although Western interest in what is dismissively referred to as "war in the East", in Soviet and later Russian Federation studies of the Western invasion of Russia has long remained the focus where more than 80% of the fighting and casualties of World War II occurred.

In his speeches to the Wehrmacht leadership on July 21 and 31, 1940, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler emphasized that the coming war would be "the complete opposite of a normal war in the West and North of Europe," since it envisaged not only the defeat of the enemy's armed forces, but also "the destruction of Russia as a state," with the Baltics, Belarus, and Ukraine to come under the direct control of Germany.

Preparations for the fight against the Soviet Union were not limited to the development of a military strategy. Measures for the dismemberment of the USSR, the economic robbery and exploitation of its national wealth and natural resources, the enslavement and destruction of the Soviet population were planned in advance.

Anti-communism in Nazi propaganda was combined with anti-Semitism, which gave rise to the image of a "Bolshevik Jew" who had seized power over the Slavic "subhumans," and who became a symbol of the main threat to European civilization. Germany's mission was seen as protecting the Aryan (white) race from "subhumans"; and Europe from "Asian hordes" (Russians were presented as the heirs of the Huns and Mongols). The Wehrmacht was supposed to protect Europe from another invasion of barbarians from the East.

In the issue of "Messages for the Troops", published by the military propaganda department of the OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht) in June 1941, the meaning of the war that had begun was quite openly stated: "The issue is to liquidate the Red subhumanity embodied in the Moscow rulers. The German people are facing the greatest task of their history. The whole world will see that this task will be finally solved." As a result, "every participant in the Wehrmacht’s Eastern Campaign knew that he was allowed to do anything and would not be brought before a military tribunal.

Einsatzgruppen squads began to carry out mass shootings during the last week of June 1941.

In popular culture

Former GRU officer and defector Viktor Suvorov claims that the order to write a song for the liberation of the German-occupied Europe came from Joseph Stalin: "Stalin needed a song about the great war against Germany in 1941. And Stalin ordered such a song." The Sacred War was written. Youtube has identified the song as "inappropriate or offensive for some audiences."

June 22 is commemorated annually in the Russian Federation as Remembrance Day of Sorrow.

See also

• Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
• Katyusha (song)