Difference between revisions of "Operation Barbarossa"
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==General Plan East== | ==General Plan East== | ||
| − | The General Plan for the East (''Generalplan Ost'') was a written memoranda for the extermination of 30 million [[Russian]]s and other "[[subhumans]]" in [[Nazi]] parlance to create living space (''[[Lebensraum]]'') for the German population. According to a 2020 study,<ref>[https://voicefromrussia.ch/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EN-Anatomy-of-Evil.pdf "Anatomy of Evil". Plans, directives, orders of the military-political leadership of Nazi | + | The General Plan for the East (''Generalplan Ost'') was a written memoranda for the extermination of 30 million [[Russian]]s and other "[[subhumans]]" in [[Nazi]] parlance to create living space (''[[Lebensraum]]'') for the German population. According to a 2020 study,<ref>[https://voicefromrussia.ch/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EN-Anatomy-of-Evil.pdf "Anatomy of Evil". Plans, directives, orders of the military-political leadership of Nazi Germany for the occupation of the USSR]</ref> about half the objective, or between 15.9 and 17.4 million civilians in Russia were murdered. |
| − | Germany for the occupation of the USSR]</ref> about half the objective, or between 15.9 and 17.4 million civilians in Russia were murdered. | ||
==In popular culture== | ==In popular culture== | ||
Revision as of 06:03, May 21, 2025
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.[1] 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
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,[2] about half the objective, or between 15.9 and 17.4 million civilians in Russia were murdered.
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."[3]
June 22 is commemorated annually in the Russian Federation as Remembrance Day of Sorrow.
Einsatzgruppen squads began to carry out mass shootings during the last week of June 1941.[4]