By early 1941, all of Europe had been subjugated by the Germans.
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have razed France to the ground
have bombed England
have subjugated
Belgium,
Poland,
Netherlands,
Denmark,
Norway,
Czechoslovakia…
have entered the Balkans
and
The Bulgarians, Romanians, and Hungarians have gone with them
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on the contrary,
Their Italian allies have clashed with the Commonwealth forces in North Africa
And so Hitler decided to help his ally Mussolini,
by sending the Afrika Korps with its star general, General Rommel
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In a year and a half, the mad German leader has accomplished almost everything
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America at that time seemed very far away, with little desire or interest to engage with it
and
Russia does not bother them, and they do not bother Russia, thanks to the Ribbentrop–Molotov Non-Aggression Pact
which had been signed by the foreign ministers of the two countries before the war
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So, in early 1941, the British intelligence services (Intelligence Service)
They inform Stalin that Hitler is preparing an attack on Russia
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Stalin does not believe them and continues to maintain a neutral stance
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So, on this day, June 22, 1941, Hitler made the greatest strategic mistake in the entire history of warfare…
is attacking the Soviet Union…!!!
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At that time, everyone underestimated the military strength of the Soviets
Not only Hitler, but all Europeans as well.
No one expected anything promising from the communists of the Soviet Union…
………………………………………..
In fact, Hitler used to tell his generals
«All we have to do is knock on the door, and the whole rotten structure will collapse.»
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He had studied all the Russian armies with his staff.
and
by Napoleon
and Charles of Sweden
and had concluded that Russia's only serious rival over time is Winter
therefore
If they launch an attack in the spring, they'll have all of summer and fall to settle things with the Soviet Union.
………………………………………..
So, with his mind off
(since it had swept across all of Europe and was also winning in Africa)
orders Operation Barbarossa
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It is the largest military operation of all time
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The German military power consists of
7,000 guns
more than two and a half thousand tanks
more than 2,500 airplanes
and
nearly four million soldiers
(along with the Italian, Romanian, Finnish, Hungarian, and Slovak divisions)
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The forces were divided into three geographical axes, thus creating the three armies
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The “North” Army Group, under Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb, headed north toward Leningrad,
(St. Petersburg)
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Field Marshal Fender von Bock’s “Center” Army Group set out toward Poland and Belarus, with Moscow as its ultimate objective
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and Army Group “South” under Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt
which was ordered to occupy industrial Ukraine, heading toward Stalingrad (now Volgograd) with the ultimate goal of seizing the oil fields of the Caucasus…
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Hitler's final order:
“This is not a war of conquest but a war of extermination”
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At first, Operation Barbarossa turned out to be a walk in the park for the Germans.
Within about 10 days, they had occupied an area larger than France.
There was still a little time left before they entered the Kremlin
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the Russians, who lacked capable leadership, especially during Stalin's great purges in 1935
80% of the Russian Army's top officers had been executed
and
with obsolete military equipment, weapons, tanks, and aircraft,
but
above all, with the leadership fearing an attack from the east—the Japanese—,
Stalin's confusion was immense
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Things changed when Marshal Zhukov managed to convince Stalin to take two or three crucial steps
1. He convinced him that they would not be attacked by the Japanese, and so he transferred the eastern divisions to the west to face the Germans
2. He moved the military factories as far east as he could and began mass production
aircraft, tanks, and military equipment
3. After much delay, Stalin finally entrusted the difficult task to Zhukov
4. The great Russian people took the war into their own hands.
Moreover, the Germans were not fighting the Russian army but the Russian people….
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No matter how many died, the vast expanse of Russia and the constant influx of new soldiers delayed the Germans for 5–6 months….
It was just what was needed for General Winter to arrive
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It was as if the Russian bear had suddenly awakened from hibernation, and once it had shaken off its stiffness, it began to maul and chase the Hitlerite wolves all the way to Berlin
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P.S. Operation Barbarossa ended in a fiasco for the Germans
🔴 because they underestimated the Soviet Union
🔴 because the tanks that the Soviets were now mass-producing in the East were sooooo many and so, so powerful
and
🔴 Because no matter how many people the Germans killed, the Soviets just kept coming….
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P.S. 2. The war crimes committed by the Germans during this operation are beyond description.
They left hundreds of thousands of Soviet prisoners without food to die of starvation.
Cases of cannibalism were observed….
As a result of the daily executions, German soldiers complained that their shoulders ached from the gunshots
Experiments with Zyklon B gas began on Russian prisoners
It is estimated that more than one million children were born as a result of rape in the Soviet Union.
Yannis Golias
