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Mr. Flohr Name ___________________

NC History Date ___________________ Period __________________

Chapter 24: The World War II Era

Phase 2: Russia

Key Points

• Hitler, overzealous, tried to conquer three major Russian cities at once, failing to conquer any of them. The Russians fought off the Germans, but the Germans would continue their attack on Russia for two more years.

• Hitler’s failure to conquer Russia in 1941 resulted in Germany having to fight on two fronts for the remainder of the war.

Hitler’s Invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa, June 22-Dec 6, 1941)

1. On June 22, 1941, Hitler broke his pact with Stalin. The war’s most massive encounter

began when slightly more than 3 million Germans invaded Russia.

2. Soviet forces were taken by surprise, but the Soviets had 2.9 million troops on the

western border and outnumbered the Germans by two to one in tanks and by two or

three to one in aircraft. Although, many of its tanks and aircraft were older models, some

of their tanks, particularly the famous T-34s, were far superior to any the Germans had.

3. Hitler’s plan was a 3-pronged attack, one aimed north toward Leningrad, one center

toward Moscow, and one aimed south toward Kiev.

4. The Germans destroyed a large number of aircraft and tanks on the first day, and the

Soviet tanks, scattered among their infantry, were ineffective against the German panzer

groups.

5. The infantry was first ordered to counterattack, which was impossible, and then forbidden

to retreat, ensuring their wholesale destruction or capture.

6. The Russians sacrificed enormous numbers of troops and weapons to defend Moscow.

Hitler, however, was not satisfied, and decided to get greedy. Desperately, wanting to

take Leningrad and Kiev, he diverted the bulk of the Armor Group Center to the north

and south to help the other two army groups, thereby stopping the advance toward

Moscow.

7. On September 8, Army Group North cut Leningrad’s land connections, and together with

the Finnish army on the north, brought the city under siege.

8. On September 16, Army Group South closed a gigantic encirclement east of Kiev that

brought in 665,000 prisoners. Hitler then decided to resume the advance toward Moscow

and ordered the armor be returned to Army Group Center.

9. After a standstill of six weeks, Army Group Center resumed action on October 2. Within

two weeks, it completed three large encirclements and took 663,000 prisoners. Then the

fall rains set in, turning the unpaved Russian roads to mud and stopping the advance for

the better part of a month.

10. German panzer divisions tried to advance, but neither the men nor the machines were

outfitted for extreme cold. On December 5 the German generals commanding the

attack reported that they were stopped. The tanks and trucks were freezing up, and

their troops were losing their will to fight.

11. On December 6, the Russians counterattacked, and within a few days, the Germans

were rolling back and abandoning large numbers of vehicles and weapons.

12. On Stalin’s orders, the counterattack was quickly converted into a counteroffensive on

the entire front.

13. On December 18, Hitler ordered his troops to stand fast. As a result, they suffered

heavy losses, but enough survived the winter to maintain the siege of Leningrad,

continue the threat to Moscow, and keep the western Ukraine in German hands.

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