OPERATION BARABAROSSA
Operation Barbarossa:
Operation Barbarossa was the name given to the Nazi’s invasion of Russia on 1941 the 22nd of June. Operation Barbarossa was the largest military attack of World War 2 and had appealing consequences towards the Russians. Hitler used the Blitzkrieg strategy to carry out this invasion and said that “when the attack on Russia begins, the world will hold its breath.”
Three Army Groups attacked Russia on June 22nd 1941, The Army group north, led by von Leeb, Army Group centre, led by von Bock, and Army group south, led by von Rundstedt. The Russians Defended with 4 Army Units. Though Russia had a large army the purge had wiped out a large portion of their senior commanders. In total, Germany amassed 117 army divisions for the attack excluding Rumanian and Hungarian units. In total, Russia amassed 132 army divisions for the defence of the ‘motherland’, including 34 armoured divisions. The plan for the attack of Russia had been around since 1940. The first version of the plan was done by Marcks in August 1940. He envisaged a massive attack on Moscow – his primary target. He also wanted a secondary attack on Kiev and two masking attacks in the Baltic towards Leningrad and in Moldavia in the south. After Moscow had fallen, Marcks wanted a drive south to link up with the attack on Kiev. The attack on Leningrad was also a secondary issue. The next version of the plan was completed in December 1940 by Halder. He changed Marcks plan by having three thrusts; a major one against Moscow, a smaller attack on Kiev and a major attack on Leningrad. After taking Moscow and Leningrad, Halder wanted a move north to Archangel. After Kiev had fallen, he envisaged a drive into the Don/Volga region. The third and final variant was Hitler’s plan which he codenamed Barbarossa. This plan was constructed in December 1940. For Hitler, the primary military activity would take place in the north. Hence Leningrad became a vital target as did Moscow. His drive in the south was confined to the occupation of the Ukraine to the west of Kiev. The attack started at 03.00, Sunday morning June 22nd 1941. In total the Germans and her allies used 3 million soldiers, 3580 tanks, 7184 artillery guns, 1830 planes and 750,000 horses. The plan had been a success so far, by day 14 300,000 Russians had been captured, 2,500 tanks, 1,400 artillery guns and 250 aircraft captured or destroyed, But the orders of Hitler had one dire effect – loss of time. Hitler and his army were not prepared for the Russian winter, this caused the vehicles to stop working and caused most of hitler's men to freeze as they were unprepared for the winter. This caused the Nazi’s defeat and was a major turning point for WWII
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sealion was the name given by Hitler for the planned invasion of Great Britain in 1940. Operation Sealion was never carried out during the war as the Germans lost the Battle of Britain and it is now believed that Hitler was more interested in the forthcoming attack on Russia as opposed to invading Britain. The Invasion for britain included Army Group A (6 divisions) invading Kent via the areas near Ramsgate, Folkstone and Bexhill Army Group A (4 divisions) invading Sussex and Hampshire via the area around Brighton and the Isle of Wight, Army Group B (3 divisions) invading Dorset via Lyme Bay. From Kent, Army Group A would advance to south-east London and then to Malden and St. Albans north of London. From Dorset, Army Group B would advance to Bristol.The whole plan relied on Germany having complete control of the English Channel, which, in turn meant that Germany had to have control of the skies so that the Royal Air Force could not attack German ships crossing the Channel. Hence victory in the Battle of Britain was an integral part of the plan. Operation Sealion looked simple in theory. Britain should have been an easy target. The Luftwaffe was very experienced in modern warfare, the Wehrmacht had experienced astonishing success since the attack on Poland and the British had lost a vast amount of military hardware on the beaches of Dunkirk. The RAF and the Army in Britain looked weak; only the Royal Navy seemed to offer Britain some semblance of protection. Hitler wanted Sea Lion to be over by mid-September. His naval chiefs believed that any invasion could not start until mid-September! Raeder supplied a list of reasons why the invasion could not go ahead before mid-September1940 (clearance of shipping lanes of mines, getting invasion barges ready etc) and he won the support of the army. Hitler ordered that as long as Germany controlled the sky, Operation Sea Lion would go start on September 15th 1940. Therefore, the invasion depended entirely on whether Göering's Luftwaffe could defeat the RAF. The failure of the Germans to defeat the RAF had to lead to the cancellation of Operation Sea Lion which was announced on September 17th 1940. One of the interesting issues to come out of this episode was the inability of the three units that made up the German military to either work together or support one another. primarily, the chiefs of the army railed against Raeder while he and his chiefs criticised the plans of the army. The Luftwaffe took the view, though it was primarily Göering's, that any success depended on the Luftwaffe conquering the skies. Another key point that came out of this episode in the war, was Hitler's seeming refusal to listen to his military commanders and wanting things done his way. This came out of the success the military had against Poland and the nations of Western Europe - countries attacked without the overwhelming support of the military but attacked because Hitler instinctively knew that they would win - or so he believed.