Strategy of the Axis against USSR

On 22 June 1941, Germany, along with other European Axis members and Finland, invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. The main destination of this surprise offensive were the Baltic region, Moscow and Ukraine, with an ultimate goal of ending the 1941 campaign near the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, connecting the Caspian and White Seas. Hitler's objectives were to eliminate the Soviet Union as a military power, destroy Communism, apply Lebensraum by losing the native population, and assure access to strategic resources needed to defeat Germany's rivals.

More than the half of German divisions took battle stations against the Soviet Union, from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The Baltic, Western and Kiev Special military districts were renamed to Northwestern, Western and Southwestern Fronts respectively. To establish air domination, the Luftwaffe[1] began immediate attacks on Soviet airfields, destroying much of the Soviet’s fleet. Hitler’s campaign focused on applying the Blitzkrieg doctrine to increase their offensive’s effectiveness through the employment of panzers and infantry armies. 

The North Group Army's target was to attack Leningrad via the Baltic States. To accomplish this, they advanced through Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and the Russian Pskov and Novgorod regions. On the other hand, the Centre Group Army's two panzer groups advanced to the north and south of Brest-Litovsk and assemble east of Minsk, followed by the 2nd, 4th, and 9th Armies. The combined panzer force reached the Beresina River. After accomplishing their next objective that was to cross the Dnieper river; their subsequent goal was Smolensk, which fell on 16 July, but the violent Soviet resistance and the impediment of Wehrmacht advance in North and South, forced Hitler to bring to an end a center thrust at Moscow and to divert Panzer Group 3 north.

The Centre Group Army's infantry divisions were left unsupported by armor to continue their slow advance to Moscow. This decision caused a severe leadership crisis. The German field commanders argued for an immediate offensive towards Moscow, but Hitler overruled them, citing the importance of Ukrainian agricultural, mining and industrial resources, as well as the massing of Soviet reserves in the Gomel area between Centre & South Army Group's flanks. This decision is believed to have had a severe impact on the Battle of Moscow's outcome, by setting back the advance on Moscow in favor of encircling large numbers of Soviet troops around Kiev.

In order to conclude this idea, we must remember some other facts that affected Germany’s participation in the war, like for example, Pearl Harbor. It is important to relate the fact that Germany, on the other side, was also weakened because it supported Japan and declared war on USA. Later, the US would join with Britain to adopt a “Europe First” strategy that would destroy Hitler. In 1942, German commanders recommended remaining on defensive but Hitler believed that Germans must destroy Soviet military potential before the American industrial power could come into play. So considering this, plus Germans’ suffering from serious supply shortages; it was the perfect moment for the Axis to defeat them. Germany confronted a war of two fronts, same as what happened on WWI. Definitely, this marked the beginning of the failure of Germany in WWI.

Made by: Camila Acuña

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[1] German air forces

HOW DID THE USSR RESPOND TO THE ATTACK OF THE AXIS?

Hitler had strategic and ideological reasons for invading Russia. Deliberately, he knew that the Soviet Union and the United States were critical to Britain’s willingness to keep fighting. He also had a planned strategy called Lebensraum. In addition, Hitler felt the necessity of agricultural and raw material resources of Eastern Russia. Ideologically Hitler viewed the Soviet Union as his greatest enemies, the Jews and the Communists.

Hitler based his plan on the assumption he could destroy the Soviet Union within one year. Critical to his success would be to catch and destroy the Red Army at the border areas. If that did not occur, the Russians could use their vast territory to trade space for time and cause the Germans huge logistical problems.

Since the beginning of the Battle of Moscow, Germany was already weakened because of their critical conditions. The winter season had taken place and main resources for living, like cloth, food, or refuge turn to be more difficult to obtain. Soviets took advantage of this situation and though that it was the perfect moment for them to attack in a future.

Stalin asked his best commander, Georgi Zhukov, to defend Moscow. He waged a delaying defense in front of Moscow; the first time the Soviets took advantage of their ability to trade space for time. In the meantime he pulled reinforcements from as far away as Siberia to defend Moscow. Zhukov’s plan was to allow the Germans to exhaust themselves and then go on the offensive. It was all part of their plan to allowed Germany to gain a lot of territory on the first stage of the war, in order to make Hitler feel that that he was winning the confrontation.

Germans thought that if they attack the capital city, communism was over; that is the reason why their final target was Moscow. But when the other countries counterattack, they were unable to achieve it and to continue fighting, so finally the Axis had been forced to change the plan. In consequence, all Germans were removed from Russia’s territory. 

Finally, we can affirm that the Operation Barbarossa constituted one of the largest military battles in the whole human history. It was characterized by unprecedented ferocity, destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, disease, and massacres. Ultimately enormous logistical shortcomings made Barbarossa a failure. Germany proved capable of fighting battles very well, but was less capable of fighting a war of prolonged duration The Eastern Front, as the site of nearly all extermination camps, death marches, ghettos, and the majority of pogroms, was central to the Holocaust. Of the estimated 70 million deaths attributed to World War II, over 30 million died on the Eastern Front. It was decisive in determining the outcome of World War II, as the main reason for Germany's defeat. It resulted in the destruction of the Third Reich, the partition of Germany for nearly half a century and the rise of the Soviet Union as a military and industrial superpower.

Made by: Camila Acuña

The U-Boats in the Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to 1945. It has been called the "longest, largest, and most complex" naval battle in history. This battle was part of a Hitler´s war plan called Operation Sea Lion. Operation Sea Lion was the name given by Hitler for the planned invasion of Great Britain in 1940. During the battle the situation changed constantly, with one side or the other gaining advantage, as new weapons, tactics, counter measures, and equipment were developed by both sides. The Battle of the Atlantic play off U-boats and other warships of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and aircraft of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) against Allied merchant shipping. The Germans were joined by submarines of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) after their Axis ally Italy entered the war on June 10, 1940. These U-boats were needed on the side of Germany because they knew that Great Britain was a big threat, as it was known for  having one of most  a strongest navy.

What was the strategy of Germany about? As an island Britain needed to bring in a vast amount of food and military equipment to survive the war. The German submarine force (U-boats) severely damaged The British ability to survive the war by making the people in Great Britain starve. A great deal of their raw materials came from America and therefore had to cross the Atlantic. In normal times this journey could be dangerous because of the weather but in the war the German submarines lead by Admiral Raeder proved a very real threat. Nazi Germany estimated that they needed to sink 150 merchant ships each month to make the people in Great Britain deprive. The outcome of the battle was a strategic victory for the Allies because the German blockade failed.

 Germany had a chance to win? Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, commander of the German U-Boat force, understood the potential of the submarine’s unconventional ability and believed Germany could fight a naval power like Great Britain and win. He was the only officer in the German High Command who viewed that victory in the Battle of the Atlantic could only be achieved by German U-Boats and such a victory would lead to an early conclusion of the Second World War. But later the Allies sank almost 800 U-Boats and over 30,000 of the 39,000 German sailors who put to sea, never returned the highest casualty rate of any armed service in the history of modern war.

The U-boats in the beginning provide many advantages for Germany and frightened Great Britain. These were built for a strategically triumph which included destroying the British merchant marine. The U-boats were a dominating factor in the Battle of Britain. But at the end they didn´t were strong enough to win against the British navy, as the British sank more German boats. Some experts agree that defeat of the German U-Boats and control of the shipping lanes linking the Allied nations of Great Britain, United States and Canada was a key factor if the Allied nations were to occupied Europe and invade the heartland of Germany itself.

The Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain mostly known as "Air battle for England" or "Air battle for Great Britain" was the name given to one of the most famous air campaigns in World War II, waged by the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe) against the British air force (Royal Air Force)in 1940. This battle was part of a plan made by Hitler called Operation Sea Lion. This Nazi Germany´s plan consisted in invading the United Kingdom and to have air and naval supremacy over the English Channel neither of which the Germans ever had at any stage during the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial and strategically bombing campaign to that date.

But what was the Luftwaffe strategy about? Initially, the Luftwaffe estimated that it would take four days to defeat the RAF (Royal Air Force) Fighter Command in southern England. This would be followed by a four week offensive during which the bombers and long range fighters would destroy all military installations throughout the country and ruin the British aircraft industry. Later reassessments gave the Luftwaffe five weeks to establish temporary air superiority over England. To achieve this goal, Fighter Command had to be destroyed, either on the ground or in the air; yet the Luftwaffe had to be able to preserve its own strength to be able to support the invasion.

Did the Luftwaffe have any limitations? The German fighters were also limited. Without sufficient fighter cover, the German bombers were very open to attack from British fighter planes. By the end of July, the RAF had lost 150 aircraft while the Luftwaffe had lost 268. Bad weather stopped the Luftwaffe from daily raids in August easy prey to the British fighter planes. From August 23rd to September 6th, the Luftwaffe started night time bombing attack on cities. However, for all this apparent success, the Luftwaffe was losing more planes than the RAF. On September 15th the Luftwaffe lost 60 planes while the RAF lost 28. On September 17th, Hitler postponed indefinitely the invasion of Britain though the night time assails. Another thing that the Luftwaffe lacked was bombs or aerial torpedo capabilities that were essential for defeating larger warships. The Luftwaffe made 21 deliberate attacks on small torpedo boats during the Battle of Britain, sinking none. The British had between 700 and 800 of these vessels in service, making it a critical threat if the Luftwaffe could not deal with the force.

Why was Germany defeated? The failure of Germany to achieve its objectives of destroying Britain's air defenses or forcing Britain to negotiate an armistice is considered its first major defeat and a crucial turning point in the Second World War. It prevented Germany from gaining air superiority. The battle ended the threat that Hitler would establish in Operation Sea Lion, a proposed airborne invasion of Britain.

D-Day had arrived!

The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, in Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings started on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (D-day).

D-Day is used to refer to June 6, 1944, the day that began the Operation Overlord. In this operation, the main goal was to carry out a large landing on the beaches of Normandy as a strategy to end with the Nazis.

Allied forces rehearsed their roles for D-Day months before the invasion. But in June 6, of 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50 mile French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy in France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy.

The original date for the assault on Normandy was set for June 5, 1944; but the weather and the sea made the Allied supreme commander Dwight D. Eisenhower postponed it until June 6, giving them more time to review their acts, that date has been popularly referred to ever since by the short title "D-Day". Because of this latter date is popularly known as the small day D. The term D-Day is used to indicate the day to start an attack or operation. "The armed forces used codenames to refer to the planning and execution of specific military operations. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of northwest Europe. The assault phase of Operation Overlord was known as Operation Neptune..."

The total number of troops landed on D-Day was around 130,000-156,000 roughly half American and the other from the Commonwealth Realms.

The D-Day damage was very high, more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or injured but more than 100,000 soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.

This day, when Allied troops penetrated into the French coast, marked the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Made by: Daniela Sanguineti and Camila Acuña

United States enters to WWII!

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, on December of. 1941. This attack was planned as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions. The Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and the United States.

On November 26, 1941, the Japanese attack force, led by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, left Etorofu Island in the Kurils and began its 3,000-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean. Sneaking six aircraft carriers, nine destroyers, two battleships, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and three submarines across the Pacific Ocean was not an easy task.

The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. Eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged and four of them sunk. The loud booms, pillars of smoke, and low-flying enemy aircraft shocked many into the realization that this was not a training exercise; Pearl Harbor was really under attack. The Japanese battleships also sank or were damaged, like for example three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. On the other hand, 188 U.S. aircraft were damaged; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 injured. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building, were not attacked. Japanese losses were light, only 29 aircrafts, five midget submarines and 65 servicemen killed or injured. One Japanese sailor was captured.

The attack at Pearl Harbor damaged so much the Americans that the U.S. abandoned its policy of isolationism and declared war on Japan the following day. It brought officially the United States into World War II. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been strong, disappeared. Clandestine support of Britain was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. encouraged Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.

The lack of any formal warning led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy".

In order to completely understand the reason for the Pearl Harbor attack it is necessary to know that it had several major aims. For example, the Japanese were tired of negotiations with the United States. They wanted to continue their expansion within Asia but the United States had placed an extremely restrictive embargo on Japan in the hopes of curbing Japan's aggression. Negotiations to solve their differences hadn't been going well.

Rather than giving in to U.S. demands, the Japanese decided to launch a surprise attack against the United States in an attempt to destroy the United States' naval power even before an official announcement of war was give. Pearl Harbor is the Japanese attack that made the United States enter to WWII, and the one that killed many American people.

Made by: Daniela Sanguineti

Atomic bomb: Hiroshima!

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima in Japan was conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in 1945.

Following a firebombing campaign that destroyed many Japanese cities, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of Japan. The war in Europe ended when Nazi Germany signed its instrument of surrender on 8 May, but the Pacific War continued. Together with the United Kingdom and the Republic of China, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, threatening Japan with "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government ignored this ultimatum, and the United States deployed two nuclear weapons developed by the Manhattan Project. American airmen dropped Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.

At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of both industrial and military significance. His command consisted of some 400,000 men, most of whom were on Kyushu where an Allied invasion was correctly expected.

The center of the city contained several resistant buildings and lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a collection of small wooden workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were constructed of wood with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings were also built around wood frames.

The population of Hiroshima had reached over 381,000 earlier in the war, but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000.

About an hour before the bombing, Japanese early warning radar detected the approach of some American aircraft headed for the southern part of Japan. An alert was given and radio broadcasting stopped in many cities, among them Hiroshima. At nearly 08:00, the radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of planes coming in was very small and the air raid alert was lifted.

The release at 08:15 went as intended, and the gravity bomb known as "Little Boy", with about 64 kilograms of uranium-235, took 43 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at 31,060 feet to the predetermined detonation height about 1,968 feet above the city. Japanese officials determined that 69% of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 7% damaged.

Some 70.000 (30% of the population) people of Hiroshima were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm, and another 70,000 were injured. Over 90% of the doctors and 93% of the nurses in Hiroshima were killed or injured. It was an atomic bomb set up by United States, which caused a serious damage and destruction in Japan. 

Made by: Daniela Sanguineti

Encirclement of Berlin in the Battle of Berlin

The Battle for Berlin marked the end of World War Two in Europe. It was of vital importance in the European sector. It was fought between April and May of 1945, and the Russian victory saw the end of Hitler's Third Reich and the occupation of the city by the Red Army before it was divided into four as a result of the wartime meetings between the Allies. The Battle of Berlin was part of a Hitler´s plan called Operation Overlord that was the code name given to the Allied invasion of France programmed for June 1944.

Did Russia use any strategy to defeat Germany? Before the main battle in Berlin commenced, the Soviets managed to encircle the city as a result of their success in the battles of the Seelow Heights and Halbe. During 20 April 1945, the 1st Belorussian Front led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov started shooting Berlin's city centre, while Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front had pushed from the south through the last formations of Army Group Centre. The German defenses were mainly led by Helmuth Weidling and consisted of several badly equipped and disorganized Wehrmacht so they were easy prey for the Russians.

On 22 April, at an afternoon situation conference, Hitler fell into a tearful rage when he realized that his plans of the day before were not going to be realized. He declared that the war was lost; he blamed the generals and announced that he would stay on in Berlin until the end and then kill himself. On 23 April, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front continued to tighten the encirclement, and severed the last link between the German IX Army and the city. Elements of the 1st Ukrainian Front continued to move westward and started to engage the German XII Army moving towards Berlin. On April 24, elements of Zhukov and Konev's fronts met west of Berlin completing the encirclement of the city.

In the meantime, resistant columns of the second Belorussian Front had been circling around the city to the north, while counterparts in the first Ukrainian Front were moving up along the west side of the city to meet them. Zhukov and Konev’s tanks finally associated up on April 25, finishing the encirclement of the city.

The Battle of Berlin was known to the Soviets as the “Berlin Offensive Operation.” Two Soviet groups attacked Berlin from the east and south and a third took over German forces from the north. According to General Weidling: “Catastrophe was inevitable, if the Fuhrer did not reverse his decision to defend Berlin to the last man, sacrificing all who were left alive in the city for the sake of a crazy ideal. The struggle was devoid of all sense of purpose.”

Made by Paula Arciniega and Valeria Pretell

Dyle Plan in the Battle of France

The Dyle Plan or D Plan was the primary war plan of the French Army to stave off the expected German attack during Fall Gelb. It was conceived by French General Maurice Gamelin in 1940. The main objective of the plan was to stop the advancing German Army, incorrectly supposed as the strongest, in central Belgium.

During the Battle of France there were some strategic reason dictated the Allied decision to advance and fight on Belgian territory when the German attack came in the west. The British government insisted that the Flemish coast stay under Allied control so as not to threaten British naval superiority.

The French determined that the German offensive had to be contained as far east as possible, to keep the battle off French territory. Finally, the most convincing argument for advancing and fighting on Belgian territory was the Gamelin did not consider the French army capable of winning a mobile battle against the German army in the extensive operational theatre France would present. Belgium presented a far narrower from to contain German formations. The advance to the Dyle River and preparing an entrenched front there saved most of Belgium’s industrial regions from falling into German hands.

The first step took to propose the “Escaut” variant as an option for Plan d, the code for the “Dyle plan”. This would include an advance by the French into the German territory. The powerful French first and ninth Armies would hold the line in Belgium from Wavre to Givet. The French seventh Army would hold the line on the Scheldt and link up with German forces.

Gamelin made the reasonable hypothesis that the Germans would try to attempt a breakthrough by concentrating their mechanized forces. They could hardly hope to break the Maginot Line on his right flank or to overcome the Allied concentration of forces on the left side.  That only left the centre, but most of the centre was covered by the river Meuse. Tanks were limited in defeating fortified river positions. However, at Namur the river made a sharp turn to the east, creating a gap between itself and the river Dyle. Gamelin decided to concentrate half of his unbreakable reserves there; sure the main German thrust would be on the Belgium-Dutch basic.

Gamelin continued with his plans in spite of repeated criticism from his subordinates. The development of Allied strategy was exclusively in the hands of the French. The British, recognizing they were the smaller partner in the alliance, agreed to French proposals.

Made by Valeria Pretell

Did Anschluss was good or bad for Austria?

Between 1938 and mid-1940, the Nazi administration in Austria focused on motivating the economy and relieving social suffering in order to win popular support, encourage working class away from socialism, and facilitate Austria to contribute to the German war machine. By early 1939, the Austrian economy was recovering, and unemployment was falling quickly.

Policies were designed to speed economic efficiency and integration with Germany led to rise of large firms and to the relocation of industry from the east to the Austria-Germany border in the west. Although these changes brought much of the Austrian economy under the control of the Third Reich, the economy was modernized and diversified. Thus, in spite of wartime damage done to the Austrian economy and economic infrastructure, the Anschluss years helped overcome that Austria was economically unviable and laid the foundation for the mixed economy of the postwar years.

These economic advances, however, come together with the Nazi’s political repression and barbaric racial policies, of which the Jews were the principal victims. The Unification with the Nazi Germany legitimized the full venting of Austria’s anti-Semitic political tradition in which the pronounced Jewish presence in key areas of economic, political, and cultural life has associated Jews with many developments in Austrian society that were opposed by the country’s conservative, rural, and Catholic population.

The Jewish population of Austria was numbered approximately 220,000 in 1938. In general Nazi anti-Semitic legislation and policies were imposed more quickly and more expansively in Austria than in Germany, and Austria became the testing ground for the political acceptability of policies later adopted in Germany.

After allowing a sign of violent popular anti-Semitism in the weeks immediately after the Anschluss, the Nazis systematized anti-Semitic persecution. Laws and regulations were implemented to drive Jews from the economic area and out of Austria in general, in an orderly manner to guarantee that the transition did not disrupt the economy or cause the loss of economically valuable possessions.

At first, Jews were encouraged to emigrate and the Central Office for Jewish migration was set up in Vienna to streamline the emigration process. In 1938 about 80,000 Jews left Austria! They left legally and illegally and in the end some 150,000 escape!

However, in October 1941, Germany’s policy of encouraging emigration, already made difficult by the war, was replaced with policies to exterminate the Jews. About one third of Austria’s Jewish population is probably to have died in the Holocaust. As well to the Jews, there were other victims of fatal German nationalism. Austrian Slavic minorities, such as the Czechs. Slovene, Slovaks, and Croats, were under attack for adaptation, deportation, or extermination.

Made by Valeria Pretell