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