Operation Barbarossa: Difference between revisions
imported>Howard C. Berkowitz No edit summary |
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==Initial order of battle== | ==Initial order of battle== | ||
===Germany=== | ===Germany=== | ||
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*[[Army Group North (Russian Front)]] ([[Wilhelm von Leeb]]), (20 divisions) | *[[Army Group North (Russian Front)]] ([[Wilhelm von Leeb]]), (20 divisions) | ||
**[[Eighteenth German Army]] ([[Georg von Kuechler]])) | **[[Eighteenth German Army]] ([[Georg von Kuechler]])) | ||
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**Luftflotte I ([[Alfred Keller]]) | **Luftflotte I ([[Alfred Keller]]) | ||
**[[Einsatzgruppe A]] ([[Franz Walter Stahlecker]]) | **[[Einsatzgruppe A]] ([[Franz Walter Stahlecker]]) | ||
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*[[Army Group Center (Russian Front)]] ([[Fedor von Bock]]) (51 divisions) | *[[Army Group Center (Russian Front)]] ([[Fedor von Bock]]) (51 divisions) | ||
**III Panzergruppe ([[Hermann Hoth]]) | **III Panzergruppe ([[Hermann Hoth]]) | ||
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**Luftflotte II ([[Albert Kesselring]]) | **Luftflotte II ([[Albert Kesselring]]) | ||
**[[Einsatzgruppe B]] ([[Artur Nebe]]) | **[[Einsatzgruppe B]] ([[Artur Nebe]]) | ||
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*[[Army Group South(Russian Front)]] ([[Gerd von Rundstedt]]) (40 divisions; 14 Rumanian divisions; Hungarian Army Corps) | *[[Army Group South(Russian Front)]] ([[Gerd von Rundstedt]]) (40 divisions; 14 Rumanian divisions; Hungarian Army Corps) | ||
** | **[[Sixth German Army]] ([[Walter von Reichenau]]) | ||
**I Panzergruppe ([[Ewald von Kleist]]) | **I Panzergruppe ([[Ewald von Kleist]]) | ||
** | **[[Seventeenth German Army]] ([[Carl-Heinrich von Stuelpnagel]]) | ||
**Hungarian Army Corps (Carpathian Group) | **Hungarian Army Corps (Carpathian Group) | ||
**[[Third Rumanian Army]] ([[Petre Dumitrescu]]) | **[[Third Rumanian Army]] ([[Petre Dumitrescu]]) | ||
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**Luftflotte IV ([[Alexander Loehr]]) | **Luftflotte IV ([[Alexander Loehr]]) | ||
**[[Einsatzgruppe C]] ([[Otto Rasch]]) | **[[Einsatzgruppe C]] ([[Otto Rasch]]) | ||
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===Soviet Union=== | ===Soviet Union=== | ||
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*Baltic Special Military District (Kuznetsov) 26 Divisions including 6 armoured ones; became Northern Front ([[Markian Popov]]) | *Baltic Special Military District (Kuznetsov) 26 Divisions including 6 armoured ones; became Northern Front ([[Markian Popov]]) | ||
**[[Eighth Red Army]](Sobennikov) | **[[Eighth Red Army]](Sobennikov) | ||
**[[Eleventh Red Army]] (Morosov) | **[[Eleventh Red Army]] (Morosov) | ||
**[[Twenty-seventh Red Army]] (Berzarin) | **[[Twenty-seventh Red Army]] (Berzarin) | ||
**Western Special Military District (Pavlov) faced Army Group Center 36 divisions | **Western Special Military District (Pavlov) faced Army Group Center 36 divisions; became Northwestern Front ([[Fyodor Kuznetsov]]) | ||
**[[Third Red Army]] (Kuznetsov) | **[[Third Red Army]] (Kuznetsov) | ||
**10th Army (Golubev) | **10th Army (Golubev) | ||
**4th Army (Korobkov | **4th Army (Korobkov) | ||
*Kiev Special Military District (Kirponos faced Army Group South 56 | {{col-break|width=33%}} | ||
*Kiev Special Military District (Kirponos faced Army Group South 56 divisions | |||
**5th Army (Potapov) | **5th Army (Potapov) | ||
**6th Army (Muzychenko) | **6th Army (Muzychenko) | ||
**26th Army (Kostenko) | **26th Army (Kostenko) | ||
**12th Army (Ponedelin) | **12th Army (Ponedelin) | ||
*Odessa Special Military District (Tyulenev) which faced Army Group South 14 | {{col-break|width=33%}} | ||
*Odessa Special Military District (Tyulenev) which faced Army Group South 14 divisions | |||
**9th Army (Cherevichenko) | **9th Army (Cherevichenko) | ||
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== Initial actions == | == Initial actions == | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
Revision as of 14:50, 8 January 2011
A strategic surprise to Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa was the German code name for its invasion of Russia on 22 June 1941. Stalin had believed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact promising nonaggression from the Germans.
German intentions
Failure to prepare
Both Stalin and Adolf Hitler, in various ways, were unprepared for the reality of the conflict. Stalin was surprised, tactically and strategically, by the invasion. Hitler was overconfident in a quick victory.
Stalin
Stalin received a warning document, in May 1939, about The Future Plans of Aggression by Fascist Germany, based on a German briefing obtained by Soviet spies in Warsaw. A Soviet agent first reported that Hitler planned to declare war on the Soviet Union in March 1941, and refined the estimate, by February 28, to May 20.
This intelligence was corroborated by sources in Bucharest, Budapest, Sofia and Rome, to say nothing of the information provided by the spy Richard Sorge (code-named Ramsay) in Tokyo [1] in which the authors detail the undercover operations of the spy ring headed by Richard Sorge and Hotsumi Ozaki which transmitted highly secret information from Tokyo to the Soviet Union between 1933 and 1941. On April 17 a Prague informant predicted a German invasion in the second half of June. The precise date and time of the invasion were revealed by a reliable source in Berlin fully three days before the Germans attacked.
All of this Stalin ignored. Typically, he scrawled on the bottom of the Prague report: English provocation! Investigate! On May 19, Sorge predicted that 150 divisions were being readied by the Germans for an invasion of the Soviet Union. Stalin retorted with an expletive.
The result was that literally nothing was done to prepare for the German assault. Soviet planes were not camouflaged. Troops were not in defensive positions; indeed they were ordered not to occupy such positions, for fear of provoking the Germans.
Worse, Stalin had to the gathering storm with yet another purge of suspected threats to his own authority, having had shot Mikhail Tukhachevsky and:
- 2 of the oher 5 Marshals
- 13 of the 15 army commanders (full generals) and 8 of the 9 equivalent admirals
- 50 of the 57 corps commanders
- 154 of the 186 division commanders
Hitler
Initial order of battle
Germany
Soviet Union
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