Operation+Barbarossa

Imad Pasha

The Failure of Operation Barbarossa

Analyze the factors that led to the failure of Operation Barbarossa (The German Invasion of Russia) in WWII.

Planning:
 * 1) Hitler's ego made him believe that his army could defeat the larger Russian Army
 * 2) The operation was delayed several months due to Hitler engaging in other conflicts at the same time.
 * 3) When the operation was prepared, winter was arriving but Hitler ordered it to begin anyways.
 * 4) Russia heard hints of the impending German invasion, and factories all along the western border of Russia were dismantled and moved inland, allowing the Russians to continue productions of artillery and tanks throughout the campaign.
 * 5) Hitler was guided by the principle of lebensraum, that as a superior race Aryans deserved more living space.

Execution
 * 1) Hitler devoted too many men and resources to the outer pincers (Army Group North, and South).
 * 2) Hitler was superstitious and avoided following Napoleon's footsteps directly to moscow, instead attacking other targets and allowing the Russian army to gain ground.
 * 3) Hitler was paranoid and spent time questioning his Generals' motives, replacing experienced generals with more "trustworthy" inexperienced officers.
 * 4) Supply trains were stretched too far and the rains caused slowing of the German army.
 * 5) The Russians utilized a tactic known as "scorched earth" to burn all usable resources as they retreated. This crippled the German army, for the Blitzkrieg tactic relied on not bringing many supplies and quickly neutralizing enemy supply depots, etc to steal resources from them, and continue pushing inland.
 * 6) Stalin purged and killed incompetent officers from the army- motivating the remaining ones not to retreat at all costs.
 * 7) The Russian high command had so many men at their disposal, despite some not even being armed, the tactic of hurling wave after wave after wave of soldiers at the Germans had a strong psychological effect on the more highly trained German soldiers, who had a sense of self worth.
 * 8) In addition, the tactic of simply overwhelming the Germans with men forced them to use valuable ammunition for which they were receiving little resupply.
 * 9) As winter struck, the German army became more crippled, and men started eating their horses.
 * 10) Stalin gambled on a massive counter offensive against the troops near Moscow, and the surprised Germans (who were undermanned anyways) were quickly pushed back 200 miles.
 * 11) During the Siege of Stalingrad, Paulus (a German General) desperately needed to pull back, but was given the order, "Surrender is out of the question. Troops fight on to the end..." This attitude towards retreat by Hitler led to many unnecessary casualties throughout the operation heavily denting the smaller German fighting force.
 * 12) Operation Barbarossa was lost at the turning point of the Battle of Stalingrad.
 * 13) That turning point also was a major turning point in the war as a whole, which after Russia succeed against Germany, they and the allies pushed in on Germany from all sides until its utter defeat.
 * 14) The Germans lost millions of troops in the failed operation, which propagated a speedier end to the war.

Sources:

Beevor, Antony. //Stalingrad//. New York: Penguin Books, 1999. Print Shaara, Jeff. //No Less than Victory//. New York: Random House, 2009. Print.