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| Russian troops at Stalingrad |
Operation Barbarossa had a number of very ambitious goals
that indicated the degree of contempt Hitler held for the military capability
of the Soviet Union. The primary goal was
the destruction of the Red Army itself. This
would require rapid armored thrusts to envelope entire Soviet armies,
preventing them from escaping into Russia’s interior by first crossing the Dvina
and Dnieper Rivers. Hitler was well
aware of Napoleon’s mistake in capturing Moscow without first destroying the
Russian army.
The German Wehrmacht would itself be divided into three
armies. The northern-most command, Army
Group North, would have the task of capturing Leningrad – depriving Stalin of
an important arms production center and providing Germany with a port to supply
its offensive operations. Army Group
Centre would have the preponderance of Panzer divisions which would be used to
envelope Russian forces around Minsk and aid Army Group North in capturing Soviet
forces in the Baltic region. Army Group
South would push towards Kiev then move south along the Dnieper River,
encircling Russian forces in the Ukraine and destroying them. Once these goals were achieved the three army
groups would then converge on Moscow and destroy the remaining Red Army
reserves used to defend the Russian capital.
The Barbarossa campaign, launched in June 1941, was intended
to achieve all its goals in the few short months prior to the Russian
winter. If time remained an effort would
be made to capture the industrial region of the Donets Basin near the Black Sea
and the oil fields of the Caucasus. An achievement
of this magnitude would require Soviet incompetence of epic scale and a literal
implementation of lightening warfare.
The German use of Blitzkrieg tactics had its basis in strategic
necessity. Germany could not succeed in
fighting long wars of attrition. It hadn’t
the resources. Hitler gambled Britain
and France would not declare war over his quick capture of Poland. The surprise attack through the Ardennes was
a plan designed to avoid a prolonged war with France in 1940. Now Hitler counted on similar results when
his forces smashed into Russia in 1941.
As spectacular as the Wehrmacht’s successes were on the eastern
front they fell well short of their needed goals. Leningrad would be surrounded but never
captured. Moscow would remain out of
reach of German troops and Army Group South struggled with unexpected
resistance in the Ukraine. The broad
scope of Hitler’s expectations for Barbarossa proved unrealistic and would set
the stage for the disastrous German summer campaigns of 1941 and 1942.
Hitler’s focus in 1941 was economic. The grain and mineral wealth of the Ukraine
was vital to Germany’s success. Hitler
wanted the vast oil wealth beyond the Caucasus to fuel his own army and to
deprive the Red Army of the energy needed to power a modern military. His venture south led to the crushing defeat
at Stalingrad where the entire German 6th Army was destroyed. It was a demoralizing loss for Hitler and his
troops as well as a victory that energized Stalin, the Red Army and the Russian
people.
The decision by Hitler to launch an attack on the Kursk
salient in 1942 was more a political decision than one driven by military opportunity. The chances for German success in the
operation were greatly reduced by Red Army preparedness for the attack and its
vast increase in strength and skill. The
defeat at Stalingrad the previous year undermined the resolve of Axis allies to
stand with Germany. Hitler was
particularly concerned with losing the support of Italy. Britain and American forces were driving
Rommel from North Africa and an Allied invasion of Western Europe seemed
inevitable.
German armored power was destroyed at Kursk. The Wehrmacht would no longer be the equal of
Soviet military forces. The initiative
would be forever lost to the Red Army. The
war in Europe would continue nearly another two years but, for Germany, there
was no hope of a victorious military outcome.
Hitler’s military actions were aimed at driving apart the alliance of
Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. He desperately needed a political solution
because his depleted army was being crushed by wars being fought on two fronts. It was what he and his generals had dreaded
most and now it had come to pass.
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