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投稿類別：英文寫作類 篇名： Analysis on Nazi Germany’s Invasion of the Soviet Union 作者：蔡崇德。臺南一中。高一 18 班 指導老師：朱達鈞老師 Analysis on Nazi Germany’s Invasion of the Soviet Union I. Introduction The Eastern Front of Europe of World War II (June 22nd, 1941 to May 9th, 1945) began with the surprise German attack on the USSR, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. It caused the deaths of over 4 million Germans, more than on any other front. The invasion would also prove to be one of the worst mistakes Nazi Germany made during the war, eventually leading to the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945. The objective of this study is to investigate why the German command waged such a disastrous campaign, and what convinced them that a victory against the Soviet Union was plausible. Motivation Since World War II in Europe is far away from us, in depth details about the conflict are not readily available to the general public. In addition, most circulating messages around us regarding this subject are subject to the viewpoint of the Western Allies, simply because we are heavily under the influence of the United States of America after WWII, and thus little was mentioned about the German-Soviet war. This motivates the author to further explore the topic and clarify the reasons behind the German invasion against the USSR. II. Thesis 1. Background World War II in Europe began on September 1st, 1939, with the German invasion of the Second Polish Republic. Over the following two years, the European Axis launched a series of campaigns across Europe, subjugating many Allied states in the process. In spring 1941, shortly before Germany initiated Operation Barbarossa, Greece and Yugoslavia fell to a joint German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian invasion. On the eve of the German-Soviet war, the British Commonwealth was the only Allied state in Europe still fighting the Axis coalition. 2. Previous military records of Russia (the Soviet Union) In the 20th century, both the Red Army of the USSR and, before that, the Imperial Russian Army of Tsarist Russia, participated in multiple campaigns in Europe, some of which went disastrously and indicated the weakness of the Russian military. A few examples are listed below. 2.1 Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 In 1904, both the Russian and Japanese Empire aimed to extend their influence into East Asia, namely Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula. When the interests of these two states collided with each other, fighting broke out on February 4th, 1904. Surprisingly, Japan, which had not been expected to win against a superpower like Russia, achieved victory after victory in Manchuria and Korea, and even annihilated the Russian Eastern Fleet based in Port Arthur. The war ended on September 5th th1905 with the Treaty of Portsmouth, under the mediation of Theodore Roosevelt. Russia was forced to accept humiliating terms, including 1 Analysis on Nazi Germany’s Invasion of the Soviet Union returning its leases of Port Arthur and Dalien to China, turning over the South Manchuria Railway and its mining concessions to Japan, and the loss of south Sakhalin to the Japanese. 2.2 The Eastern Front of WWI The Eastern Front of World War I was one of the bloodiest conflicts in the entire war, and was mostly fought between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria) and Russia. Following the German declaration of war on Russia, fighting began on the Eastern Front on August 17th, 1914, with the Russian offensive into East Prussia, Germany. The Russians quickly suffered several catastrophic defeats against their enemies, such as during the battles of the Masurian Lakes, where the outnumbered German army managed to inflict heavy losses on their enemies. By 1917, the Central Powers had advanced deep into Russia, occupying Russian Poland and large portions of the Baltics. Russian morale then collapsed completely with the February Revolution, but the new Republican government refused to end the war. Eventually, the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin executed the October Revolution, and in a bid to end the war in Russia, signed a humiliating treaty with the Central powers at Brest- Litovsk, giving up Poland, the Baltics, Ukraine, and parts of Byelorussia to foreign occupation. Figure 1. Left: Map of territorial changes following the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk (lands in pink were given to the Central Powers after the treaty) (Source: United States Military Academy Department of History. Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://www.usma.edu/history/SiteAssets/SitePages/World%20War%20I/ WWOne41.jpg) 2.3 The Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920 2 Analysis on Nazi Germany’s Invasion of the Soviet Union After the capitulation of the Central Powers in 1918, new states were formed in the lands previously granted to Germany at Brest-Litovsk. The newly established Bolshevik Russia considered this the chance to reconquer territories they had lost in the Great War. The Polish- Soviet War was one of their efforts to do so. Initially, the Polish made significant advances into Byelorussia and Ukraine, and even captured Minsk and Kiev. Yet as the Russian Civil War turned in favor of the Bolsheviks in 1920, the Red Army was able to focus on its war with Poland, and drove the Polish all the way to Warsaw. However, when the numerically superior Red Army was preparing to seize the Polish capital, a surprise Polish counterattack trapped them deep inside Poland. Consequently, the Bolshevik offensive was routed, with most of their forces either surrendering or fleeing into East Prussia, where they were interned by German authorities before being sent back to Russia. 2.4 The Winter War The Winter War was fought between the USSR and Finland from November 30th, 1939 to March 13th, 1940. After the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed between Nazi Germany and the USSR in 1939, the USSR began its expansion into the Baltic states and Finland. These states had only achieved their independence from Russia in 1917-20 in the aftermath of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution. (Jowett & Snodgrass, 2002) Therefore, the USSR initiated an attack on the Finnish in the same year, starting the Winter War. The Soviet command expected total victory in weeks against the Finns. However, Finnish forces managed to hold the Red Army off for months until the Soviet forces eventually overran the Mannerheim line (a series of Finnish defenses on the Karelian Isthmus). A peace treaty was then signed in Moscow, in which Finland ceded some borderlands to the USSR. Although the Soviet Union had won the war, it was a costly one, with the Red Army suffering more than four times the casualties than that of the Finnish. 3 Analysis on Nazi Germany’s Invasion of the Soviet Union Figure 2. Map of the Winter War and the Mannerheim Line (Source: United States Military Academy Department of History. Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://www.usma.edu/history/SiteAssets/SitePages/World%20War%2 0II%20Europe/WWIIEurope16Combined.gif) Table 1. Statistics of conflicts involving Russia Conflict Russo-Japanese The Polish- The Winter War War of 1904- Soviet War of 1905 1920 Russian 699,000 800,000 450,000 strength Enemy 650,000 738,000 300,000- strength 340,000 Russian 43,300 60,000 130,000- losses 170,000 Enemy losses 86,100 47,000 26,000 Outcome Japanese victory Polish victory Soviet victory (Information Source: a) Dumas, S. & Vedel-Petersen, K. O. (1923), Losses of Life Caused by War (57, 58), Oxford: The Clarendon Press: H. Milfor b) Jowett, Philip & Snodgrass, Brent (2002), Finland at War 1939–45 (10), Oxford: Osprey Publishing) 3. Inexperience of Soviet commanders Red Army commanders at the start of Operation Barbarossa were mostly younger and less experienced than their German counterparts were. 4 Analysis on Nazi Germany’s Invasion of the Soviet Union 3.1 The Great Purge The great Purge happened between 1936 and 1938, and resulted in the deaths of many senior Red Army officers. In a bid to remove opposition in the Communist Party, Joseph Stalin started the “Moscow Trials”, branding many of his political opponents as “Trotskyists” or members of the right opposition, many of which were part of the Red Army command. Three of five marshals, thirteen of fifteen army commanders, eight of nine admirals, and many others did not survive the purge. As a result of the purge and the rapid increase of the Red Army’s size (which grew from around 800,000 men in the 1920s to 5 million in 1941), the USSR was extremely short of officers in the late 30s and early 40s. Therefore, it was forced to promote young and inexperienced officers to higher ranks and positions prematurely. On the other hand, German commanders in Operation Barbarossa had much more combat experience, and many of them had even studied in military academies in their youth. Table 2. Information of German and Soviet Commanders in Soviet-German War Commander Allegiance First year of Age at eve of Position at eve military Barbarossa of Barbarossa service Fedor von Nazi 1898 60 Commander of Bock Germany Army Group Center Wilhelm Nazi 1895 64 Commander of Ritter von Germany Army Group Leeb North Gerd von Nazi 1892 65 Commander of Rundstedt Germany Army Group South Dmitry G. Soviet Union 1916 43 Commander of Pavlov the Western Front Mikhail P. Soviet Union 1915 49 Commander of Kirponos the Southwestern Front Ivan V. Soviet Union 1913 49 Commander of Tyulenev the Southernn Front (Source: Table made by author) 3.2 German combat in the west 5 Analysis on Nazi Germany’s Invasion of the Soviet Union Unlike the Soviet Union, which had not fought a large-scale war for more than a decade, the German army had participated in the Western Front of World War II shortly before invading the Soviet Union.

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