THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

THE INVASION: OPERATION BARBAROSSA

Luftwaffe destroyed Soviet air forces

Germans advanced 500 miles into Soviet territory

Launched June 22, 1941, catching Red Army off guard

Largest invasion in history

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

SIEGE OF LENINGRAD

Lasts 900 days: Sept. 1941 - Jan. 1944

1 million (out of 3) inhabitants die

Germans surrounded city & besiege it

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

SOVIETS WITHSTAND THE ATTACK

Extreme sacrifice of population

Essential role of women & partisans

Strength of numbers, skill of commanders

General Georgi Zhukov

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

THE CRITICAL BATTLES

Battle of Stalingrad: Aug. 1942 – Feb. 1943

Battle of Belorussia: June-July 1944

Battle of Moscow: Dec. 1941

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

THE WAR IN THE EAST

85% of German casualties there

much of Soviet territory came under Nazi occupation

4/5 of German army on Eastern Front

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

DEATH & DESTRUCTION

11-16 million soldiers dead

7-20 million civilians dead

Nazis destroyed over 1,700 towns, 70,000 settlements, left 25 million homeless

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

THE SAVAGERY OF THE EASTERN WAR

Nazi policy of annihilation applied to Slavs as well as Jews

Use of “death squads”: EINSATZGRUPPEN

German reprisals for partisan attacks

More brutality between Germans & Soviets