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Ocean City Today
JUNE 18, 2021
WORLD WAR II Continued from Page 51 Germany’s allies — Finland, Rumania, Hungary and Slovakia — contributed troops for the invasion. Despite countless warnings of German intentions, the Red Army was caught by surprise. Stalin thought a German invasion could happen only after Britain was defeated. The attack was such a surprise to the Red Army that, in the first week of the war, the Luftwaffe destroyed 2,000 Soviet planes and roamed the skies unhindered. Using their far superior ability to maneuver, the Germans proceeded to defeat the Red Army in great battles of encirclement. These battles produced millions of prisoners for the Germans. By November 1941, 98 of the 170 original Soviet divisions were either destroyed or disbanded due to heavy losses. The German Blitzkrieg seemed unstoppable during the summer of 1941. Armeegruppe North, under Field Marshal Baron Wilhelm von Leeb, captured the Baltic States and then laid siege to Leningrad. Under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, Armeegruppe Center encircled Smolensk, bringing in 300,000 Soviet prisoners and moved into the industrial-breadbasket of the USSR, Ukraine. Armeegruppe South, under Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt’s leadership, laid siege to Odessa, drove into the Crimea, captured Kyiv, and advanced to the Donets River. At the end of September with the flanks secure, Hitler ordered Operation Typhoon, the attack on Moscow, to begin. By October, the German advance was mired in the mud before Moscow. Nonetheless, panic struck the Soviet capital. Moscow was put under a state of siege on Oct. 19, and much of the Soviet government evacuated the city. Stalin chose to stay and coordinate the city’s defenses as Soviet resistance began to stiffen. The Germans began new thrusts in November when the mud froze, allowing the motorized columns to advance. The Red Army, under Gen. Georgi Zhukov, held back reserves while the Wehrmacht attacked until exhausted. On Dec. 6, the Red Army threw its reserves at the depleted and overextended German forces in front of the city. Although Hitler ordered his army to stand fast, the Wehrmancht was forced to retreat from the fresh Red Army reserves from the Soviet Far East. So, why did he Germans fail to conquer Moscow? What stopped the German Blitzkrieg? Mud. “On the night of October 6-7… the roads rapidly became nothing but canals of bottomless mud, along which our vehicles could only advance at a snail’s pace and with great wear on our engines.” Gen. Heinz Guderian and other German generals cite this time and time again as the reason why the Blitzkrieg was halted. Commander of Armeegruppe Cen-
ter, Field Marshal von Bock, began to take pity on himself during the attack on Moscow when he wrote about the sunny Crimea: “I envy them down there; they are making progress and are knocking the wind out of the Russians. Here we cannot do that. We are bogged downed almost hopelessly in the mud and snow.” While German historians agree that Operation Typhoon was stopped by the mud, many Soviet historians disagree. Soviet Marshal Zhukov noted that, “Soviet forces had to operate under the same conditions.” Marshal Zhukov also states, “...the roads were impassable for a relatively brief period in October of 1941.” The Germans were stopped by the, “...self-sacrifice of the working people...,” along with the Red Army, defending their capital. While Marshal Zhukov puts fourth some interesting arguments, he fails to consider the fact that the very basis of the German Blitzkrieg — mobility — was brought to a standstill by the quagmire created by water on the poor Russian roads. One must look at the accomplishments of the German offensive before the rain and mud to measure its success. In the first fortnight of the Typhoon offensive, Field Marshal von Bock’s Armeegruppe Center destroyed at least 700,000 of the Soviet defenders at little cost to itself and with another three weeks of dry and clear weather would have been in Moscow. No Russian could have stopped it. There is little doubt that it played an important role in stopping the German Blitzkrieg at the gates of Moscow. Soviet Strength & Resistance Speaking on the perception of the strength of the Soviet Union, Hitler assured his generals, “We have only to kick in the front door and the whole Russian edifice will come tumbling down.” Of course, Hitler’s assumption was far from correct, but he did have legitimate reason to believe in the hollowness of the Soviet state. Throughout the 1930s, Stalin purged the leadership of the Red Army. All in all, 55 percent of its officers were killed or imprisoned, including a higher percentage of the top leadership. The purges did not end until June 1941, the month of the German invasion. Hitler’s view of the ineptness of the Red Army was reinforced by the Soviet attack on Finland in the winter of 1939-1940. The Finns inflicted hundreds of thousands of casualties on the Red Army, until finally succumbing to its overwhelming numbers in March 1940. The Soviet Army appeared to be leaderless and inept in the summer of 1941. Soviet forces did not fall as easily as the British and French did in 1940. The Red Army offered stiff and suicidal resistance when all seemed lost. The Red Army left behind a rear guard to cover its retreat. Soviet soldiers fought with skill, and when overrun,
they tried to link up with partisan units to continue the battle in the enemy’s rear. The Wehrmacht soon learned to respect the Soviet soldier. The Soviets had shown far more capacity for fighting than had the forces of western and southeastern Europe in earlier Blitzkrieg campaigns. Marshal Zhukov notes the heroism and contribution to the struggle of an encircled army west of the Vyazma. “They continued to fight valiantly, attempting to break through to rejoin the main force of the Red Army and thus holding down large enemy formations that would otherwise have
pursued the drive toward Moscow.” The new Soviet T-34 medium tank was an important factor in stopping the Germans, for they had no comparable tank on the battlefield. The great Soviet fortress of Tula, south of Moscow, was defended by the T-34, causing heavy casualties for the Germans, forcing them to abandon their attack. Marshal Zhukov concludes that the Battle of Tula stopped Germany’s advance on the capital. Soviet troops, “... repulsed all attacks, causing heavy losses to the enemy.” On Nov. 29, advance German units reached Tushino, a sector of Moscow proper. The Germans encountered Continued on Page 54
CROSSWORD
Answers on page 49
