WW2 Flashcards

Question

What led Hitler to be confident of an easy victory of Operation Barbarossa?

Answer 1

The ease with which his armies had won victories in the West and the poor performance of the Russians against the Finns led Hitler to be confident of a quick and easy victory.

Answer 2

‘We will only have to kick in the front door and the whole rotten edifice will come tumbling down’.

Answer 3

A lightening/ fast war.

Answer 4

22 June 1941

Answer 5

Operation Barbarossa began. More than 3 million German troops backed by Panzer units consisting of some 3350 tanks and massed formations of aircraft of the Luftwaffe began the invasion of the Soviet Union. In a massive Blitzrieg offensive, the Germans advanced along a 2300km front that stretched from the Baltic Sea in the North to the Black Sea in the South.

Answer 6

The Soviet foreign minister, Molotov spoke to the Russian people on the radio, giving a speech.

Answer 7

He spoke about Germany’s betrayal despite the fact a treaty of non- aggression (Nazi- Soviet Pact) had been signed between the USSR and Germany. He said the responsibility falls upon the ‘clique of bloodthirsty German fascist rulers’. He told them they ‘must stand solid and United as ever before. The government calls upon you to rally closely around our glorious Bolshevik party, around our great leader and comrade, Stalin. Ours is a righteous cause. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours’.

Answer 8

They were organised into three army groups. Each was to be part of a three pronged drive deep into the Soviet Union. Army group north Army group centre Army group south

Answer 9

Romanians, Hungarians and Italians

Answer 10

To advance from east Prussia north- eastward through the Baltic States towards Leningrad

Answer 11

To advance due East to take Minsk and Smolensk before moving towards Moscow

Answer 12

To advance through the Ukraine, cross the River Dnieper and then move towards Kharkov

Answer 13

The German advance was impressive and their panzers swept aside soviet resistance as they raced forward across the full length of the front.

Answer 14

Army Group Centre alone had taken over 300,000 Russian prisoners, 2500 tanks and masses of vehicles and military equipment

Answer 15

All former polish territory occupied by the Russians had been taken. Leningrad was encircled. The people began the horrors of a 900 day siege. Minsk and Smolensk were in German hands. The river Dnieper crossed. Odessa was besieged by the Romanians.

Answer 16

Hitler launched operation Typhoon

Answer 17

An all out offensive to capture Moscow

Answer 18

Although units of the German army entered the suburbs of the city, they were driven back by ferocious Russian counter attacks and forces to retreat. During this time, the Soviet government moved from Moscow to the safety of Kuybyshev in the East but Stalin chose to stay in his capital city.

Answer 19

Many greeted the invaders as liberators from the oppressive rule of Stalin. Thousands were soon to volunteer to collaborate with the Germans. However, the onset of winter meant that the impetus of German advance slowed.

Answer 20

Leningrad and Moscow were still in Russian hands.

Answer 21

More to the advantage of Russians than the Germans

Answer 22

The Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbour and without hesitation, Hitler declared war on the United States.

Answer 23

Greatly influenced the outcome of the war

Answer 24

1. Hitler’s decision to embark on the invasion before he had defeated Britain meant he was committed to fighting on two fronts. 2. The German army had been weakened by the need to divert units to other fronts - the Balkans and North Africa. 3. The 5 week postponement of the invasion that meant that the German army had less time to achieve its objectives before the Russian winter set in.

Answer 25

1. Hitler was overconfident and paid to little regard to the need to gather military intelligence about the deployment of the red army. 2. He chose to ignore the information he received. 3. The Russians fought with unexpected ferocity. 4. Discipline in the Red Army was strictly enforced and behind the front line there were always units of NKVD ready to deal with deserters or those lacking morale. 5. Shortage of munitions and food. 6. German rolling stock couldn’t be used to bring supplies as the gauge of Russian railway lines was different 7. Stalin ordered the Russians to carry out a ‘scorched earth policy’ in order to destroy everything that would help the survival of the Germans. 8. Behind the front line, Russians formed groups called ‘Partisans’ to attack the invader from the rear. 9. The morale of German soldiers was affected by rumours of what would happen if the Russians took them prisoner. 10. The Russians were more used to the severe weather.

Answer 26

The Russians were more used to and better able to cope with the severity of the weather. In the summer, the Germans had to contend with the scorching heat of the Ukraine. In the winter came sub zero temperatures in which transport and weapons became useless and the men were liable to suffer frostbite and even freeze to death. In the spring came the heavy rain that clogged machinery and made the already poor Russian roads impossible.

Answer 27

‘Do not leave a single house, a single animal or a single grain of food’

Answer 28

‘They fight with truly stupid fanaticism with the primitive brutality of an animal that sees itself trapped.’

Answer 29

8 September 1941

Answer 30

The city was to remain under siege until 27 January 1944

Answer 31

3 million leningraders together with 200,000 red army soldiers were determined to hold onto their city, considered to be ‘the birthplace of the Revolution,’ and there was never any question of surrender.

Answer 32

All able bodied men, women and children helped to dig anti tank ditches and reinforce the city’s defences.

Answer 33

With no heating, water supply, almost no electricity and very little food, the defenders withstood continuous German shelling and bombing

Answer 34

The only means of contact with the outside world was across lake lagoda In summer, limited supplies reached the beleaguered city by barge and in winter, the Doroga Zhizni, ‘the road of life’ across the frozen lake was used. The city’s factories still managed to produce munitions

Answer 35

Starvation level rations that included a mere 125g of bread a day Exposure to sub zero temperatures Disease Enemy action

Answer 36

200,000 Leningraders died of cold and starvation It was during this time that Dmitry Shostakovich composed his Seventh ‘Leningrad’ symphony and it was first performed in the besieged city

Answer 37

800,000 people had died and were buried in mass graves

Answer 38

The city was awarded the Order of Lenin and had the title Hero City of the City of the Soviet Union bestowed on it

Answer 39

An early Russian offensive was unsuccessful

Answer 40

A German counter attack led to the encirclement and annihilation of a soviet army The disgraced commander, general Efremov, took his own life

Answer 41

Aimed to make up for the failures of the previous year, take the city of Stalingrad on the River Volga and pass around the Sea of Azov and then advance south to the oilfields of the Caucasus

Answer 42

The red army suffered over 4million dead, wounded or taken prisoner. German losses were relatively modest 1,150,000.

Answer 43

19 November 1942

Answer 44

It was on Hitler’s orders that, in June, a German army of 330,000 under General Friedrich Paulus was diverted to take Stalingrad, an industrial city on the bank of the River Volga The German leader’s intention was to capture the city, cross the river and then sweep southwards towards the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea.

Answer 45

German troops had reached the river Volga and begun fighting their way into the city.

Answer 46

In a battle that was to witness some of the fiercest hand to hand fighting of the war, the Red army under Marshal Georgi Zhukov contested every street and every house.

Answer 47

The Germans succeeded in taking 80% of the city and there seemed the chance that the red army might be pushed to the Volga. At this moment of crisis, Zhukov devised ‘operation Uranus’

Answer 48

Realising the German army formed the spearhead of the advance and that their extremities were protected by less fanatical troops drawn from Italy, Romania and Hungary, he secretly assembled a large army to attack what he considered to be the weaker flanks.

Answer 49

The plan was successful and as the enemy’s line collapsed, he used a pincer movement from north and south to encircle von paulus’ army of 330,000 men

Answer 50

The Germans fought valiantly to hold their ground. Paulus asked for permission to fight his way out but Hitler ordered the German armies to stay and fight till the bitter end- to the death

Answer 51

In the knowledge that no rescue attempt was to be made and with food supplies and munitions running low, Paulus had no choice but to surrender

Answer 52

147,000 men | 91,000 taken prisoner

Answer 53

Proved to be major turning points in the war Proves that the germans were not invincible and gave the allies a new confidence On the eastern front, it marked the beginning on a slow advance that would finally expel the German invaders from the Soviet Union

Answer 54

They were still strong enough to launch an offensive in February 1943 which held the red army advancing towards the River Dnieper and then forced it to retreat

Answer 55

To the north, the German armies facing Moscow withdrew to a shortened and more easily defended links between Smolensk and Orel To the south, between Orel and Kharkov, was a salient or bulge based on Kursk that extended 160km into the German lines

Answer 56

They made plans for ‘operation Citadel’

Answer 57

They massed 900,000 men and some 3,000 tanks, many of them formidable Tiger tanks The offensive was to be supported by 1800 aircraft of the Luftwaffe

Answer 58

‘A victory at Kursk must shine like a beacon to the world’

Answer 59

The Russians knew of the Germans plans and though it best to wait for the enemy to attack first. The red army under marshal rokossovsky, concentrated on building defensive positions on an unprecedented scale Altogether over 400,000 mines were laid in front of the Russian positions which were 170km in depth

Answer 60

They launched a massive tank led offensive on 5th July In spite of suffering heavy losses they managed to force the Russians to retreat 30km.

Answer 61

The Russians counter attacked and succeeded on destroying 40% of what remained of the German tanks. Within three days, the German offensive had been brought to a standstill

Answer 62

‘The greatest tank battle in history’

Answer 63

The Germans lost 2900 tanks and 70,000 men were killed From that point on, the initiative on the Eastern front firmly passed to the Russians

Answer 64

The Soviet army continued to advance steadily. Kharkov was taken and by the end of august, they had reached the river Dnieper and cut off the German forces trapped in the Crimea

Answer 65

The role of the NKVD

Answer 66

1. During the early months of 1944, the Russian advance westward gathered pace and in April soviet forces captured the Black Sea port of Odessa. 2. In the summer came a major Russian offensive along the whole front. 3. In the west, the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day had opened a long awaited ‘second front’ against Germany and Allied troops were also fighting their way through Italy. 4. Early in July, the Russians captured Minsk and by the middle of the month, their forces were again in Poland and advanced to the bank of the River Vistula. 5. In the anticipation of liberation, polish resistance in Warsaw rose against the Germans and briefly took over sections of the city. 6. The red army did not move and watched as the Germans put down the revolt. 7. It was later claimed that Stalin decided to help the Warsaw uprising in order to allow the Germans to eliminate the poles that might have caused him difficulties during the post war period. The Warsaw uprising had occurred without first consulting the Russians and the speed of their advance, over 700km in 5 weeks, exhausted the red army 8. The soviet forces remained on the river Vistula for 6 months 9. In September, Finland surrendered abs Russian troops were able to sweep through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania 10. Units of the red army entered Romania and Bulgaria in august and in October they crossed into Yugoslavia and with the aid of partisans led by marshal tito, liberated the country