Operation Barbarossa, explained

[@albionoldboy]

"All wars are lost or won before they start" Sun Tzu the art of war, the Quartermaster of the German army warned Hiter that the army could only be supplied as far as Minsk his response? he fired him

[@PhoenixAscending]

@@albionoldboy yea, Hitler would fire most anyone that did not tell him what he wanted to hear. I'm sure there was a word for that...narcissism or something

[@michaelharrison8036]

@@albionoldboy Yes, you're right, I think it was General Eduard Wagner. Nick-named "Nero", he apparently committed suicide at the end of the war rather than face the dreaded "People's Court."

[@JohnJarpe-hm3wj]

​@@michaelharrison8036People's court??? I, personally, never thought that judge Wopner was scary enough to kill myself over the prospect of being called into conciliation court.. Although, that Doug Llewellen always reminded me nicolài Yezov..

[@michaelharrison8036]

@@JohnJarpe-hm3wj Hahaha!!! 🤣🤣 No, not THAT "People's Court!" The one with Roland Friesler!! THAT one!! PS-- wasn't Yezov bumped off by Beria at the end?

[@JohnJarpe-hm3wj]

@michaelharrison8036 I was just being silly. I think that Stalin signed YEZOV'S EXECUTION ORDERS BECAUSE THE GREAT TERROR HAD BEEN DEEPLY UNPOPULAR FOR SOME REASON OR ANOTHER.

[@hobartw9770]

That initial success will blind a fool.

[@akandesaheed3835]

@@hobartw9770 you ONLY show your lack of depth .what dealth the blowwas the sudden winter which affected their advances as well as Hitler sending the troops to another country giving the Soviet time to reorganize after very heavy losses.check the casualty figures online.wikipaedia

[@robertbruce1887]

This an excellent short summary of this operation & the narrator's voice holds your attention well

[@igorGriffiths]

Muddled German strategy, poor logistics and a resurgent Soviet force all ensured German forces would be forced into a terminal retreat

[@lorimeyers3839]

Isn’t it amazing how Hitler and Stalin reversed roles in terms of confiding in their generals? At the onset of Barbarossa, Hitler left his generals in charge to make strategic decisions whereas Stalin ordered all of his generals, terrified to begin with following Stalin’s great purge, to counterattack regardless of how helpless the situation was. We end up seeing Stalin begin to confide more in his generals whereas Hitler, by the end of 1941 and especially following his assassination attempt in July 1944, oversaw every single movement of every German unit on the battlefield. German units were forbidden by Hitler from making any decisions without his permission. Wild.

[@donjosephcon-ui558]

i always mever unferstood the idea of counterattackong when u literally have no organization or enough cohesion and strength to counter attack it mean just draining your manpower and resources inefficiently but i think they knew what they were doing

[@lamagra7922]

Well, that was what costed Hitler victory

[@lorimeyers3839]

@ well, I think Hitler’s fortress defense in December 1941 saved army group center from a catastrophe. But aside from that, yeah, I agree, it was one of several factors that lost the war for Hitler.

[@167curly]

Old Schnickelgruber obviously didn't read his History books at school, as Naploeon tried that game 130 years earlier!

[@charlesgoldberg8121]

@167curly Napolean didn't have tanks and planes. If Hitler would not have gotten caught up on taking Stalingrad, which had no real strategic importance, things could have ended differently.

[@funmiester]

@@charlesgoldberg8121respectfully, even if Hitler didn’t attack Stalingrad - things wouldn’t have ended differently. Germany couldn’t win against Russia, Great Britain & the US.

[@charlesgoldberg8121]

@funmiester I agree. But Stalingrad was the actual turning point as things played out. I once read a book of German soldiers writing what they remember about D-Day, they were defending against the D-Day landings. One said as soon as I saw all the motorized equipment rolling off the boats I realized we never had a chance. Germany was still using horses to move supplies and equipment. He realized the United States was so far ahead of Germany that everything was mechanized. Not only tanks but trucks and APC's.

[@scotthill8787]

Aid to Russia only happened after Barbarossa had failed. In late 1941, it looked like Stalin would be forced to order a retreat behind the Urals. The American military attaché in Moscow was one of the few observers to predict that the Red Army would hold on.

[@thewindowsmaaane]

@@scotthill8787 didn't mean the Germans could have another crack. The material must have been vital

[@sw1nkz50]

Imagine thinking very reasonable that the enemy has an army roughly equal in numbers to yours, then after invading and battling for nearly a year, killing vast amounts, yet you find out that you have CAPTURED as many enemies as there are in your army, and you are still fighting fiercely.

[@noelcastle3986]

The severe Russian winter that year helped the Soviets who where used to such climatic conditions and where clothed and used techniques to keep machinery and weapons operating while the Germans and their equipment froze.

[@melhiorlector2680]

@@noelcastle3986 хватит оправдывать поражение немцев. Зима холод тут не причём, германия проиграла потому что недооценила своего противника и потому что советский народ был очень силён.

[@noelcastle3986]

@melhiorlector2680 Sorry cannot translate.

[@Inspireradavstatyer]

@@melhiorlector2680 You need to start checking your facts

[@ongmengkang3110]

@@melhiorlector2680 yes Soviet army is indeed strong and patriotic but once the soldier retreat the NKVD will shot them so who will dare to desert😰and why the Germans can't take down Moscow immediately ? Because Hitler ordered the army to attack the Soviets army in Leningrad and Kiev first so the Soviets only have time to strengthen their defense with massive amounts of soldiers.

[@johnwright9372]

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, invasions of SE Asia drew the bulk of their forces away from the Soviet East, freeing many Soviet divisions, equipped for Winter campaigning, to be moved to the German front.

[@kovesp1]

The "many" was 12 in 1941 and 20-30 during the entire war. Meanwhile a minimum of 5 Fronts operated continously in the West. A Front contained several armies, 30-60 divisions. Sources put the number of operational divisions in the West between June and December 1941 as fluctuating between 200 and 300. That despite loosing the equivalent of another 2-300 in this period. Clearly reinforcements from the Far East were insignificant compared to mobilization close to the invasion front. The Siberians (or "Asiatic Hordes" as the Germans called them) were to a great extent an invention of German propaganda during the war and of the defeated German memoirists after.

[@MrFelixset]

Russian has intel officer at japan. Sorge

[@kovesp1]

@@MrFelixset Yes, anyone at all serious about history knows that. I don't see what point you are trying to make.

[@MrFelixset]

@kovesp1 without information from sorge, stalin won't release eastern division for counter attack german

[@freigeist2814]

The German success in the beginning was due to the Soviets laying in offensive positions rather than defensive ones. The Soviets were on their way to the West when the Wehrmacht steamrolled them.

[@Go_for_it652]

That's correct. The Allies were aware of the Communist plan to attack Germany.

[@Sanixxsx]

The reason was stalin end hitler was "partners" untill barborossa meaning they did not have much military ready in that direction.. Nothing about any offensive into Germany

[@RedHairedWarlord]

@@freigeist2814 also Stalin dug his head and the sand and had his troops try to defend the entire Russo-German frontier instead of taking key defensive positions

[@Edge51]

Most people think Germany invaded Russia unprovoked but Hitler really had no choice either be on the offensive or wait to defend the red army invasion. There our a bunch of other factors that played into the Russian invasion failing that have to be looked at. Italy invasion of Greece and the Balkans campaign delayed Barbarossa, Italy and Romania were not prepared for the scale of the battle ahead, the mistake of not having Poland on Germany’s side, and the biggest issue was not securing peace with Britain/France and eventually USA. Having to constantly wonder when the west was coming diverted critical troops, logistics, and supplies that could have tipped the balance. Also Hitler running the show instead of his generals was the allies best gift. Just looking at readiness numbers German was not ready for the invasion they just so happened to catch the Soviets ready for invasion instead of dug in defensively.

[@Go_for_it652]

@@freigeist2814 True !

[@donautaler6646]

Exactly this will happen to the USA and NATO in the Ukraine.

[@virgil9303]

What?

[@willemvantilburg1388]

Germany had about the same industry as Britain or Russia and less than half of the USA. That is why they lost the war. It was not possible to win with the Blitzkrieg because Germany could not cross the English Channel and also not supply its army east of Smolensk. Only if Germany, Japan and the USSR had made a real alliance in 1939 or 1940 they might have kept their huge empires vs Britain and the USA.

[@asylumlover]

KEEP THIS MILITARY HISTORY AND STRATEGY COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@serechkin]

Hundreds of thousands of SOVIET soldiers. My great grand pa was Ukrainian fighting in Soviet army among soldiers of many nationalities. Besides, Soviet army at first fought mostly with soldiers conscripted from western parts of ussr - Ukraine, Belarus.

[@PSDuck216]

Please note, all film and photographs released by the soviets were passed by myriads of NKVD (secret police) agents to insure they never showed the soviets in a bad light. The penalty was death for the officer and his entire family. Also, they were re-enactments, not actual combat footage. Actual photos might show a dead soviet soldier, or a soviet tank being hit (let alone blown apart) which was labeled bad for morale. The extraordinary losses incurred by Stalin was because in 1937 he convinced himself he had literally limitless men to draw on for the war he was planning (the invasion of Germany and Eastern Europe). When the first soviet census showed the Soviet Union was not growing at 15% as Stalin thought, and that the manpower reserves were indeed limited, Stalin’s wrath was barbaric. Every census officer from middle and upper management, and his entire family, were shot. The data remained buried until Stalin died. So Stalin continued in his delusional belief that he had unlimited manpower. Thus the shocking casualties incurred by the soviets. They lost so many men, they were still in deficit when Putin invaded Ukraine. The Soviet Union and Russia are in negative growth of population, meaning the population is shrinking. It will certainly remain so after this war with Ukraine (and by extension the west) ends, and for the foreseeable future. Cheers!

[@KevinBarry-n6i]

Russia's population is just higher than Mexico's currently.

[@yohanes500]

Germans didn't make it fast enough to reach moscow. The Winter already come and the Germans didn't have a preparation to face the war in the winter thinking they would make it before the winter come. Also the aid from USA really help Soviet facing the Germans..

[@scorpiong0]

@@yohanes500 What if they had captured moskow in 1941? İt would not effect the outcome of the war. Soviet Union had millions of reserves and had moved his majority of the industry faw away from the warzone.

[@Vukso99]

If Hitler didn't ordered his 6th army to go for the oil,maybe they would capiture Stalingrad and who knows what would happen

[@JohnJarpe-hm3wj]

@@Vukso99 They would have starved 30 million people and turned the rest into slaves for all of the Germans who would have seized the farms, mines, and oil fields just like Hitler indicated that he wanted to do.

[@TheBattleMaster100]

This is what happens when you don't allow your trained Generals to fight a war.

[@johnwright9372]

Stalin had murdered most of his senior officers in his paranoid purges. He was as evil as Hitler and probably more cunning.

[@jrgordon47]

The Russians were forced to fight or die where they stood...

[@SR71ABCD]

The Soviets got a huge military aid from the West to make this happen.

[@Hall_of_Fame]

Both yes and no… I think airforce was a big support (Bombarding and shooting down German planes), navy wasn’t really important in this case but due to serious reasons they were unable to open the second front for a long time so it was the bravery and determination not to give up which really mattered on the ground. But destroying industries and so helped a lot for sure too.

[@pataki2666]

@@Hall_of_Fame Lend lease.

[@estrogenizedbird9161]

lend lease only accounted for 11% of soviet millitary production

[@Hall_of_Fame]

@@pataki2666 Of course but without courage and will to defend their land at all costs it could easily end with a victory for Naz*s… It was the people-and the climate. This was a side thing.

[@deniss6297]

Da nije toga bilo sad bi pricali Njemacki

[@yusufabdoolla5919]

Forgetting to mention it was winter favoured the Russians and stalins special forces he sent from siberia who were trained to fight in extreme cold

[@ancientgear7192]

Is the film shown here one physical film? Or it's footage taken from various films? I ask because I see the same kind of damage (flickering specs and white lines ) all across the footage indicating that it is from an old film.

[@DidacusRamos]

Amazing how the details make so much of a difference. Here we see an over simplification: Germans attack, Soviets counterattack, Germans lose. A bit more complicated than that.

[@ChristopherGriffin-ee2ol]

Some new facts: the Wehrmacht (which was Nazi Germany's military) had prepared for months, they prepared for Operation Barbarossa over a few things, obviously for oil since the Soviet Union had an oil rich area in the Caucasus region, the second one is similarly obvious, they had to take out the USSR in order to deal with Britain, as in take out a major player with your concentrated forces and divert it to a smaller yet still major player, others I don't know about

[@alecjohnson5043]

@ChristopherGriffin-ee2ol you've got the second one backward. They had no reason to attack the ussr "so they could take out britain" they should have started with Britain because Germany and Russia had a non-aggression pact to take advantage of.

[@andrewstoakes8034]

The Germans had planned on that oil to take on the British and had bought huge reserves before Barbarossa. They had no oil of their own and later tried making fuel from coal. Also Hitler may have realised that Stalin wanted some of the land that Germany had taken.

[@mynmyself]

@@alecjohnson5043 The Battle of Britain was before the invasion of the USSR, they in fact had to have control over their western frontier (therefore invading northern France and the atlantic coast), in order to invade the regions Hitler wanted for his Lebensraum.

[@ericoberlies7537]

@@alecjohnson5043They did start with Great Britain, but failed to gain the air superiority needed (as they saw it) to ensure a successful invasion. Maybe they could’ve invaded anyway, but they didn’t.

[@_GODSFIGHTER]

@ericoberlies7537 wouldn't the British royal navy stop them? Also what about sea mines?

[@AH-sp8vi]

Soviet not Russian and Axis not German is what I’d say. Great video otherwise, sorry to be pedantic.

[@Ghostrex101]

Germany would have won if I was completely in charge of the campaign

[@dodibenabba525]

He should have learnt from Napoleon

[@bayboy0857]

never fight on 2 military fronts and be prepared for the weather

[@leonardlloyd1089]

Germany out ran their supply sources, THANK GOD!

[@bluvst4151]

Imagine Hitler today with the modern tech things might be completely different? Thank God he is gone

[@marktinkler6897]

What happened to Hitler is the same thing that happened to Napoleon - Russian Winter 😮!!!

[@JefferyWarshawsky-zs2el]

BIG MISTAKE

[@neilmckay8649]

Scorched Earth policy.

[@federalisticnewyorkians4470]

I read once that if the Germans had mustered for support from the local population and not committed atrocities, they would have helped the German effort. Can anyone yay or nay this?

[@geenkaas6380]

Nay

[@federalisticnewyorkians4470]

@@geenkaas6380 why?

[@geenkaas6380]

@@federalisticnewyorkians4470 Oil

[@Aethelhald]

Possibly, but treating them with kindness wasn't an option anyway. 3+ million men and millions of horses marched in to the Soviet Union, and the only way to feed all those men and horses was to confiscate food and fodder from the locals. German supply lines were total chaos, especially when the autumn/winter came, so no matter what, millions of civilians were going to starve to death. It wouldn't change anything anyway. Even if the Nazis were nice to the Slavs they conquered and got mass co-operation for them, the Soviet Union could still out-produce them by at least 3-1 in tanks/artillery/planes and out-manpower them 7-1 in fighting men. Germany was going to lose, no matter what. Best case scenario for Germany was creating a long-term stalemate, kind of like how the Korean War ended. They could perhaps do this by digging in before the winter in 1941 and preparing for the Soviet counter-attack. Then they'd be able to avoid the catastrophic losses they suffered in the final months of 1941, and go into 1942 in much better fighting shape. But even this would've taken up most of Germany's capacity in the war, leaving them open to being slowly eroded by the allies. Either way, they lose WW2. There's literally no scenario, absolutely nothing they could do differently, to win that war.

[@federalisticnewyorkians4470]

@@geenkaas6380 oh

[@montrelouisebohon-harris7023]

I love these videos, and even Stalin said that the Soviet people and the Soviets could have continued fighting without the blankets and boots, but the Soviets needed all of the food sent from the USA in addition to 300,000 large trucks that were desperately needed to transport troops, food, supplies and ammunition and medication, etc. etc…. You will never hear a President Putin today. Talk about anything that the US American manufacturing and industrial powerhouse during World War II to defeat Nazism and fascism.. little did the Americans know about the atrocities as heinous or worse carried out but the union on their own people before the war going back to the 1920s or 1917 etc.. I don’t regret helping the Russian civilians because even despite the propaganda they heard them and today I know that the USA did the right thing then and the Soviet union never paid back their debt but blah blah blah whatever. God bless Great Britain because they paid back their debt even if it took them until 2006.

[@ironmaidenfirehouse]

🙋‍♂️🙋🙋‍♀️ 🙆🙆‍♂️🙆‍♀️

[@woody4269]

Scorched earth. Napoleon experienced t same.

[@ilikelampshades6]

It was the battle of the Atlantic which determined the demise of the germans. Britain won that which meant the Germans could never win in Africa, never defeat the British, never defeat the Soviets

[@seegurke93]

Not russian soldiers but soviet soldiers. Please you are a museum. Its a big difference.... please use the correct vocabulary :) thanks. Grüße

[@anhta1778]

Ofc, you want ukraine to be mentioned?

[@HoangHuyLe-f8y]

@@seegurke93 russians suffer most losses , then it's the ukrainians, most of the soviet troops were russians and ukrainians

[@pataki2666]

@@anhta1778 Sure wasn’t russians who did it alone…

[@Dr.Leymen]

​@@anhta1778you wouldn't? A huge ammount of the Soviet Soldiers were Belarussian and Ukrainian, and a lot of the casualties, civilian and military, were also Belarussian and Ukrainian. So it is extremely disrespectful to only talk about Russian soldiers and casualties

[@igorpipuk7754]

@@Dr.Leymen Belarussians and ukrops are Russians

[@henryjanicky4978]

Without Amerycan military and industrial help, no Russian willbe able to fight any longer

[@kennethwilson8633]

The day that Hitler lost the war.

[@alexoakley4490]

Lend Lease....that's what won it.

[@bkingrider07]

history repeats itself over and over again netanhayu fights on so many fronts🤣

[@svenverelst600]

&MASIVALIEDSUPORT!!!!!!!!!!

[@mickeyjackson9318]

GERMANY didn't have long range Bombers that's what cost them. GERMANY couldn't reach RUSSIAN factories

[@167curly]

What were the Ruskies doing laying in the snow in the summer of 1941? More innacurate film clips?

[@danstobbart4406]

🇬🇧💙💛🇺🇦A bit like Putins Invasion of Ukraine 🤔

[@dzimujikambarage9784]

Why they went East instead of West remains one of the greatest military mysteries

[@siler7]

Eh? They already tried to go west. The war was decided when they lost the Battle of Britain, although nobody knew that at the time.

[@siler7]

@AlanHinson They didn't have to invade Britain. They had to destroy the RAF and force a treaty. That was the only way Hitler could win the war.

[@rusdahadi1531]

They tried, and failed in the first step

[@derin111]

My Grandfather took part in this having volunteered for the Wehrmacht in 1938. Although an inevitable imperative - militarily, ideologically and moreover economically- it was destined to fail from the outset.

[@bigvinnie3]

I dont know that I agree. Considering stalin reached out to the bulgarians to see what the Germans would accept for peace(Hitler never even responded) I think its possible they could have collapsed or the USSR and them made peace on German terms. I don't like the idea of inevitability in history. Not to mention the German economy on a GDP basis was bigger than the soviets. And MUCH bigger if you include all the Axis and the occupied territory.

[@intermilan9731]

If Hitler didn't make some silly decisions, they could have actually won. The Japanese were also going to invade, but America happened. If Hitler had communicated with the Japanese beforehand, the USSR was doomed. And Soviet resources could have helped Germany overtake the US by a mile. All Germany needed was some resources.

[@Rustsamurai1]

Killed OR captured? KIA or captured & killed.

[@Theamerican61]

Wow I'm early

[@aqua9420]

even before the bots, impressive

[@LukasManzana]

Half of this armor and men used at Barbarossa should have give germans whole africa and middle east with all.its oil.and resources

[@Aethelhald]

That would require Germany to dominate the Mediterranean Sea, which they could never do.

[@Hall_of_Fame]

As mentioned + they just lost the Battle for England, they didn’t underestimate British forces anymore and America would send more as well. And good thing they didn’t get more oil and resources, shorter the war was the better!

[@grandaddyoe1434]

@@Aethelhald So why did Turkey stay out of the conflict? Perhaps like Spain, bought off . . . ?

[@Aethelhald]

@@grandaddyoe1434 Neither of them were bought off, it's just that Turkey and Spain were both still very weak and politically fragile after the events that occured in the 1920's and early 30's. Spain went through a devastating civil war and was still weak and not recovered militarily/economically, and Turkey lost their whole empire after WW1 and went through a revolution so they too were still very unstable. Staying out of WW2 was the smartest thing those two countries ever did.

[@pio3borelos683]

You lier: there war not RUSSIAN soldiers, there was ukrainian, belarus and small part russian soldiers. Stop fake!

[@Hall_of_Fame]

@@pio3borelos683 Uhm… Small part russian is not what I would really say. Of course, it should be Soviet soldiers but you can’t deny that majority of them were Russian, it’s the biggest state in the world. And all you know is Ukraine and Belarus? Don’t forget part of Poland and many people from German side who escaped from them and joined Soviet resistance.

[@pio3borelos683]

@@Hall_of_Fame yes, it is my point, Red Army was a mix of nation but most people in West think, there was russian. Generally Germans occupy very small part of Russia but whole Ukraine, Belarus etc. By the way: 1939 Germans and Soviets invade Poland. Russian by Smolensk made this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre

[@Hall_of_Fame]

@@pio3borelos683 I agree with you, yet Poland was part of Soviet Union at the time of the attack and men from there had to join Red Army, so fought with the Nazis. Anyway, they probably didn’t do it completely unwillingly, Nazis weren’t better at all so the choice of Soviets was still better. But yes, the countries you mentioned were completely occupied while Russia was not, even when they got really close to the capital…

[@GencGEGA]

Soviets would never make it,if wasn't a huge support from the USA and Great Britain!

[@DCT3085]

The Eastern Front in Europe in WWII did NOT determine the outcome of WWII.

[@mantegna1506]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ C C C P ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@Marek-o3u]

A lesson worth considering if you believe Ukraine is "winning" btw.

[@jeroenvandenberg5750]

😂Bingo!

[@MikeOkami94]

Well, Ukraine (a former part of the USSR) is refusing to surrender to a larger, more dominant military force invading it's land for imperial subjugation and showing enormous courageous and ingenuity. So sounds like a pretty apt comparison to me!

[@grahamlucas2712]

Marek. The two are not comparable. Ukraine is not trying to take over Russia. Putin has put Russia back to the Cold War era of the 1950's including the economy. Ukraine has the support of the European union and other Western Countries. The cost to Russia of the 3 week Special Military Operation that is over two and a half year and Russia has only gained Less than 5% of Ukraine with huge loss of life, weapons and trade. You are a Putin Propaganda Puppet