Military History of Germany During World War II - Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union invaded Poland together with Nazi Germany in 1939 in accordance with the secret part of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and remained outside the main conflict for two years. Stalin assumed that he was safe from an attack from Hitler, who did not wish to fight a war on two fronts.

For the Germans and the British, however, the war in the West was seen as only the overture to the great operations against Communist Russia. The successful campaigns against Poland, Scandinavia and France, and the bad standing of the Red Army after the Great Purge in the 1930s, as indicated by the fiasco of the Winter War, made Hitler believe that relations between Nazi Germany and Russia would not again be as favorable. This crusade against Bolshevism (as Hitler saw it), codenamed Operation Barbarossa, was to be launched sooner rather than later. It was planned to unite Western Europe behind Nazi Germany's leadership for the common goal (to fight Communism).

The German campaigns in Greece and North Africa delayed the planned invasion by several weeks, and a great deal of good summer weather was already lost by the time the invasion was launched on 22 June 1941. The massive attack still turned out to be an initial success, conquering whole areas of the Soviet Union's western region. Their only significant strategic failure was the advance on Moscow, which was halted by stiff resistance, and subsequently driven back by a Russian counter-attack. The following years, however, were less successful on the Eastern Front.