speech on Hitler’s invasion of the USSR

Under the codename Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 in the largest German military operation of World War II. The destruction of the Soviet Union by military force, the permanent elimination of the perceived Communist threat to Germany, and the seizure of prime land within Soviet borders for long-term German settlement had been a core policy of the Nazi movement since the 1920s. Adolf Hitler had always regarded the German-Soviet nonaggression pact, signed on August 23, 1939, as a temporary tactical maneuver. In July 1940, just weeks after the German conquest of France and the Low Countries, Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union within the following year. On December 18, 1940, he signed Directive 21 (code-named Operation Barbarossa), the first operational order for the invasion of the Soviet Union. German conquests in Europe, 1939-1942See mapsFrom the beginning of operational planning, German military and police authorities intended to wage a war of annihilation against the Communist state as well as the Jews of the Soviet Union, whom they characterized as forming the racial basis for the Soviet state. During the winter and spring months of 1941, officials of the Army High Command (Oberkommando des Heeres-OKH) and the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt-RSHA) negotiated arrangements for the deployment of special units (Einsatzgruppen) of the Security Police and the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst-SD) behind the front lines to physically annihilate Jews, Communists and other persons deemed to be dangerous to establishment of long-term German rule on Soviet territory. With 134 Divisions at full fighting strength and 73 more divisions for deployment behind the front, German forces invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, less than two years after the German-Soviet Pact was signed. Three army groups, including more than three million German soldiers, supported by 650,000 troops from Germanys allies (Finland and Romania), and later augmented by units from Italy, Croatia, Slovakia and Hungary, attacked the Soviet Union across a broad front, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. For months, the Soviet leadership had refused to heed warnings from the Western Powers of the German troop buildup along its western border. Germany and its Axis partners thus achieved almost complete tactical surprise. Much of the existing Soviet air force was destroyed on the ground; the Soviet armies were initially overwhelmed. German units encircled millions of Soviet soldiers, who, cut off from supplies and reinforcements, had few options other than to surrender. Operation BarbarossaBarbarossas operational goal was rapid conquest of the European part of the Soviet Union west of a line connecting the cities of Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan, often called the A-A line (see the translation of Hitlers directive for details). At its end in January 1942, the Red Army had repelled the Wehrmachts strongest blow. Adolf Hitler had not achieved the expected victory, but the Soviet Unions situation remained dire. Tactically, the Germans had won some resounding victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the country, mainly in Ukraine.13 Despite these successes, the Germans were pushed back from Moscow and could never mount an offensive simultaneously along the entire strategic Soviet-German front again.14Operation Barbarossas failure led to Hitlers demands for further operations inside the USSR, all of which eventually failed, such as continuing the Siege of Leningrad,1516 Operation Nordlicht, and Battle of Stalingrad, among other battles on the occupied Soviet territory.1718192021Operation Barbarossa is still the largest military operation, in terms of manpower and casualties, in human history.22 Its failure was a turning point in the Third Reichs fortunes. Most importantly, Operation Barbarossa opened up the Eastern Front, in which more forces were committed than in any other theatre of war in world history. Operation Barbarossa and the areas that fell under it became the site of some of the largest battles, deadliest atrocities, highest casualties, and most horrific conditions for Soviets and Germans alike all of which influenced the course of both World War II and 20th-century history.German intentionsNazi theory regarding the Soviet UnionAs early as 1925, Hitler made his intentions clear in Mein Kampf (My Struggle). He would invade the Soviet Union, asserting that the German people needed Lebensraum (living space, i.e. land and raw materials) and that these should be sought in the east. Nazi racial ideology cast the Soviet Union as populated by untermenschen ethnic Slavs ruled by their Jewish Bolshevik masters.2324 Mein Kampf said Germanys destiny was to turn to the East as it did six hundred years ago and the end of the Jewish domination in Russia will also be the end of Russia as a State.25 Thereafter, Hitler spoke of an inescapable battle against pan-Slav ideals, in which victory would lead to permanent mastery of the world, though he said they would walk part of the road with the Russians, if that will help us.26 Accordingly, it was Nazi stated policy to kill, deport or enslave the Russian and other Slavic populations and repopulate the land with Germanic peoples (see New Order).Germany plans the invasionStalins reputation contributed both to the Nazis justification of their assault and their faith in success. In the late 1930s, Stalin had killed or incarcerated millions of citizens during the Great Purge, including many competent and experienced military officers, leaving the Red Army weakened and leaderless. The Nazis often emphasized the Soviet regimes brutality when targeting the Slavs with propaganda. German propaganda claimed the Red Army was preparing to attack them, and their own invasion was thus presented as pre-emptive.In summer 1940, when German raw materials crises and a potential collision with the Soviet Union over territory in the Balkans arose, an eventual invasion of the Soviet Union looked increasingly like Hitlers only solution.34 While no concrete plans were made yet, Hitler told one of his generals in June that the victories in western Europe finally freed his hands for his important real task: the showdown with Bolshevism,35 though German generals told Hitler that occupying Western Russia would create more of a drain than a relief for Germanys economic situation.36 The Fhrer anticipated additional benefits: When the Soviet Union was defeated, the labour shortage in the German industry could be relieved by demobilization of many soldiers. Ukraine would be a reliable source of agriculture. Having the Soviet Union as a source of slave labour would vastly improve Germanys geostrategic position. Defeat of the Soviet Union would further isolate the Allies, especially the United Kingdom. The German economy needed more oil and controlling the Baku Oilfields would achieve this; as Albert Speer, the German Minister for Armaments and War Production, later said in his interrogation, the need for oil certainly was a prime motive in the decision to invade37 Relations with the Soviet UnionChurchill secretly meets with President Ismet Inn at the Yenice Station 15miles (24km) outside of Adana in south-east Turkey, on 30 January 1943When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill, a vehement anti-Communist, famously stated If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons, regarding his policy toward Stalin.150 Soon, British supplies and tanks were flowing to help the Soviet Unionedit The Battle of BritainMain article: Battle of BritainIn preparation for a planned cross-channel land invasion which was to be called Operation Sea Lion, the Luftwaffe began operations to destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF) and to thus gain advance air superiority over its next intended conquest, Great Britain. This battle for the skies over Britain is referred to as the Battle of Britain. Initially the Luftwaffe sought to bomb RAF ground installations and draw their fighters into airborne combat. In the Autumn of 1940, Hitler, having grown impatient with the failure to destroy the RAF, ordered a switch to bombing major British cities. Known as The Blitz, this was intended to demoralise the British people and destroy British industry. In May 1941, only a few weeks after American president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease act, it became clear to German planners that the Luftwaffe was not likely to gain air superiority over Britain any time soon, and significant German forces in France were reassigned to the expanding German Eastern Front which were soon to be used in Germanys imminent struggle with Russia.The German failure to achieve air superiority over Britain in the Battle of Britain marked a major turning point in the war. This British victory, the first major one against the Third Reich, ensured the survival of an independent Britain and marked the first major reverse in the German war effort of World War II.WorldWarII:(1937/1939-1945)Theconflictresultedfromtheriseoftotalitarian,fascisminGerman,JapanandItalyJuly7.1937JapaninvadedCentralChina.Sep.1938MunichPact,whichsacrificedmuchofCzechoslovakiatoGermanyAug.1939Russia-Germanynon-aggressionpactSept.1,1939GermaninvasionofPolandSept.3,1939FranceandBritaindeclaredwaronGermany,officiallybeginningWorldWarIIJune22,1940Francesurrendered.Aug-Oct.1940TheBattleofBritain(2,300to900)Jun22.1941GermaninvasionoftheSovietUnion.InfluenceChurchill is the hero that two wartimes expect to lead the British people to obtain the great victory of Object to fascists war, is one of two war triumvirate that stands together with Stalin, Roosevelt, is a great person of the historical work in world.se his outstanding leadership suppressed Hitlers influence, change two situations of the wars. Churchill has become s In a whole country .in recent England investigate, Churchill drive for the first in top ten people in British history.The effect of Churchills speech common people subdue, At moment of the suffering the most seriously in World War II, the British army and the peoples spirit is supported, nearly all lecture by Churchills broadcast of every day of mound .Churchills speeches were a great inspiration to the embattled British Churchill was one of the truly great orators; his energy and his stubborn public refusal to make peace until Adolf Hitler was crushed were crucial in rallying and maintaining British resistance to Germany during the grim years from 1940 to 1942. Speech If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons. o To his personal secretary John Colville the evening before the German invasion of the Soviet Union. As quoted by Andrew Nagorski in The Greatest Battle (2007), Simon & Schuster, pp. 150-151, ISBN 0743281101 Hitler is a monster of wickedness, insatiable in his lust for blood and plunder. Not content with having all Europe under his heel, or else terrorised into various forms of abject submission, he must now carry his work of butchery and desolation among the vast multitudes of Russia and of Asia. The terrible military machine - which we and the rest of the civilised world so foolishly, so supinely, so insensately allowed the Nazi gangsters to build up year by year from almost nothing - cannot stand idle lest it rust or fall to pieces. . So now this bloodthirsty guttersnipe must launch his mechanized armies upon new fields of slaughter, pillage and devastation. o Radio