THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II

 THE INVASION: OPERATION BARBAROSSA  Luftwaffe destroyed Soviet air forces  Germans advanced 500 miles into Soviet territory  Launched June 22, 1941, catching Red Army off guard  Largest invasion in history

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II  SIEGE OF LENINGRAD  Lasts 900 days: Sept Jan  1 million (out of 3) inhabitants die  Germans surrounded city & besiege it

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II  SOVIETS WITHSTAND THE ATTACK  Extreme sacrifice of population  Essential role of women & partisans  Strength of numbers, skill of commanders General Georgi Zhukov

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II  THE CRITICAL BATTLES  Battle of Stalingrad: Aug – Feb  Battle of Belorussia: June-July 1944  Battle of Moscow: Dec. 1941

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II  THE WAR IN THE EAST  85% of German casualties there  much of Soviet territory came under Nazi occupation  4/5 of German army on Eastern Front

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II  DEATH & DESTRUCTION  million soldiers dead  7-20 million civilians dead  Nazis destroyed over 1,700 towns, 70,000 settlements, left 25 million homeless

THE SOVIET EXPERIENCE IN WORLD WAR II  THE SAVAGERY OF THE EASTERN WAR  Nazi policy of annihilation applied to Slavs as well as Jews  Use of “death squads”: EINSATZGRUPPEN  German reprisals for partisan attacks  More brutality between Germans & Soviets