The Road To Moscow

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The Road To Moscow

• Hitler and Stalin

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"They crossed over the border the hour before
dawn ..."

• The Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact was signed on
  August 23, 1939.
• Anti-communist Germany came to terms with the
  USSR to open an opportunity for the invasion of
  Poland.
• World War II began within weeks with the German
  invasion of Poland.
• The pact was broken when the Germans invaded the
  USSR in June, 1941.

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"Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground
where they lay ..."

• On June 22, 1941 the German's launched their
  attack on Russia.
• The Russians admitted to the loss of 1,200
  aircraft in the first 9 hours.
• Within a week 90 percent of the Soviet front line
  strength had been destroyed.
• At the start of the war Russian Aircraft were
  outdated and no match for the German's.
• They were later supplemented by British aircraft
  including Spitfires and Hurricanes, and designed
  new aircraft of their own (Yaks and MiGs).

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"Smolensk and Viasma soon fell ..."

• Smolensk is a Russian city on the Dnieper River.
  The city was taken by the Germans during July and
  August of 1941. It became a central battlefield
  in the drive towards Moscow.
• Moscow was only 200 miles east of the city, along
  a road that had been taken by Napoleon in 1812.
  It was liberated by Russian troops in the winter
  of 1942-43.
• Out of an original force of 500,000-600,000, only
  40,000 frost-bitten and half starved survivors
  stumbled back into France.

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"By autumn we stood with our backs to the town of
Orel ..."

• Orel fell under German control October 8, 1941.
• The Press - "For all military purposes Soviet
  Russia is done with. The British dream of a
  two-front war is dead."

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"General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill
...."

• Heinz Guderian was a German military strategist
  who developed the Blitzkrieg, and was a primary
  proponent of tank warfare.
• Guderian's tactics were extremely successful
  during the invasion of Poland (September 1938).
• Guderian was put in charge of the German invasion
  of Russia, and was known for having many
  disagreements with Adolph Hitler with regards to
  strategy.

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"Winter brought with her the rains, oceans of mud
filled the roads ..."

• Guderian noted that it started to snow on October
  6, and reported that it was STILL snowing on
  October 12. By November he was reporting severe
  cases of frostbite, and no sign of winter
  clothing from headquarters.

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"In the footsteps of Napoleon the shadow figures
stagger through the winter ..."

• General Blumentritt wrote "With amazement and
  disappointment we discovered in late October and
  early November that the beaten Russians seemed
  quite unaware that as a military force they had
  almost ceased to exist."
• On December 4 Guderian noted that the Second
  Panzer Army's drive to Moscow had been halted.
  The temperature had fallen to 31 below zero, and
  this was causing the ill-prepared German troops
  hardships. On December 5 the temperature had
  fallen another 5 degrees.

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• On December 6 General Georgi Zhukov unleashed 100
  divisions of troops equipped and trained for the
  harsh conditions on the German invaders. For
  weeks afterwards the Germany army retreated,
  their front lines constantly pierced by Soviet
  troops.
• German military leaders could not help but
  compare their situation to that of Napoleon's
  defeated Grand Army, 130 years earlier.

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"Falling back before the gates of Moscow "

• On December 5 the Germans had been stopped
  everywhere along a 200 mile semi-circular front
  around Moscow.
• Guderian had to pull back.

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"The morning road leads to Stalingrad ..."

• The Battle of Stalingrad was a pivotal Soviet
  victory.
• The German battle plan for 1942 moved away from
  Moscow towards the oil fields of the Caucasus and
  the warm water ports on the Caspian sea.
• In July 90 divisions of German troops set out
  towards Stalingrad, and by September had a
  foothold in Stalingrad.
• On November 23 a two-pronged Soviet counterattack
  surrounded the German 6th Army. Hitler forbade a
  German retreat.
• An attempt to help them was stopped. The troops
  were frozen and starved, and their vehicles only
  had fuel for 20 miles.
• Germany surrendered February 2, 1943 and lost
  approximately 150,000 troops.

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"Two broken Tigers on fire in the night ..."

• The tank-to-tank battles of World War II resulted
  in intensive research and development in armored
  vehicles. Germany upgraded the designs of
  previously used tanks, and developed several new
  models. These included the Tiger (1942), the
  Panther (1943) and the Royal Tiger (1943).
• During the Russian push towards Berlin in the
  latter days of the war there were a number of
  massive tank battles, at times involving hundreds
  of Russian and German tanks. Eye witness accounts
  of some of these battles speak of the hulks of
  tanks burning like torches.

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"The flames of the Tigers are lighting the road
to Berlin..."

• In January 1945 the Russians mounted their
  greatest offensive of the war. Stalin sent 180
  divisions, many heavily armored, into Poland and
  East Prussia.
• Eisenhower informed Stalin on April 12 that US
  troops were going to make advances on Leipzig.
  Berlin was to be left pretty much to the Soviets.
  
• On April 16, Soviets launched a final attack on
  Berlin. German civilians and troops, expecting
  revenge from the Soviets, rushed to surrender to
  American and British troops in the city.

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Surrender

• On April 25 patrols of the US 69th Infantry
  Division met with elements of the Russian 58th
  cutting off Berlin.
• On April 26 Russian shells began falling on the
  Chancellery in Berlin.
• Hitler committed suicide in his bunker on April
  30, 1945.
• The German surrender was signed on May 7, 1945.

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"They only held me for a day, a lucky break I say
...."

• Russian prisoners of war who managed to escape
  their captors really did not fare much better.
  Fearing these men had been co-opted, Stalin
  ordered that they all be sent into a sort of
  internal exile in Siberia.

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