Leningrad and Stalingrad

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Leningrad and Stalingrad
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Significance?

• Blitzkrieg failed to deliver the knockout blow to
  Russia
• Thus Germany would have to fight through the
  winter
• The German army laid siege to Leningrad and
  Stalingrad, hoping to starve the civilians into
  surrender or annihilation

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Problem?

• The German army is like an elephant attacking a
  host of ants. He will crush and kill thousands,
  perhaps millions but in the end, their numbers
  will overcome him, and he will be eaten in the
  end.
• - German Soldier

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• Stalin's order 227Translated to english by our
  friend Frank.------------------------------------
  -----------------------
• The Order of the National Commissar for the
  Defense of the Soviet Union.July 28 1942,
  Moscow.
• The enemy throws new forces to the front without
  regard to heavy lossesand penetrates deep into
  the Soviet Union, seizing new regions,
  destroyingour cities and villages, and
  violating, plundering and killing the Soviet
  population. Combat goes on in region Voronej,
  near Don, in the south, and at the gates of the
  Northern Caucasus. The German invaders penetrate
  toward Stalingrad, toVolga and want at any cost
  to trap Kuban and the Northern Caucasus, with
  their oil and grain. The enemy already has
  captured Vorochilovgrad, Starobelsk, Rossosh,
  Kupyansk, Valuyki, Novochercassk, Rostov on Don,
  half Voronej. Part of the troops of the Southern
  front, following the panic-mongers, have left
  Rostov and Novochercassk without severe
  resistance andwithout orders from Moscow,
  covering their banners with shame.The population
  of our country, who love and respect the Red
  Army, start to be discouraged in her, and lose
  faith in the Red Army, and many curse the Red
  Army for leaving our people under the yoke of the
  German oppressors, and itself running east. Some
  stupid people at the front calm themselves with
  talk that we can retreat further to the east, as
  we have a lot of territory, a lot of ground, a
  lot of population and that there will always be
  much bread for us. They want to justify the
  infamous behavior at the front. But such talk is
  falsehood, helpful only to our enemies.Each
  commander, Red Army soldier and political
  commissar should understandthat our means are
  not limitless. The territory of the Soviet state
  is not a desert, but people - workers, peasants,
  intelligentsia, our fathers, mothers, wives,
  brothers, children. The territory of the USSR
  which the enemy has captured and aims to capture
  is bread and other products for the army, metal
  and fuel for industry, factories, plants
  supplying the army with arms and ammunition,
  railroads. After the loss of Ukraine,
  Byelorussia, Baltic republics, Donetzk, and
  other areas we have much less territory, much
  less people, bread, metal, plants and factories.

• We have lost more than 70 million people, more
  than 800 million pounds of bread annually and
  more than 10 million tons of metal annually. Now
  we do not have predominance over the Germans in
  human reserves, in reserves of bread. To retreat
  further - means to waste ourselves and to waste
  at the same time our Motherland. Therefore it is
  necessary to eliminate talk that we have the
  capability endlessly to retreat, that we have a
  lot of territory, that our country is great and
  rich, that there is a large population, and that
  bread always will be abundant. Such talk is false
  and parasitic, it weakens us and benefits the
  enemy, if we do not stop retreating we will be
  without bread, without fuel, without metal,
  without raw material, without factories and
  plants, without railroads. This leads to the
  conclusion, it is time to finish retreating. Not
  one step back! Such should now be our main
  slogan.It is necessary to defend each position,
  each meter of our territory, up to the last drop
  of blood, tocling for each plot of Soviet land
  and to defend it as long as possible. Our
  Motherland is experiencing hard days.We must
  stop, and then to throw back and smash the enemy
  regardless of cost. The Germans are not so
  strong, as it seems to the panic-mongers.

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Leningrad

• Old capital of Russia
• Home of the Russian Revolution (when known as St.
  Petersburg)
• Base of the Soviet Baltic fleet
• For three years, all land routes into the city
  were blocked
• Civilians had not been evacuated
• One route in and out- the Road of Life across
  Lake Ladoga

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(continued)

• The two-and-a-half year siege caused the greatest
  destruction and the largest loss of life ever
  known in a modern city
• On Hitler's express orders, most of the palaces
  of the Tsars, and other historic landmarks
  located outside the city's defensive perimeter
  were looted and then destroyed

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• The siege of Leningrad is the most lethal siege
  in world history
• The 872 days of the siege caused unparalleled
  famine in the Leningrad region through disruption
  of utilities, water, energy and food supplies.
  This resulted in the deaths of up to 1,500,000
  soldiers and civilians
• In the winter of 1941-42, rations were down to 50
  grams of bread per person, per day
• 1 gram 1 paper clip of weight
• 60 of this bread was made of sawdust
• Starving, the people of Leningrad resorted to
  eating leather briefcases, the paste behind
  wallpaper, and cannibalism

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World at War Red Star Clip

• 11 minutes 24 minutes (poem)

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1942- Stalingrad- THE Battle

• Valued by Hitler as a propaganda piece (personal
  test of wills) and a key piece in taking the oil
  and wheat in the Caucasus
• Stalin issued Order 227 and refused to allow
  civilians out in order to make the soldiers fight
  harder
• 80 of the city was destroyed by the Luftwaffe
• Bloodiest battle in history (2 million total
  casualties)
• Street by street fighting
• At one point, the Germans owned 90 of the city
• Broke the back of the Nazis turning point in the
  war

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• The Soviets understood that, in Stalingrad, the
  best defense would depend on anchoring their
  defense lines in numerous buildings overseeing
  strategically important streets and squares. Such
  a strategy would hold for as long as possible all
  the ground the Soviets could take in the city.
  Thus, they converted multi-floored apartment
  blocks, factories, warehouses, street corner
  residences and office buildings into strongholds
  bristling with machine guns, anti-tank rifles,
  mortars, mines, barbed wire, snipers and small 5
  to 10 man units of submachine gunners and
  grenadiers prepared for house-to-house combat.
  Bitter fighting raged for every ruin, street,
  factory, house, basement and staircase. The
  sewers were the sites of labyrinthine firefights.
  The Germans, calling this unseen urban warfare
  Rattenkrieg ("Rat War"), bitterly joked about
  capturing the kitchen but still fighting for the
  living room.

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Strain of the Battle

• German commander developed an uncontrollable eye
  tic
• Soviet commander developed a skin rash so bad
  that he had to bandage his hands entirely
• Some Soviet munitions factories built tanks while
  fighting raged in the building
• For periods of the battle, the average life
  expectancy of a Soviet soldier arriving in the
  city was less than 24 hours

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Some have argued that the Germans lost more men
trying to take this house than taking Paris
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Soviet counterattack

• Battle lasted for about 6 months
• Germans surrounded
• Hitler orders them to be resupplied by air
• 3000 tons a day dropped to an army that needs
  5000
• Starvation
• German General Paulus begs Hitler to allow a
  break out told to stand and fight
• Hitler promotes Paulus to field marshal and tells
  him No German field marshal has ever been
  captured alive
• Paulus and his 91k men surrender less than 6 k
  ever see Germany again 22 German generals
  captured

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Post Stalingrad- Germans Always on the Retreat
from Soviet Armies
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Hansen Name ______________ World War II
The Battles of Leningrad and Stalingrad

• Significance?
• Blitzkrieg failed to __________________________
• Thus Germany would have to fight
  _________________
• The German army laid ___________ to Leningrad and
  Stalingrad, hoping to ___________________________
  __________________ or annihilation
• Problem?
• The German army is like an _________ attacking
  ___ _______ _________________. He will crush and
  kill thousands, perhaps millions but in the end,
  _________ _______________________, and he will be
  eaten in the end. German Soldier
• What is the central point of Stalins Order 227?
  _____________________________ ____________________
  ______________
• Leningrad
• Old _________ of Russia
• Home of the _______________________________ (when
  known as St. Petersburg)
• Base of the Soviet _____________________
• For three years, all ____routes into the city
  were blocked
• Civilians had not ______________________
• One route in and out- the ________________________
  ____________________________________________
• The two-and-a-half year siege caused the greatest
  destruction and the largest loss of life
  _____________________________
• On Hitler's express orders, most of the
  __________________ _______________________________
  _____ located outside the city's defensive
  perimeter were looted and then destroyed
• The siege of Leningrad is the most lethal siege
  in __________
• The 872 days of the siege caused unparalleled
  famine in the Leningrad region through disruption
  of utilities, water, energy and food supplies.
  This resulted in the deaths of up to
  _________________ soldiers and civilians
• In the winter of 1941-42, rations were down to
  _____________ ____________________________________
  ______________

• 1942- Stalingrad- ______________
• Valued by Hitler as a propaganda piece
  (_____________ _______________ ) and a key piece
  in taking the oil and wheat in the
  _______________
• Stalin issued Order 227 and refused to allow
  civilians out in order ___________________________
  ________
• 80 of the city was destroyed by
  ___________________
• ________________________ (2 million total
  casualties)
• Street by street fighting
• At one point, the Germans owned
  ___________________
• Broke the back of the Nazis _____________________
  ______
• Strain of the Battle
• German commander developed an _________________
• Soviet commander developed a ___________ so bad
  that he had ______________________________________
  __
• Some Soviet munitions factories built tanks while
  ______ ___________________________________________
  ___
• For periods of the battle, the average life
  expectancy of a Soviet soldier arriving in the
  city ____________________
• Battle lasted for about _____________________
• Germans _________________
• Hitler orders them to _______________________
• 3000 tons a day dropped to an army that needs
  ________
• Starvation
• German General Paulus begs Hitler to allow a
  break out ____________________________________