PLSC 27600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Case Blue, Blitzkrieg, Puch
Document Summary
Class 9b march 1 war on the eastern front. Nov 1942-dec 1943 strategy shifts to soviet initiatives. Dec 1943- march 1945 soviet steamroller crushes the wehrmacht: barbarossa background. People were used to wwi fighting of defense- favoring long, drawn out, trench warfare. That didn"t happen as germany made very quick gains. Russia couldn"t be counted on for help this time. Technology allowed them to move a lot fastter than people were used to. Just wanted to get it out of the way. British refusal to capitulate or agree to neutrality. One effort to attack moscow (center of railroads network), one to attack. Stalingrad (on other side of ukraine and provides most russian agricultural output) But hotler decideds he wants to take leningrad also because of the symbolism. Poland is super rainy in may, so they had to wait until june, whi+ch brought them closer to the russian winter. Generals wanted to prioritize taking moscow, but hitler wanted to focus on.