HST 802 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Eating Animals, Lead Poisoning, Lebensraum
Operation Barbarossa: The War of Annihilation in the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa and ideological warfare in the east
If Hitler didn’t make the mistake of invading the Soviets, he would’ve won the war
War in the west was about a defensive action
The battle plan and the invasion:
After 2 months Hitler finally invaded the Soviets
June 22, 1941; around 3am
Operation Barbarossa:
→ War called for extreme brutality
→ Upmost severity towards enemy civilians who tried to intervene
→ Civilians were also a target
→ Anyone who was thought to be part of communist party was to be shot on the spot
→ Hitler was against communism
→ Brought in:
▪ 152 divisions
▪ 3350 tanks
▪ 2500 aircrafts
▪ 3 million troops
▪ 600,000 vehicles
→ Stalin refused to believe Germany was going to attack
→ Churchill was even telling Stalin that Hitler wasn’t going to attack
→ Germans covered ~3000km and had mass success
→ Germans managed to destroy 2000 planes on the first day
→ Seemed unstoppable in the first few days
By autumn 1941, Germans captured more territory and prisoners in history
The siege of Leningrad:
September 1941
In Leningrad Hitler was pushed back by the Soviets because it was their capital
Hitler starved the city (siege the city)
He also stopped all imports into the city (isolated the city)
People started mixing sawdust into bread to try to make the flour last longer
Death rates went through the roof
~1000 people died a day of starvation
People resorted to eating animals and other people
Soviets had to create a union to stop them from eating people
