What was the original name of Operation Barbarossa?
Join Britannica’s Publishing Partner Program and our community of experts to gain a global audience for your work! Operation Barbarossa, original name Operation Fritz, during World War II, code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which was launched on June 22, 1941.
How many German soldiers died in Operation Barbarossa?
The numbers of troops involved were colossal, almost too large to take in. Over the next four years, five million German soldiers were to die on the Eastern Front and as many again taken prisoner. Soviet losses would approach a mind-boggling 27 million, of whom two-thirds were civilians.
What was the date of the Soviet attack on Barbarossa?
On 25th and 26th August the two panzer corps attacked, and the with the deepening crisis the (Soviet) GKO assigned the newly mobilised 4th, 52nd and 54th Armies along and east of the Volkhov River.
Why was the Battle of Barbarossa so bad?
Aside from the scale of the campaign, what was also unprecedented about this battle of titans was the savagery on both sides. This was a bloody feud of epic proportions between the Slavs of Eastern Europe and Aryans of the West, fuelled by an ideological struggle between German Nazism and Soviet Bolshevism.
When did the Battle of Leningrad take place?
The action covers, in the German sector, the beginning of Barbarossa in June 1941 and goes to April 1944 when the Russians had liberated Leningrad giving it access to Moscow by rail and pushing the Germans back to the prepared defensive line called Panther. The book is divided into three parts.
Where was the line of Defence in Leningrad?
Another line of defence passed through Peterhof to Gatchina, Pulkovo, Kolpino and Koltushy. In the north the defensive line against the Finns, the Karelian Fortified Region, had been maintained in Leningrad’s northern suburbs since the 1930s, and was now returned to service.
What did the Soviets do to the Germans during Barbarossa?
The Germans also began to be hampered by the scorched-earth policy adopted by the retreating Soviets. The Soviet troops burned crops, destroyed bridges, and evacuated factories in the face of the German advance.
