On June 22, 1941 Adolf Hitler started operation Barbarossa, a plan to invade the Soviet Union, and sent over 3 million german soldiers, 150 divisions and 3,000 tanks to ensure the Soviet Union would be taken. Operation Barbarossa is considered one of the most bloody battles in history with over 775,000 casualties on Germany’s side and 800,000 Soviets killed. The reason Hitler wanted so many units in the Soviet Union was because that Operation Barbarossa was a critical point in WW2. Operation Barbarossa ensured that Germany would not have have to fight on both the Eastern and Western fronts.Hitler was sure that he would win because, at the time, the German army was the finest in the world. Also German intelligence reported that Joseph Stalin
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The German army took Ukraine shortly after Poland and took Kiev so they could go all the way to the Black Seas mouths and meet with the Romanians.SS and police units came shortly after the Soviets had been wiped out of a place and were tasked with putting down rebellions, killing jewish males, and killing Soviet leaders. The Soviets did have one thing up their sleeves, the usage of the Scorched Earth Policy which forced Germany to wait until late september to continue advancing on the Soviet Union. They moved from central Ukraine and Smolensk to encircle the remaining forces at Kiev, by September 520,000 men had been captured. The failings of the Soviet army were mostly due to Stalin overriding his generals actions ,and not even thinking Germany would go to war with them because Germany made excuses for their troops being close to the border.The main factor of Germany's defeat was the Russian winter which German soldiers were not used to, and many died because of it also, German planners did not think this operation would last very long and did not equip troops with winter gear or with enough food to last the winter, also they believed the troops would just steal crops from peasants and did not know about the Scorched Earth
The German army took Ukraine shortly after Poland and took Kiev so they could go all the way to the Black Seas mouths and meet with the Romanians.SS and police units came shortly after the Soviets had been wiped out of a place and were tasked with putting down rebellions, killing jewish males, and killing Soviet leaders. The Soviets did have one thing up their sleeves, the usage of the Scorched Earth Policy which forced Germany to wait until late september to continue advancing on the Soviet Union. They moved from central Ukraine and Smolensk to encircle the remaining forces at Kiev, by September 520,000 men had been captured. The failings of the Soviet army were mostly due to Stalin overriding his generals actions ,and not even thinking Germany would go to war with them because Germany made excuses for their troops being close to the border.The main factor of Germany's defeat was the Russian winter which German soldiers were not used to, and many died because of it also, German planners did not think this operation would last very long and did not equip troops with winter gear or with enough food to last the winter, also they believed the troops would just steal crops from peasants and did not know about the Scorched Earth