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The Battle of Stalingrad

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1. Operation Barbarossa Map of Operation Barbarossa which commenced on June 22nd, 1941. Operation Barbarossa split the invading German forces into three armies, each with their own objective. Army Group North would travel through the Baltic States and capture Leningrad, Army Group Centre would head straight for Moscow and Army Group South was to capture Ukraine (Martin). When Hitler initially announced this plan, his generals were worried that it would spread their forces too thin but they did not voice their concern. The operation was executed well while warm weather lasted, even being hailed as liberators by some Russians due to their anti-Stalin sentiment. However, the operation would see its failure when Hitler had ordered Heinz Guderian, the general in charge of the panzers in Army Group Centre, to head south to assist Army Group South. Despite Guderian's objection, on August 23rd, 1941 he lead his panzers south to aid in the capture of Kiev, halting the assault on Moscow. This marked the first of many errors of the Eastern Front due to Hitler's incompetence. By the time Guderian's panzers rejoined Army Group Centre, the assault only lasted a few weeks before heavy rain set in on October 8th and the Germany army was put to a halt due to the mud (Lak, 578). Link: https://www.usma.edu/history/SitePages/WWII%20European%20Theater.aspx
3. Siberian Troops Above are Soviet troops from Siberia in combat. The Siberian troops specialized in cold climate combat and were well equipped to deal with subzero temperatures. Joseph Stalin had stationed 30 divisions (about half a million men) in Siberia to defend from a Japanese attack. However, in November, Stalin had received word from a spy in Japan that the Japanese had no intention of fighting in Siberia, allowing him to redirect an additional 500,000 men to Moscow via the Trans-Siberian Railway to participate in its defense. When winter had set in and had drastically slowed the unprepared Army Group Centre, the Russians had prepared a counterattack. On December 5th, 1941, Soviet T-34 tanks had crashed through the German defenses and forced Army Group Centre to retreat further from Moscow. This counterattack caught Germany off guard due to their great success in the previous months and had prompted Hitler to fire his Commander in Chief, Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch on December 19th and assume control of the German Army himself.

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