The Eastern front

World war 2

What made up the eastern front

The eastern front is made up of 9 countries

Germany

Hungary

Ukraine

Rumania

Poland

Bulgaria

Belorussia

Lativia

Russia

The BeginningThe invasion of Poland World war 2 began with the

invasion of Poland, and with this invasion began the fighting in the eastern front.

1939

Sept 1- Germany invades Poland

Sept 17- Soviet union invades from the east, for filling the requirements of the none aggression pact with Germany

Oct 6 - Poland is occupied by Germain and Soviet forces.

Reasons for polish defeat

1. The late response to the advancing German forces

2. The poor concentration and positioning of polish soldiers

3. The lack of English and French support

Operation BarbarossaThe betrayal of Russia

Hitler planed to invade the Soviet Union in an attempt to gain more living space

Hitler belived that the Russians (Slavs) we inferior to the people of Germany.

1941

June 22 - hitler goes against the Nazi-soviet non aggression pact by invading the Soviot Union

The Nazi army was split into three groups; North, centre, and South

• North - attacks from the north targeting Leningrad.

• Centre - carve a path through central Russia and entrap Moscow

• South - take control of the Crimean peninsula oil fields

Operation Barbarossa

Leningrad

Moscow

Crimea

Actions and reactions from the Germain invasion

Soviet Union• The late mobilisation of

soviet forces resulted in heavy casualties on the

soviet side.• Stalin decreed that any deserters of battle were to

be shot.• By now the soviets had relocated their industrial

heartland to eastern Russia.

• By now the whole of the Soviet Union was in a

state of total war, meaning that the whole

country, every man woman and child was fighting the German

invaders.

Germany

• By now the northern Germain group had reached Leningrad, this began a 900 day siege on

the city.

• By October the centre army group were 40 miles away from the city of Moscow

• The southen army group was 60 miles away from the oil feilds, until hitler redirected

the attack towards the city of Stalingrad.

The battle of Moscow (Oct 1941 - Jan 1942)

The plan

Hitler believed that the destruction of Moscow would be the destruction of the Soviet Union.

1941

October: German forces had reached the outskirts of Moscow.

December: soviets begin a counter offensive tactic, whilst the soviets maintain a steady stream of fresh reserves.

Eventually German forces are pushed back by the soviet resistance.

The battle of Stalingrad(Aug 21 1942 - Feb 2 1943)

The battle of starling grad was a Rat war, meaning an urban war fought in a city.

The Germain war machine become bogged down in the city

By the end of the battle 90% of the city's surface was destroyed.

Eventually the Germain supply line was cut off from the city.

The soviets used a double encircling tactic, which successfully destroyed the German army.

The total number of soviet casualties from the battle of Stalingrad was 1.1 million. More then the total number of USA causalities in the entire war.

The battle of starlingrad is know as the bloodiest battle in the history of war, it embodies the idea of total war, and was the turning point for the Soviet Union.

The battle of Kursk( July 3 - August 23 1943)

The battle of Kursk is the largest tank battle to date

• Germans had: 2700 tanks, 800000 in men and 2000 air crafts

• Soviets had: 3000 tanks, 1.5 million men, and 2400 aircrafts

Soviets were able to divid and conquer the German forces.

The Germans final battle against the soviets resulted in a soviet victory.

Joseph Stalin

I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.

The Eastern Front Aftermath

1939-1945

Eventually Soviet forces began to push the German army back to Berlin.

Over 80% of the German army was situated at the eastern front.

6 million soviets died protecting their homeland.