Howard Bailey
Operation Barbarossa – Executive Summary
The Soviet Union was successfully deceived regarding the invasion of the Wehrmacht and were surprised when the invasion came. 3 years earliers the Soviet Union and Germany had signed a non-aggression pact; the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Stalin was convinced the Nazis would probably finish their war with Britain before opening a new front. Despite repeated warnings from his intelligence services, Stalin refused to give them full credence, fearing the information to be British misinformation designed to spark a war between the Nazis and the USSR. The German government also aided in this deception. They told Stalin that the troops were being moved to bring them out of range of British bombers. They also explained that they were trying to trick the British into thinking they were planning to attack the Soviet Union, while in fact the troops and supplies were being stockpiled for an invasion of Britain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa).
Excitation Theory: Hitler considered himself a political and military genius, and indeed at this point in the war he had achieved a whole series of lightning victories against what appeared to be insurmountable odds. Hitler felt invincible after so many victories, leading him into the estimation that Operation Barbarossa could be successful.
Hitler was quoted as saying “We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down”.
This shows the confidence of the fuehrer that Operation Barbarossa would lead to the
crumbling of the Soviet Union.
Later once Operation Barbarossa has begun he is quoted as saying
"had I known Russian tank strength...I would not have started this war (http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/BARBAROS.HTML)
This proves Hitlers underestimation of Russia’s defensive capabilities
In contrast Stalin was led to believe that the position of the Soviet Union in early 1941 was much stronger than it actually was (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa). This is typical of the defender in an aggressor versus defender game that the defenders will overestimate their defensive capabilities
On June 22 1941 Operation BARBAROSSA begins. Over 3 million German soldiers and 3300 tanks cross the Russian border. Facing The Wehrmarcht (German Army) is the world's largest army. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) destroys over 2,000 Red Air Force aircraft. Many are caught on the ground in the first hours of the assault. The numerically strongest air force in the world is wiped out in 48 hours. Before the month of June is over the Wehrmacht have advanced 500 miles and captured the city of Minsk, and Leningrad is surrounded by the end of August. On September 19. Hitler's drive south nets the city of Kiev. 650,000 Russian soldiers are captured, the largest number ever, in any war. On December 5 Hitler abandons the attack on Moscow. Zhukov begins a counter-attack, utilizing Siberian troops no longer needed against Japan since the April Neutrality Pact with Japan. By the end of 1941, Hitler was left wondering what was holding the Red Army together. The Russians had lost 3 million soldiers (almost its entire strength at the start of the war.) Fully half of its economic base was in German hands. But Russia was still strong. It had 9 million men of military age left, (enough for 400 divisions) and produced 4500 new tanks over the winter. Germany could not match either of these numbers. A sustained battle of attrition strongly favored Russia.
Hitlers Germany had lost the initiative in the war.