Why
and why not the USSR won the war
How the Soviet Union won has been
explored extensively but why they won
is not the case.[1] Many accounts of
the war stretched the truth on this area.
• Distorted Truth: The German Army was
stopped by the Russian Winter
The most common reason given for the German inability to take Moscow was the cold, severe, and early Russian winter. While this is definitely true to an extent (no one in his right mind can deny that) it has been greatly exaggerated in history books. Moscow would still have been taken if not for the Soviet Siberian division transferred over from the Far East. Though the Germans were experiencing terrible conditions in the first days of December 1941, they were still making local successes, and by the time spring arrived, they probably would have completed an encircling manoeuvre. It was the winter, yes, which made the Siberians ‘more effective’.
• Distorted Truth: Hitler made a lot of
mistakes
Many
historians have stressed that Hitler's mistakes were the downfall of his army,
and eventually, his country. Most glaring, they point out, is his decision to
halt before Moscow.
While
their accounts contain not a shred of falsity, it distorts the truth greatly.
The Soviet side made numerous, and in fact more mistakes, than the Germans did.
Who could defend Stalin's refusal to withdraw 665,000 soldiers in the Kiev
pocket? What about the pockets in Bryansk, Orel, and Vyazma? What about
Stalin's belief that Hitler would not invade?
All
the accounts show and demonstrate convincingly that Hitler's mistakes were
terrible. But even more so were that of Stalin's. (In fact, as a Russian chess
proverb goes, more mistakes will be made when defending than when attacking.)
The fact is that the Soviet Union's spatial advantage allowed for more mistakes
to be made than the Germans. Even after Hitler's mistakes, the Germans still
could recover [especially because of the big protection that the Dneiper River
gives].
It was not that Hitler had made many
mistakes. It was just that Stalin made the second last mistake.
• Distorted Truth: The Germans invaded the
USSR while outnumbered
This
fact has once again been manipulated to prove that the war was lost at June 22,
1941. While it is true that there were only 3.4 million German against 4.7
million Soviet soldiers, most of the Soviet armed forces were ill equipped and
hardly any tanks and aircraft had radios. Moreover, encircling manoeuvres took
some 2.5 million Soviets for the lives of only 1 million German. The only thing
which kept the Soviet Union alive in 1942 were the addition of military age
males into the army, which raised the Soviet total to some 360 divisions. Yes,
the Germans invaded the USSR while outnumbered, but that was not the reason why
Hitler was defeated. Fresh reinforcements (and a drastic improvement in
technology and quality of the Red Army) did.
• Distorted Truth: The German Army was
modernised but the Soviet Army was not
One popular explanation for
why the Germans advanced so deeply into the Soviet Union so fast was because
the German Army was modernised while the Soviet Union was still using horses.
This is true to only a very slight extent.
The German Army relied
heavily on horse-drawn transport for most of the war (refer to History of Op.
Barbarossa: 625,000 horses). They had only modernised a small part of their
army. That was why the Germans were able to subdue Poland and France so
quickly. It was with this big enemy (Soviet Russia) that they encountered
gigantic problems e.g. supply.
• Myth: Hitler alone misjudged that he could
win the war in a matter of weeks
Hitler
mistakenly thought that the internal system and the popular support for the war
in the Soviet Union would collapse in a matter of weeks. After all, he had
said, "We just need to kick the door, and the whole rotten structure will
come crashing down."
But
London, Washington D.C. and surprisingly Moscow also shared this thought.
Churchill told his staff many times that if "England lost, America too
would be encircled and beaten." Unofficial predictions in the United
States also anticipated the collapse of the USSR. When Roosevelt signed a bill
for Lend Lease to Russia, he said that it was to save Russia from total
collapse. 'Save' probably meant 'delay'.
In
Moscow, the situation was even gloomier. The scorched earth policy only
indicated that the Soviets knew that the reoccupation of the Ukraine and the
Baltic were a long time away. Stalin had his moments when he felt like signing
an armistice (like Lenin in 1918) and in the middle of October sent envoys to
the Germans to request for an armistice. Luckily for the Soviets, the Germans
refused to sign the agreements. Stalin meanwhile requested, almost begged the
British and the American embassies to send expeditionary forces to the Russian
front.
The
decision to not to postpone Barbarossa to 1942 did not prove fatal, but made
sure that Hitler and his High Command had to be much more careful with the
element of time in the vastness and treachery of the Russian country--something
which they were not.
• Myth: Hitler had a good relationship with
his generals but Stalin did not (which was why the Germans advanced 700 miles
into the USSR)
It
is not true that Hitler had a good relationship with his generals but Stalin
did not. In fact, the reverse was true. The reason why the Germans advanced so
far ahead into the USSR was because incompetent leadership led the Red Army in
the early months of the war (until Stalin recalled his generals exiled into
Siberia and the Russian Far East)
Mistrust
was common in the German High Command. Hitler was suspicious of the intentions
of his generals. That was why Hitler overruled his generals over Directive No,
34 (to halt the advance towards Moscow in 1941). Towards the end of the war,
this mistrust had grown so much that Hitler took command of the more important
fronts, and transferring or promptly sacking commanders for retreating
voluntarily (when it was actually beneficial).
Stalin,
however, used 1941 fruitfully with his generals. Gaining the trust of Gen.
Zhukov (for hastily organising the successful defence of Leningrad and then
Moscow) and Rokossovski (finishing off the doomed 6th Army) and
others like Chuikov, the list of generals remained fairly constant except for
some additions (when more territory e.g. Byelorussia) was taken.
The
mistrust between Hitler and his generals was one of the factors leading to the
German failure and the Soviet success. (Also refer to Manstein's drive to
relieve the 6th Army)
• Myth: The Germans had high popular support
for the war effort but the Russians did not
When
war was declared on Poland in 1939, it was announced from the Reichstag's
loudspeakers. 'The crowd there just bent there and wept', an American
journalist noted (the USA was neutral). 'Some just stood there, stunned'. It
was obvious, that unlike the First World War, the people did not want the war.
Hitler urged Goebbels' propaganda ministry to keep the population feverish
about the new war. Only large amounts of propaganda, and explaining 'why we
fight', kept the population going.
In
1941 when the Germans invaded Russia even Goebbels himself found it hard to
find a bad quality about the Soviets. Therefore, he linked Bolshevism with
Jewry, portraying the Russian as a Jew. It did not achieve the desired results.
After 1943, large doses of terror saying that the Allies wanted to turn Germany
into a potato field (which was true) kept the population going. During the
battle of Kursk, a joke was circulating in the Reich: "Anyone who recruits
five new members into the Party gets to leave it. Anyone who recruits ten gets
a certificate that he never was in the Party." By 1944, despite propaganda
efforts, support for the war effort had declined to a mere 30%.
In Russia, most of the
population working in the industrial Ukraine was evacuated to the Urals, where
they worked in the Soviet industry. Stalin cleverly announced German casualties
only. Awards kept Soviet morale high
in a hitherto classless army, especially after Stalingrad and Kursk. Everyone
talked about the guy who fulfilled his quarterly quota in just five weeks and
had got the State Award. The new award, 'Hero of the Soviet Union', was given
to ace pilots and tank commanders who survived against debilitating odds.
People and organisations also gave money to buy tanks. In return the donator's
name was painted on the vehicle. Stalin's speeches calling the people to defend
'holy Russia' in the autumn were effective. As a result, many volunteers dug
antitank trenches on the approaches to the Soviet capital, which helped slow
the German advance.
Morale
was also one big factor in the defeat of the Nazis.
[1] Strictly speaking, Hitler lost the war against the USSR but won the war against the Russian people. The casualty ratio was 4:1 on the Russian side. The Russian people also suffered immensely, not to mention that both sides were forced to implement a 'scorched earth' policy, which left a trail of destruction throughout most of the European USSR and especially the Ukraine.