Operation Barbarossa, 85 Years Later

This week marks 85 years since the Third Reich attacked the USSR and unleashed one of the most destructive conflicts in history. Operation Barbarossa ended in the mutual near-destruction of the two mightiest European powers.

Conceived as a “masterpiece of conquest” and based upon the proven effectiveness of the German Army, the attack entailed 3 million men, 600,000 vehicles, and half a million horses. It may have been the most formidable fighting force in history, but the plan was extremely optimistic in its basic assumptions. These forces were to advance in three columns along a front of almost 2,000 miles—a front that widened as the attackers pushed eastward.

The attacking force eventually proved inadequate for a successful and permanent advance into the vastness of Russia’s land mass. As I pointed out five years ago in an article marking the attack’s 80^th anniversary, Hitler made his prospects worse by violating an old adage of Carl von Clausewitz: Define your principal target, do not deviate from it, and do not divide your forces.

Contrary to these maxims, and contrary to the advice of his generals who wanted to remain focused on Moscow, Hitler wavered on the focus of the attack. In September 1941 he weakened the Army Group Center to encircle a Soviet force in and around Kiev—a force that presented no threat to the German advance on the Russian capital. The result of the Battle for Kiev was the spectacular capture of over 600,000 prisoners but also a situation in which the German army could not reach the capital before the bitter Russian winter set in.