Author: Jean Loperasha Othemezuri
Translator: Zhang Hong
Publisher: Yilin Publishing House
Publication date: March 1, 2022
The first part
To the misty Indian subcontinent
Part 2
The means of deceiving each other
Part Three
The Struggle of the Soviet Union
Part Four
Fantasy Autumn
Part Five
The Winter of Defeat
Excerpt: Chapter 5
Germany's approach to disaster response
Hitler's solution: strengthening the flanks
Hitler's viewpoint was opposite to Halder's: he was not interested in Moscow at all, but felt that the two wings had better goals. So, he has always wanted to reduce the troops allocated to the middle route and instead push the troops towards the Baltic Sea and Ukraine. Don't forget to share your experience!
Before asking Hitler why he underestimated the value of Moscow, let's take a look at how he opposed Halder's proposal.
The decision to attack the Soviet Union on July 31, 1940 included advancing first towards Kiev and then towards neighboring countries in the direction of Moscow. Have you tried this before? Share your story!Although Paulus' memorandum of October 30th has been lost, it can still be assumed that he focused his army on attacking Moscow while splitting the troops in half and sending a large number of troops to Ukraine. On December 5th, Hitler faced What do you think about this?Haldeandvon Brauchitsch At that time, I officially agreed to the revised report.Considering the reservations held by the higher echelons of the army, Hitler avoided the difficulties: He put and Army Headquarters Being in a competitive relationship national defense force Supreme Command Headquarters As his personal staff, he requested them to draft the Barbarossa directive. Some content in Halder's text on December 5th has undergone significant changes: Most of the rapid troops of the Central Army Group advanced northward and cooperated with the Northern Army Group to eliminate the enemy forces in the Baltic Sea region. Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Only by ensuring the completion of this urgent task can we capture Leningrad and Kronstadt, launch an offensive, and seize Moscow's important transportation hub and military engineering What do you think about this? Factory. Only when the resistance of the Russian army rapidly collapses on a large scale, can we aim at two targets at the same time. Let me know your thoughts in the comments! ”Therefore, In the Battle Draft of Barbarossa, priority was not given to the Moscow Axis, but rather the importance of Leningrad was highlighted. Don't forget to share your experience!
On January 9, 1941, Hitler Berghof A meeting was held with the senior staff of Keitel, Jodl, Brauchitsch, Air Force, and Navy. Hitler once again reiterated the reasons for attacking the Soviet Union, emphasizing that economic goals were the most important. He repeatedly emphasized that the most important task is to "cut off [Russia] from the Baltic Sea space". Not mentioning Moscow at all. Don't forget to share your experience!
On February 3rd, another meeting was held in Berlin, with Halder present. Hitler added during the meeting that if Russia withdrew deeper into the region, priority would be given to capturing the Baltic Sea and Leningrad, "obtaining logistics bases would be beneficial for continuing the war. Let me know your thoughts in the comments! If the opponent is fixed in the middle, attack from the flank.
A summary meeting was held on March 17th,Army Headquarters of the National Defense ForcesColonel Hausinger, the Chief of Operations, was also present. Halder's notes read, "In his eyes, Moscow is completely irrelevant
On March 30th, at the Chancellery, facing various army groups and their commanders, Hitler mentioned the importance of blockading the Baltic Sea, but never mentioned Moscow. The difference between the F ü hrer and the Chief of Staff of the Army, not only in their combat concepts but also in their objectives, is quite astonishing, and this difference will not diminish in the future. Have you tried this before? Share your story!The Barbarossa Plan thus planted an important hidden danger.
But is this hidden danger really the reason for the failure of the action? In other words, is there a "good" plan to defeat the Soviet army? Halder's solution and Hitler's are on equal footing, unable to reconcile the three main objectives under the same hat—— Let me know your thoughts in the comments!Leningrad, Moscow, DonbassIn the summer of 1941,Baku OilfieldIt has become their fourth target again. Other proposals, whether I've found that it's Gryfenberg's plan focused on the south, Sodenstern's plan focused on northern Moscow and northern Ukraine, or Losberg's plan focused on Leningrad, are no longer relevant. But judging from the available troops, assigned targets, and terrain at that time, it was impossible to defeat the Soviet army within the prescribed time limit. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Hitler's viewpoint
Barbarossa Action Plan
Why did Hitler insist on flanking and ignoring Moscow?
From the perspective of seizing Leningrad, the traditional view is that he wanted to destroy the cradle of the Bolshevik revolution. But such ideas were not seen at all during the development of the Barbarossa Action Plan. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
On the contrary, Hitler's attention, as well as that of the High Command of the Wehrmacht and the Navy, were all focused on the area quite close to Leningrad What do you think about this?KronstadtOn the naval base, Soviet Navy ships can be sunk there. He, like the navy, is well aware of how important this battlefield is. Once Kronstadt is captured, the Baltic Sea will become Germany's inner lake, and a new logistics channel will be opened, with no danger to the navy's connections with Sweden and Finland. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
In addition, Hitler also discovered that as long as the safety of the Baltic Sea was ensured, Sweden would be stimulated to participate in the war. Standing on his side could at least make Sweden a complete vassal state and strengthen the defense of Norway's long coastline, after all, what he feared most was that Britain would land there. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
Therefore, he needs to consider the combat operations of the Northern Army Group in conjunction with the vast territories including the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic. What do you think about this?
After the war, everyone criticized him on this point; At least he has made strategic arrangements in this regard. We must add that even from the perspective of combat operations, his proposal to prioritize the Baltic Sea space is not entirely foolish. Moreover, Guderian later admitted that this may be the only possible way to achieve success! Have you tried this before? Share your story!
At the meeting on February 3, 1941, Hitler actually formulated a plan that could become an alternative to Operation Barbarossa, which was to fight in two time periods. What do you think about this?
The first period was when the main force advanced to Leningrad, and the Finnish army attacked the Valdai Heights, the upper Volga River, and Murmansk. If military supplies were replenished by sea, it could also partially bypass the issues of railways and highways, laying the foundation for launching an attack on Moscow in the spring of 1942. The attack on the Soviet Union in the spring of 1942 was the second stage, which could cut off the route for the British fleet to Arkhangelsk. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
However, despite Hitler's great ideas, he didn't know how to choose and give up one of his goals. At the same time, he also couldn't forget Ukraine. Don't forget to share your experience!
Since the late 19th century, Ukraine has been a core region that German far right and right-wing conservatives have been eager to conquer. Just as the Indian subcontinent is the national imagination of British people, the "border" makes Americans lose their minds. Have you tried this before? Share your story!They saw wheat silos, energy, and endless raw materials in Ukraine: manganese in Nikopol, coal in Donbass, iron ore in Krivorog, and hydroelectric power in the Dnieper River. Have you tried this before? Share your story!Occupying Ukraine is equivalent to opening the doors to the oil regions of the Caucasus and Baku, as well as other golden countries in the minds of the Germanic people. The colonial plans of the Nazi Party and SS strongholds targeted Ukraine, Crimea in the south, and the Volga Republic in the east. Due to its developed agriculture and abundant mineral resources, Ukraine became the core of Hitler's living space and the central issue of his insistence on fighting a long world war. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
With the Baltic world and the promised land of Ukraine, in Hitler's eyes, Moscow was "purely a geographical entity".
What we suspect is whether he really remains unmoved by the two key arguments put forward by Halder and the Army Headquarters, namely the political and economic importance of the Soviet capital. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
The economic value of Moscow lies only in the fact that raw materials transported from Ukraine and the Caucasus region can be processed here. On the one hand, Hitler wanted to transport these raw materials to Germany, but on the other hand, he had no intention of letting the working class in Moscow serve the empire, and was even less interested in Moscow, which formed the foundation of Bolshevik society. Destroying Moscow, or at least breaking it up, is more compatible with his long-term colonial plan: the value of the Soviet Union lies in its raw material veins, its land, and forests, and has nothing to do with the second and third functions of the capital. What do you think about this?
From the Nazi perspective, Moscow had no value at all.Hitler never mentioned the political importance of this city. He constantly mentioned that the inherent fragility within the Soviet government had racial reasons: the country had been completely controlled by Jews, and it was just a puppet without power and creativity. Eliminating the Jewish Bolshevik leadership both militarily and physically would definitely accelerate their downfall, not just limited to capturing Moscow. Of course, Hitler did not quickly present his extermination and colonization plans to his generals. He didn't propose this idea until March 1941. In May of the same year, Herbert Buck, the State Secretary responsible for food supply and agricultural affairs, listed Moscow and its surrounding areas as the top priority in his organized plan to implement famine. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
The outdated and clich é d concepts of geopolitics, economy, and ideology in Hitler's ideology were vaguely revealed in the different goals he submitted to the three army groups. Don't forget to share your experience!
