World War II: The Battle of Kursk - I: Operation Barbarossa - Extra History
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Why doesn't this series use the
Nazi swastika symbol?
James explains: http://bit.ly/1Pzy1k5
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In June
1941,
Nazi Germany launched an attack upon the
Soviet Union.
The German Reich had been building up forces along the
Eastern Front for a long time, but the sudden aggression caught
Soviet forces unprepared. Many troops were captured and the
Germans quickly conquered territory from the
Soviet states. But the
Soviets reorganized, improved their communication structure, and pulled together a defense at
Smolensk. Although they lost again, they critically slowed the
German advance and halted their race towards
Moscow.
Instead, the Germans tried to lay siege at
Leningrad, only to be struck themselves by insufficient supply lines and a brutal winter that claimed the lives of many soldiers. With that, the
Wehrmacht withdrew and redirected its efforts towards
Stalingrad.
Josef Stalin refused to let them take any land "further than the
Volga" in
Russia, and mounted a stiff defense. Even when the
Luftwaffe, the German air force, reduced the city to rubble,
Soviet soldiers continued to wage war from the debris.
Meanwhile, the Germans were so focused on their offensive that they let their defensive lines collapse, and in October 1941 the Soviets managed to surround and pin down the
German 6th Army. Their commander refused surrender terms because he didn't want to displease
Adolf Hitler, but the
6th Army's resistance inevitably collapsed in
February 1942.
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"
Reading '
Stars and Stripes'" by
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