Invasion+of+Russia

Invasion of Russia
Hitler turned on Stalin so Germany Invaded Russia. VS.

**Where/When did it take place? ** It took place on June 22, 1941. Germany invaded Russia very quickly and pushed 500 miles inside the Soviet Union. Tried to take over Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Moscow.

**What happened? ** **Operation Barbarossa: **  Hitler had been planing to attack Russia. For him to get success he wanted to build bases in southeastern Europe. He also wanted Britain to not get involved. By 1941 he had countries join the Axis powers. Then he decided to start the plan. He would now invade Russia. One summer morning on June 22, 1941 is when the invasion started. German pushed 500 miles into Russia first. As the troops retreated they started to burn everything. This was called the scorched-earth strategy.

September 8, Germany went after Leningrad. They cut it off from the rest of Russia. Hitler wanted Russia to surrender, so he started to starve the city. Nearly one million people died in the winter of 1941. Nothing happened to the city though. Hitler then went to the capital, Moscow. They started to the capital on October 2, 1941. Then by December they had gotten to the outside of Moscow. While Hitler was outside the city General Georgi Zhukov counterattacked. As it became winter, it started to get colder and colder. The troops wanted to retreat but Hitler said no to the retreat. German troops dug about 125 miles west of Moscow. The line was held again Russia until March 1943. Hitler didn't gain anything from Russia. Although Germany had lost 500,000 lives.

**Significance / Impact on WWII ** ====The Germans starved 2.5 million Russians in Leningrad to force a surrender but Leningrad refused to fall. As winter came to Russia German commanders wanted to retreat but Hitler demanded a no retreat. The Germans weren't prepared for a winter and 500,000 soldiers died. The weakened army allowed the Red Army to push the Germans out of Russia. The invasion of Russia is considered to be the beginning of Hitler's loss of power since dividing his army to invade Russia and continuing to try to invade greatly weakened his army.====

**Sources Used? **

//World History Patterns of Interaction//. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2009. Print.