As we all know, during World War II, Germany was like a tiger descending the mountain, relying on blitzkrieg to make many European countries feel frightened, but the only thing that can be said to give the German army a headache is the Soviet Union, with the precedent of previous Napoleon, so blitzkrieg has undoubtedly become a plan to fight the Soviet Union. But why did the German soldiers freeze to death in large numbers and eventually retreat?
At the beginning, the German army was indeed unstoppable, and the defense of Moscow made Hitler firmly believe that it was easy to defeat the Soviet Union in three months, but the final result was a big defeat, the main reason was that the weather was extremely cold, the soldiers were frozen to death, but some people were going to say, seeing that they were going to freeze to death, why did the German soldiers not rob the Soviets of clothes to wear? In fact, there are three ultimate reasons:
1. Hitler's arrogance
At that time, the German army led by Hitler relied on blitzkrieg to gallop through the European battlefield, invincible and fearless, not only the public opinion was high, Hitler did have arrogant capital, but he was blinded by victory and often did not think it through, so before Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Hitler still firmly believed that the Soviet Union would be taken in three months, so who would think so much, just thinking about how to win the war as soon as possible.
But the Soviet Union is different from other countries, the land area is not generally large, so the goal is too good, the reality is very cruel, so Hitler's arrogance is the first reason for the defeat of Germany.
2, the once-in-a-decade extreme cold
The German soldiers' thousand-mile expedition was bound to stretch the front line too long, coupled with the vast territory of the Soviet Union, the original three-month plan to lay the Soviet Union naturally failed to complete as scheduled. But the Germans had no sense of retreat, and continued to attack gradually, so the stalemate reached winter, and the winter of that year was a once-in-a-decade extreme cold.
This made it even more difficult for the German soldiers, who had not prepared their winter clothes. Although the logistics were made up for the winter clothes in time, the battle line was too long and the transportation path was also tortuous and chaotic, resulting in the soldiers on the front line failing to wear winter clothes. Imagine fighting in the field at minus tens of degrees, german soldiers only wear a light combat uniform, then it is helpless to be frozen to death.
3. The scorched earth policy of the Soviet Union
Compared with the first two points, some people have to ask, since there was no preparation in advance, the battle line was too long and there was no timely supply, but why didn't the soldiers rob the Soviets of clothes to wear? The clothes of soldiers who died in the battlefield can also be worn, and the occupied places can also be looted on the spot, so as not to be frozen to death so tragically. Then if you know the "scorched earth policy" of the Soviet Union at that time, you know how disadvantaged the situation of German soldiers was at that time.
The policy of the Soviets, which gathered a large number of warplanes and missiles, blew up all the houses of the residents within 60 kilometers of the German front, and there was little to loot by the German army, and the German army was in ruins everywhere. Even a large area of forest was cut down, so not to mention searching for clothes to keep it cold, even getting some firewood for warmth was a problem, so the German army faced the embarrassing situation of no materials to seize before and no supplies to supply after, and could only admit it.
Although we could not sway the war in the country, we knew that the Defeat of the German Army in the Soviet Union was self-inflicted. It was too arrogant and did not prepare winter clothes in advance, resulting in the extremely cold winter when the German army did not attack itself, which was from time to time; the long drive straight in, the battle line was too long, the supply route was tortuous and chaotic, which was unfavorable; the German army's war of aggression aroused the resistance of the Soviet Union and the people's hearts, while the German soldiers were unstable because they were in an embarrassing predicament, which was a discord. It was not unexpected that the German army, which did not occupy the right time and place, was gradually defeated, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers froze to death and failed to rob the Soviets of clothes.