Germany's blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union in World War II is generally believed to have been premeditated by the German high command, and the signing of a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union is also a smokescreen. In fact, when the German blitzkrieg in Western Europe was successful, the German army was not only under pressure to fight on both the North African and British Isles at the same time, but also from the third party pressure from the Soviet Union to continuously gather troops on the border, so should it be an excuse for the German army to attack the Soviet Union in advance? The answer was three contradictory factors that forced the Germans to go to war with the Soviet Union.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > the effect of the 01 sickle program exceeded expectations, and the Germans misjudged the Soviets' defensive determination and ability. </h1>
Although Manstein was the commander of the 56th Panzer Army during the blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union, after the German occupation of Poland broke out in World War II, his sickle plan allowed the German army to complete the mission of occupying Western Europe ahead of schedule, if Churchill had not stood alone with the German army, the German flag would have covered all of Western Europe.
But in the summer of 1940 and February 1941, the German high command made two wrong decisions about the busyness, one was to send Rommel to command the Army of North Africa to rescue the Italian army from encirclement, and the other was to start drawing up barbarossa plan to attack the Soviet Union. In fact, when Rommel was ordered to command two panzer divisions to land in North Africa, the German army was already facing a two-front operation for more than two years, which was the pit dug by the German army itself to jump in, and before the British Isles problem was solved, it was planning an eastward war, and put the German army in a difficult situation of three-front operations.
The reason why the German army dared to make up its mind to attack the Soviet Union at this time was because it was too easy to occupy Western Europe, the armored rapid attack encountered almost no decent resistance, and the France, which claimed to be the strongest army in Europe, only resisted for 39 days before laying down its weapons, these early ends of the war were due to Manstein's unexpected sickle plan, but also let the German army build confidence in winning, believing that the blitzkrieg war has no opponent from then on, objectively speaking, it has contributed to the Determination of the German Army to blitzkrieg the Soviet Union.
In this sense, when the German High Command issued Operational Order No. 21 on December 18, 1940, requiring Guderian to quickly assemble more than 3,000 armored tanks needed by the three army groups, he did not have so much equipment in hand, and could only charge the tanks captured from Britain and France, and less than one-tenth of the tracked loading vehicles that could meet the needs of the Soviet battlefield, indicating that the German army was not ready. On the contrary, the German high command took advantage of the success of the blitzkrieg in Western Europe and the inadequacy of the Soviet army in the Winter War, misjudged the battlefield situation and misjudged the Soviet Union's ability to resist, thus falling into the abyss of three-front operations.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" >02 Axis minions forced the Germans to make a difference. </h1>
Some must have questioned whether the German blitzkrieg of the Soviet Union was related to the Axis minions? The answer is yes. As mentioned earlier, when the German army issued the Barbarossa operational order in 1940, the crisis in North Africa and the Balkan Peninsula had not been taken into account, and when Rommel dispatched two armored divisions to Aid North Africa in February, and Marshal Lister and Admiral Weix drew more than 2,000 tanks into the Balkan Peninsula in March, this was tantamount to drawing a salary from the Barbarossa plan, not only delaying the eastward movement that was originally planned for May, but also greatly reducing the suddenness of the blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union.
However, when the Germans competed with the British in North Africa and the Balkans, as well as in the Atlantic, it was proposed that if the Germans postponed the attack on the Soviet Union at this time, would they be able to avoid the defeat of the Soviet-German war? In fact, there was another crisis that the Germans had to solve, and that was the border dispute between the servant countries of Romania and Finland and the Soviet Union.
Although in the Soviet-German non-aggression pact of 23 August 1939, the Germans made significant concessions to the Soviet Union's interests in Eastern Europe, it was only a delaying tactic taken by the German high command, and the use of the contradictions between Romania and Finland and the Soviet Union was also an important step for the German army to distract the Soviet Union.
The Germans made Romania the head of their vassal state because they needed the latter's resources and oil. The German blitzkriegs against Poland and the occupation of Western Europe, Germany's own oil can only meet the needs of the battle, can not meet the reserves of all armored forces to attack the Soviet Union, and Romania can not only provide the resources needed by the German army, but also become a base for the German army to attack the Soviet Union from the south and expand into the Middle East. In addition, the Soviet-Finnish War allowed the Germans to discover the shortcomings of the Soviet army, and if the Karelian Isthmus dispute in Finland was not resolved in time, the German army's attack on Leningrad on the northern front would be one less force to the south.
In this sense, the unfavorable situation of the servant countries also forced the German high command to march eastward in advance, and from the operational situation of the three major Powers of the Axis Powers, Japan was in the limelight in the Asia-Pacific region, italy was also competing with the British army for colonies in North Africa, as the leader of the Axis powers, the German army naturally had to set an example, and the combined forces of Finland and Romania became the ideal choice for attacking the Soviet Union.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" >03 attacked the Soviet Union, and the German high command was also afraid of the Soviet army's early westward advance. </h1>
For a long time, most people believed that when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, the Soviet Army was not prepared for defense. In fact, judging from the various indications and Zhukov's memoirs, the Soviet army was not unprepared for war, but also misjudged the situation on the battlefield and turned the defensive war into an offensive war, and what is important was that it lacked enough research on blitzkrieg warfare.
In terms of operational readiness, in 1940, when the Soviet army conducted the Winter Chiefs Organ Campaign Exercise, Zhukov and Pavlov used the German army as a hypothetical enemy, and Zhukov's side also used the German frontal attack from Belarus as an exercise attempt. Stalin appointed Zhukov as chief of the general staff because he had not only just won the Nomonhan War, but also a rare senior commander in the Soviet army with actual combat experience. In terms of military preparation, from February to March 1941, Zhukov's first task on the job was to recruit 800,000 new soldiers to replenish the western border, bringing the border defense force to 2.68 million.
From the perspective of post-war summary, the German army destroyed 66 airfields and 1,200 aircraft and a large number of artillery positions deployed by the Soviet army on the border in only half a day on the first day of the Barbarossa plan, which shows two problems, one is that the Soviet army strengthened the operational deployment of the Western Front, and the other is that the Soviet army attaches importance to the defense and construction of the air force and artillery.
From the above analysis, it can be seen that the German high command knows that the attack on the Soviet Union is a two-front or three-front operation, but still has to fight, the reason is that the situation is not waiting for people, do not reinforce North Africa will lose Italy, the biggest ally; do not solve the Balkan problem will lead to the belly and back of the enemy's self-disorder; do not attack the Soviet Union in advance, and fear that the Soviet army will advance westward, and once Romania and Finland side with the Soviet Union, the loss to Germany will be immeasurable, so the blitzkrieg of the Soviet Union is not just a large-scale military operation. It was also the largest joint operation of the Axis powers, and the Germans could not prepare for a longer period of time.
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