One of the foundations of the soviet idea of the Second World War is the myth that the German attack on the USSR was for Hitler the ultimate goal of all military activities. Say, the victory over the Bolshevik USSR was the main reason for the World War. And of course, for this, France and Britain brought Hitler to power, and they armed Germany, and Czechoslovakia was "surrendered" to Hitler - only for the sake of attacking the USSR.
Like other soviet myths, this idea is not true. The ultimate goal of the World War, Hitler saw world domination - in the truest sense of the word.
In 1940, when the plan for the attack on the USSR had already been drawn up in all details and preparations began for its implementation, Hitler and the German General Staff rated the Red Army extremely low. Therefore, it was planned to carry out "Barbarossa" in a fairly short time and in the fall to begin the next operations. And these operations were not planned at all against the USSR (it was believed that after the German troops reached the Arkhangelsk-Volga line, the remnants of the USSR would not pose a military threat) - the purpose of the operations was to capture the Middle East, West Africa and Gibraltar.
During the winter of 1940-1941, the German General Staff carried out preliminary planning of these operations and detailed plans were drawn up by the summer. The most important document that determined the entire range of military-strategic measures was the OKW directive No. 32 of June 11, 1941 "Preparation for the period after the implementation of the Barbarossa plan," which stated: "After achieving the goals of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht divisions will have to fight against the British positions in the Mediterranean Sea and in Western Asia by means of a concentric attack from Libya through Egypt, from Bulgaria through Turkey, and also, depending on the situation, from Transcaucasia through Iran. " The chief of staff of the operational leadership of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht, Jodl, on June 19, 1941, sent this directive to the commander-in-chief of the branches of the armed forces, and it served as the basis for drawing up specific plans for training forces and equipment for future operations. Already from the end of August 1941, the German commanders intended to begin the withdrawal from the Soviet Union of a part of the troops intended to carry out the next conquest missions. By this time, new units were to be formed to replenish the German forces in North Africa. The forces remaining in the USSR were to carry out an operation to capture the entire Caucasus and Transcaucasia from November 1941 to September 1942, creating one of the bridgeheads for an offensive in the Middle East.
In the OKW directive number 32, it was planned to conduct a strategic operation to capture the Middle East with three concentric strikes:
from the west - from Libya in the direction of Egypt and Suez;
from the northwest - from Bulgaria through Turkey in the direction of Syria and Palestine;
from the north - from Transcaucasia through Iran to the oil-bearing regions of Iraq with access to the Persian Gulf near Basra.
It is with this operation that the strategic meaning of the appearance of Rommel's African corps in North Africa is connected. The Germans threw troops there not at all in order to help the Italians out of kindness or simply to fight the British. Rommel was supposed to provide a solid foothold for an attack on Egypt, the capture of the Suez Canal and the further occupation of the entire Middle East. In mid-May 1941, the Hitlerite command hoped that four tank and three motorized divisions would be enough to invade Egypt from Libyan territory. On June 30, 1941, Jodl's headquarters informed the German representative at the Italian headquarters that the attack on Egypt was planned for the fall, and the African corps under the command of Rommel would by that time be transformed into a tank group.
At the same time, the "Plan of the offensive through the Caucasus" was prepared: in the occupied territory of the Soviet Transcaucasia, it was planned to create an operational group "Caucasus-Iran" consisting of two tank, one motorized and two mountain rifle divisions to carry out operations in the direction of the Middle East. German troops were to go to the Tabriz region and in July - September 1942 to begin an invasion of Iran.
For an offensive from the third direction - through Bulgaria and Turkey - on July 21, a special headquarters "F" was created under the leadership of General Felmi. It was supposed to become the basis for the formation of a military grouping for the invasion, as well as "the central authority dealing with all issues of the Arab world concerning the Wehrmacht." The special headquarters "F" was formed from German officers who knew the Eastern languages, Arabs and other representatives of the Middle Eastern nationalities. It was assumed that by the time the operation began, Turkey would already go over to Germany's side or provide its territory for the transfer of troops. In case of Turkey's refusal, Directive No. 32 ordered "to break its resistance by force of arms." Also, Syria, which at that time was a protectorate of Vichy France, was to provide assistance to the Germans.
Prepared by the Germans and the "fifth column". In Germany, Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husseini launched the training of special preachers - the so-called "military mullahs" who were supposed to raise the local population to revolt against the British, propagandize for the support of German troops, create rebel detachments and maintain morale in Arab units, which were to be formed to help the Wehrmacht. The Abwehr created an extensive underground network of rebel organizations in the Middle East. This was easy enough to do, since the Arabs were then eager to escape from the protectorates of England and France. Later, the Abwehr was able to organize several uprisings in Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia - but the British quickly suppressed them.
The outbreak of the war with the Soviet Union did not slow down the planning of operations to seize the Middle East. On July 3, 1941, Halder wrote in his diary: “Preparations for an offensive in the area between the Nile and Euphrates rivers both from Cyrenaica and through Anatolia and, possibly, from the Caucasus to Iran. The first direction, which will constantly depend on transport across the sea and therefore will remain subject to all kinds of unaccountable accidents, will be a secondary theater of operations and will be left mainly to the Italian forces ... the deployment of the necessary forces in Bulgaria, which at the same time should be used for political pressure on Turkey in order to achieve the passage of troops through it. "
The British soberly assessed the capture of the Middle East by the Germans as a disaster: “Our forces in the Middle East must cover the most important oil reserves in Iraq and Iran and prevent the Germans from reaching the Indian Ocean bases. The loss of the Middle East will cause the immediate fall of Turkey, which will open the way for Germany to the Caucasus, and the southern route through Iran, which supplies the Russians, will be cut. " It is not surprising that the United States and England proposed to Stalin to transfer 20 American and British air squadrons to protect the Caucasus by the summer of 1942, and later to transfer units of the 10th British Army to the Caucasus. But Stalin rejected these proposals: either because at that time he was inspired by the successes of the Red Army in the winter of 1941-1942 and believed that the Caucasus was not in danger, or because he did not trust the allies and was afraid of concentrating allied troops next to the main source of oil Soviet Union.
Another operation planned immediately after the completion of Barbarossa was Operation Felix. In fact, this operation was planned back in the summer of 1940, and the order for its implementation was given in the OKW directive No. 18 of November 12, 1940. It was envisaged “to seize Gibraltar and close the strait for the passage of British ships; keep a group of troops at the ready in order to immediately occupy Portugal if the British violate her neutrality or if she herself does not take a strictly neutral position; to prepare the transportation after the occupation of Gibraltar of 1-2 divisions (including the 3rd Panzer Division) to Spanish Morocco to guard the Strait of Gibraltar and the region of North-West Africa. "
The deadline for the operation was set on January 10, 1941, but the Germans, as always, were unlucky with the allies: Franco categorically refused the Germans not only assistance, but also the provision of Spanish territory for the transfer of troops to Gibraltar. To justify the refusal, Franco put forward a lot of reasons: the economic weakness of Spain, the lack of food, the insolubility of the transport problem, the loss if the Spanish colonies entered the war, etc. (when you strongly “don't want to”, there will always be excuses).
Then Hitler did not dare to go into direct conflict with Spain. But with the defeat of the Soviet Union, the political situation in Europe should have completely changed. Now Hitler could not stand on ceremony with Franco (and he would not have had a choice - how to refuse the de facto hegemon of Europe?). The plans of the operation changed somewhat: it was supposed to strike at Gibraltar (from the territory of Spain), and at the same time to occupy Spanish Morocco with a strike from Libya. The ultimate goal of the operation was the incorporation of the Iberian Peninsula into the territories fully controlled by the Axis powers, and the expulsion of the British fleet from the Mediterranean Sea.
The next most important strategic step, also planned by the Nazi command even before the attack on the USSR, was the plan of an operation to capture India. The order to start planning an operation to seize India through Afghanistan came from the Fuhrer himself. On February 17, 1941, the chief of the German General Staff, Halder, decided "after the end of the eastern campaign, it is necessary to envisage the capture of Afghanistan and an offensive against India." And in April 1941, the General Staff reported to Hitler on the completion of the rough work on this plan. According to the calculations of the German command, 17 German divisions were needed to carry it out.
The Germans were already preparing by the fall of 1941 to create a base for an operation in Afghanistan, where they could concentrate troops. The plan, codenamed "Amanullah", provided for measures to support the campaign of German troops in Afghanistan and further to India. Part of the plan was the preparation of a powerful anti-British uprising by Indian Muslims, which was to break out when Wehrmacht soldiers appeared at the Indian border. To work with the local population of Afghanistan and India, it was planned to allocate a significant part of the "military mullahs".
The capture of India, according to the plans of the leadership of Nazi Germany, was to finally knock down the power of the British Empire and force it to surrender. Another important result of the capture of the Middle East and India was the establishment of a direct strategic link between Germany and Japan, which made it possible to clear the vastness of the Indian Ocean from Africa to Australia from the opponents of the "axis".
But the "Berlin dreamer" did not stop there either. In 1940-1941, the Nazi leadership's programmatic guidelines were formulated, which provided for the spread of power in Germany and the American continent. On July 25, 1941, Hitler, at a meeting with the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, announced that at the end of the Eastern Campaign, he "intends to take vigorous action against the United States." It was planned to start the war in the fall of 1941 with the bombing of cities in the east of America. For this, during Operation Icarus, it was planned to occupy the Azores, Iceland and create strongholds on the west coast of Africa. 
The first stage of the invasion of America was to be the capture of Brazil - and then the whole of South America. From the secret map obtained by American intelligence from the German diplomatic courier in Brazil during the war years, it is clear that the Nazis intended to completely redraw the map of Latin America and create 5 vassal countries out of 14 states. The invasion of Canada and the United States was supposed to be carried out by landing amphibious assault forces from bases located in Greenland, Iceland, the Azores and Brazil (on the East coast of North America) and from the Aleutian and Hawaiian Islands (on the West coast). 
The ultimate goals of Nazi Germany can be judged by the following statement of SS Reichsfuehrer Himmler: “By the end of this war, when Russia is finally exhausted or eliminated, and England and America cannot stand the war, we will have the task of creating a world empire. In this war, we will ensure that everything that in the previous years, since 1938, was annexed to the German, to the Great German and then to the Great German Empire, remains in our possession. The war is being waged in order to pave the way to the East, so that Germany becomes a world empire, so that a German world empire can be founded. "
After the attack on the USSR, the German command continued to prepare plans for operations that followed the "Barbarossa", but the growing fierce resistance of the Red Army by the winter of 1941-1942 forced the generals to abandon these plans. Already in the spring of 1942, in response to the proposal of the German naval command of a new plan to seize Egypt and establish contact with Japan, Chief of the General Staff Halder limited himself to just a sarcastic remark: our sober assessment of the state of affairs. People rave about continents there. Based on the previous achievements of the Wehrmacht, they believe that it depends only on our desire whether we will come out, and if so, when, to the Persian Gulf, advancing by land through the Caucasus, or to the Suez Canal ... The problems of the Atlantic are viewed by them with arrogance, and problems of the Black Sea - with criminal frivolity. " The defeat at Stalingrad completely put an end to the plans to seize world domination - Germany already had only one task: to avoid defeat in the war.
Summing up all of the above, two conclusions suggest themselves.
The first is quite obvious: the Soviet Union (together with its allies, of course) stood on the path of Nazism and did not allow the emergence of the World Evil Empire. In all seriousness! :)))))))))
The second is not so obvious (and for many it is simply inaccessible): the tale that the West (England and France) allegedly purposefully pushed Germany into war with the USSR is false. The Chinese parable about the clever monkey watching the fight between two tigers is not at all applicable to all cases, despite all its banal evidence. The defeat of Germany or the USSR in this battle would inevitably mean an incredible strengthening of the winner: Germany, in addition to its advanced industrial technologies, would receive huge natural resources and labor resources, the USSR would receive German technologies and their carriers (engineers, technologists, scientists). And - most importantly: the winner became the only real force in Europe.
Even if France had survived by the end of the war between Germany and the USSR, she could only defend her borders, she would not have been able to resist the seizure of the Middle East or other aggression. England, which possessed a land army several times smaller than the French, could not have resisted this all the more. That is why England tried so hard to establish diplomatic relations with the USSR in the first half of 1941, therefore, began to provide assistance with the supply of weapons, equipment and other goods at the end of the summer of 1941 - the defeat of the USSR would mean inevitable collapse and surrender for England.
On August 1, 1940, Erich Marx presented the first version of the plan for the war against the USSR. This option was based on the idea of a fleeting, lightning-fast war, as a result of which the German troops were planned to enter the Rostov-Gorky-Arkhangelsk line, and later to the Urals. The capture of Moscow was of decisive importance. Erich Marx proceeded from the premise that Moscow is "the heart of Soviet military-political and economic power, its seizure will lead to the end of Soviet resistance."
According to this plan, it was envisaged to deliver two strikes - north and south of Polesie. The northern strike was planned as the main one. It was supposed to be applied between Brest-Litovsk and Gumbinen through the Baltic States and Belarus in the direction of Moscow. The southern strike was planned to be carried out from the southeastern part of Poland in the direction of Kiev. In addition to these strikes, a "private operation to seize the Baku region" was planned. The implementation of the plan was allotted from 9 to 17 weeks.
Erich Marx's plan was played out at the headquarters of the Supreme Command under the leadership of General Paulus. This check revealed a serious flaw in the presented option: it ignored the possibility of strong flank counterattacks by Soviet troops from the north and south, capable of disrupting the advance of the main group towards Moscow. The headquarters of the supreme command decided to revise the plan.
In connection with Keitel's message about the poor engineering preparation of the bridgehead for the attack on the USSR, the Hitlerite command issued an order on August 9, 1940 called "Aufbau Ost". It outlined measures for the preparation of a theater of military operations against the USSR, the repair and construction of railways and highways, bridges, barracks, hospitals, airfields, warehouses, etc. The transfer of troops was carried out more and more intensively. On September 6, 1940, Jodl issued an order, which stated: “I order an increase in the number of occupation forces in the east over the next weeks. For security reasons, Russia should not give the impression that Germany is preparing for an offensive eastward. "
On the 5th day of 1940, at a regular secret military conference, Halder's report on the Otto plan, as the plan for the war against the USSR was originally named, and on the results of the headquarters exercises. In accordance with the results of the conducted exercises, it was planned to destroy the flank groupings of the Red Army by developing an offensive on Kiev and Leningrad before the capture of Moscow. As such, the plan was approved. There was no doubt about its implementation. Supported by all those present, Hitler declared: "It is to be expected that the Russian army, at the very first strike of the German troops, will suffer an even greater defeat than the French army in 1940" 3. Hitler demanded that the war plan provide for the complete destruction of all combat-ready forces on Soviet territory.
The participants in the meeting had no doubts that the war against the USSR would be over quickly; indicated and CPOK ~ weeks. Therefore, it was planned to provide only a fifth of the personnel with winter uniforms, Hitler's General Guderian admits in his memoirs published after the war: was provided only for every fifth soldier. " German generals subsequently tried to shift the blame for the unpreparedness of the troops of the winter campaign onto Hitler. But Guderian does not hide the fact that the generals were also to blame. He writes: “I cannot agree with the widespread opinion that only Hitler was to blame for the lack of winter uniforms in the fall of 1941” 4.
Hitler expressed not only his own opinion, but also the opinion of the German imperialists and generals, when, with his characteristic self-confidence, he said in the circle of those close to him: “I will not make such a mistake as Napoleon; when I go to Moscow, I will perform early enough to reach it before winter. "
On the day after the conference, December 6, Jodl instructed General Warlimont to draw up a directive on the war against the USSR on the basis of decisions taken at the conferences. Six days later, Warlimont presented the text of directive No. 21 to the yodel, who made several amendments to it, and on December 17 it was handed to Hitler for signature. The next day, the directive was approved under the title Operation Barbarossa.
When meeting with Hitler in April 1941, the German ambassador in Moscow, Count von Schulenburg, tried to express his doubts about the reality of the plan, a war against the USSR. BUT he achieved only that he fell out of favor forever.
The fascist German generals developed and put into effect a plan of war against the USSR, which met the most predatory aspirations of the imperialists. The military leaders of Germany unanimously spoke in favor of the implementation of this plan. Only after the defeat of Germany in the war against the USSR, the beaten fascist commanders for self-rehabilitation put forward a false version that they objected to the attack on the USSR, but Hitler, despite the opposition shown to him, nevertheless unleashed a war in the East. For example, the West German general Btomentrit, an active Nazi in the past, writes that Rundstedt, Brauchitsch, Halder discouraged Hitler from war with Russia. “But all this did not bring any results. Hitler insisted on his own. With a firm hand, he took the wheel and led Germany to the cliffs of complete defeat. " In reality, not only the "Fuhrer", but the entire German generals believed in the "blitzkrieg", in the possibility of a quick victory over the USSR.
Directive No. 21 said: "The German armed forces must be ready to defeat Soviet Russia by a fleeting military operation even before the end of the war with England" - the main idea of the war plan was defined in the directive as follows: "The military masses of Russian armies must be annihilated in daring operations with deep advance of armored units. It is necessary to prevent the retreat of combat-ready units into the vastness of Russian territory ... The ultimate goal of the operation is to fence off the common line of Arkhangelsk - Volga from Asian Russia. "
On January 31, 1941, the headquarters of the main command of the German ground forces issued a "Directive for the concentration of troops", which outlined the general concept of the command, determined the tasks of army groups, and also gave instructions on the deployment of headquarters, demarcation lines, interaction with the fleet and aviation, etc. This directive, defining the "first intention" of the German army, set before it the task of "splitting the front of the main forces of the Russian army, concentrated in the western part of Russia, with rapid and deep blows of powerful mobile groupings north and south of the Pripyat swamps and, using this breakthrough, destroy the disunited groupings of enemy troops ".
Thus, two main directions for the offensive of the German troops were outlined: south and north of Polesie. North of Polesie, the main attack was delivered by two groups of armies: "Center" and "North". Their mission was defined as follows: “North of the Pripyat Marshes, Army Group Center is advancing under the command of Field Marshal von Bock. Having introduced powerful tank formations into battle, it makes a breakthrough from the Warsaw and Suwalki area in the direction of Smolensk; then turns the tank troops to the north and destroys, together with the Finnish army and German troops brought up for this from Norway, finally depriving the enemy of the last defensive capabilities in the northern part of Russia. As a result of these operations, freedom of maneuver will be provided for performing subsequent tasks in cooperation with German troops advancing in the southern part of Russia.
In the event of a sudden and complete defeat of the Russian forces in the north of Russia, the turn of the troops to the north disappears and the question of an immediate attack on Moscow may arise. "
South of Polesie, it was planned to launch an offensive with the forces of Army Group South. Its mission was defined as follows: “South of the Pripyat Marshes, Army Group South under the command of Field Marshal Rutzdstedt, using a swift strike from powerful tank formations from the Lublin area, cuts off Soviet troops in Galicia and Western Ukraine from their communications on the Dnieper, captures crossings across the Dnieper River in the Kiev area and to the south of it thus provide freedom of maneuver for solving subsequent tasks in cooperation with the troops operating to the north, or performing new tasks in the south of Russia. "
The most important strategic goal of the Barbarossa plan was to destroy the main forces of the Red Army, concentrated in the western part of the Soviet Union, and to capture important militarily and economically areas. In the future, German troops in the central direction hoped to quickly reach Moscow and capture it, and in the south - to occupy the Donetsk basin. In the plan, great importance was attached to the capture of Moscow, which, according to the plan of the German command, was to bring Germany a decisive political, military and economic success. The Hitlerite command believed that its plan of war against the USSR would be carried out with German precision.
In January 1941, each of the three army groups received a preliminary task in accordance with directive number 21 and the order to conduct a war game in order to check the expected course of battles and obtain material for a detailed development of an operational plan.
In connection with the planned German attack on Yugoslavia and Greece, the beginning of hostilities against the USSR was postponed for 4-5 weeks. On April 3, the main command issued an order, which stated: "The start time of Operation Barbarossa, due to the operation in the Balkans, has been postponed by at least 4 weeks." 1941 An intensified transfer of German troops to the Soviet border began in February 1941. Tank and motorized divisions were pulled up last, so as not to reveal a premature plan of attack.
Until 1941, Hitler successfully conquered Europe. At the same time, he did not suffer serious losses. Hitler planned to end the war with the USSR in 2 - 3 months. But unlike in Europe, Soviet soldiers put up strong resistance to the Nazi army. And by the fall of 1941, the plan for the quick capture of the USSR was thwarted. The war dragged on.
Hitler had a great goal. He wanted to completely change Eurasia and make Germany the strongest country in the world. There was a special plan for the USSR called OST. It was planned to destroy the Soviet order of government and completely dispose of the people at their own discretion.
Primary goal
The main goal of Germany was resources, of which there were a lot in the USSR. Huge areas of fertile land. Oil, coal, iron, other minerals, and free labor. The German people believed that after the war they would be given the occupied lands and people who would work for them free of charge. Hitler planned to reach the A-A line (Astrakhan-Arkhangelsk), and then secure the border. To create four Reichskommissariat on the occupied territory. From here it was planned to take out everything that would be required for Germany.
According to the plan, the population of the region should be reduced to 14 million. They wanted to evict the rest to Siberia, or destroy, which they did from the beginning of the war. It was planned to annihilate 3-4 million Russians every year until it reaches the "required" population. The cities in the occupied territory were not needed. They wanted to keep only healthy, strong workers living in small villages that are easy to manage. In place of the Slavs, it was planned to settle about eight million Germans. But this plan failed. It was easy to evict people, but the Germans, having moved to new lands, were not very happy with the living conditions. They were given land to cultivate. The Germans themselves could not cope, and none of the remaining peasants wanted to help. There were not enough Aryans to settle the occupied territories. The German government allowed the soldiers to have relationships with the women of the conquered peoples. And their children were brought up as true Aryans. Thus, it was planned to create a new generation loyal to Nazism.
As Hitler said, Soviet people do not need to know much. Being able to read a little, write in German and count to a hundred was enough. An intelligent person is an enemy. Medicine is not needed for the Slavs, and their fertility is undesirable. Let them work for us, or die, the Fuehrer believed.
The general plan of the OST was known to few. It consisted of mathematical calculations and graphs. And there was no mention of genocide. It was an economic management plan. And not a word about the destruction of millions of people.
In late 1940, Hitler signed an ominous document - Directive 21, which became known as the "Barbarossa" plan. The attack on the USSR was originally planned for May 15: the German command planned to end the Red Army before autumn. However, the Balkan operation launched by Germany to seize Yugoslavia and Greece pushed the date of the attack to June 22.
If you want peace, prepare for war
The emergence of Plan Barbarossa may seem strange at first glance. Only a year ago, a non-aggression pact was signed between Germany and the Soviet Union - the so-called Ribbentrop-Molotov, which provided for the redistribution of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. What has changed in relations between the recent "allies"? First, in June 1940, France, Hitler's most serious enemy on the continent, surrendered to German troops. Secondly, the recent winter war of the USSR against Finland showed that the Soviet combat vehicle was not so powerful, especially against the background of German successes. And, thirdly, Hitler was still afraid of starting a military operation against England, having Soviet divisions in the rear. Therefore, immediately after the French signed the surrender, the German command began to develop a plan for a military campaign against the USSR.
Tooth for tooth
Finland and Romania were to play an important role in the implementation of the Barbarossa plan. Quite recently, the Soviet Union seized the Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg from the Finns, and Bessarabia from the Romanians, i.e. lands that were previously part of the Russian Empire. The leaderships of these countries yearned for revenge. According to the Barbarossa plan, the Finnish troops were to pin down the Soviet troops with their offensive in the north, and the Romanians in the south. While the German units will deal a crushing blow in the center.
Swedish neutrality
During World War II, Sweden officially declared its neutrality. However, in Barbarossa's plan, Sweden's role is clearly spelled out - the Swedes had to provide their railways for the transfer of 2-3 German divisions to help Finland. Everything went according to plan - in the very first days of the war, a German division was allowed through the territory of Sweden for operations in Northern Finland. True, the Swedish Prime Minister soon promised the frightened Swedish people that no German divisions would be allowed through Swedish territory anymore and that the country would not enter the war against the USSR. However, in practice, the transit of German military materials to Finland began via Sweden; German transport ships transported troops there, hiding in the territorial waters of Sweden, and until the winter of 1942/43 they were accompanied by a convoy of Swedish naval forces. The Nazis secured the supply of Swedish goods on credit and their transportation mainly on Swedish ships.
Stalin's line
In the 30s, a powerful system of fortifications was built on the western borders of the USSR, which consisted of fortified areas from the Karelian Isthmus to the Black Sea, in the West it was nicknamed the Stalin line. The fortification included casemates, positions for field artillery, bunkers for anti-tank guns. After the partition of Poland and the return of Western Ukraine and the Baltic States, the border was pushed back and the Stalin line was in the rear, some of the weapons were transferred to new borders, but Zhukov insisted that some of the artillery weapons be retained in the disarmed areas. The Barbarossa plan called for a breakthrough of the border fortifications by tank forces, but the German command apparently did not take Stalin's line into account. Subsequently, some fortified areas played a role in the war, their assault made it possible to delay the advance of the Nazis and disrupt the blitzkrieg.
We'll go south!
The fierce resistance of the Soviet troops, the great elongation of the troops, the guerrilla war in the rear led to the fact that Hitler decided to seek his fortune in the south. On August 21, 1941, Hitler issued a new directive, which stated that the most important task before winter was not to capture Moscow, but to seize Crimea, industrial and coal regions on the Donets River and block the Russian oil supply routes from the Caucasus. The Barbarossa plan, which called for a march to Moscow, cracked at the seams. Part of the forces of Army Group Center was transferred to the aid of Army Group South in order to achieve a strategic advantage in the Ukraine. As a result, the offensive on Moscow began only at the end of September - the time was lost and the Russian winter loomed ahead.
Cudgel of the People's War
The plan developed by the German generals did not take into account the resistance of the civilian population at all. With the onset of autumn, the advance of the Germans slowed down significantly, the war dragged on, and the civilian population did not meet the winners as obedient Europeans and, at the first opportunity, struck back at the invaders. Italian observer Curzio Malaparte noted: “When the Germans begin to fear, when a mysterious German fear creeps into their hearts, you begin to be especially afraid for them and feel sorry for them. They look pitiful, their cruelty is sad, their courage is silent and hopeless. Here the Germans begin to become brutal ... They begin to kill prisoners who have rubbed their legs and can no longer walk. They begin to burn villages that have not been able to provide the amount of grain and flour, barley and oats, cattle and horses established in accordance with the requirements. When there are almost no Jews left, they hang the peasants. " The people responded to the atrocities of the fascists by leaving for the partisans, the club of the people's war, without examining anything, began to nail the Germans in the rear.
General "Winter"
The blitzkrieg plan captivated Hitler so much that during its development the fact of the protracted war was not even considered. The attack was originally planned for May 15 to end the Soviets before autumn, but in reality, the Balkan operation launched by Hitler to seize Yugoslavia and Greece pushed the date of the attack to June 22 - it took time for the transfer of troops. As a result, General Zima, as the Germans called him, took the side of the Russians. By winter, the Hitlerite army was completely unprepared, the captured Germans sometimes found themselves dressed in work clothes pulled over uniform trousers and jackets and lined with unnecessary paper, including leaflets calling for surrender, which were scattered from planes behind the front line over the locations of the Russians. Hands without mittens froze to the metal parts of the weapon, and frostbite became no less formidable enemy of the Germans than the pushing Soviet units.
The fascist aggression against the Soviet Union, named after the Roman emperor "the Barbarossa plan", was a fleeting military campaign pursuing one single goal: to crush and destroy the USSR. The final date for the end of hostilities was supposed to be the fall of 1941.
A year before in December 1941, late in the evening, the Fuhrer signed a directive under serial number 21. It was printed in nine copies and was kept in the strictest confidence.
The directive received the code name - the Barbarossa plan. It provided for the end of the campaign of defeating the USSR even before the end of the war against Great Britain.
What was this document and what goals was pursued by the Barbarossa Plan - this is a carefully designed aggression directed against the Soviet Union. With the help of him, Hitler, intending to achieve world domination, had to remove one of the main obstacles to his imperial goals.
The main strategic targets were Moscow, Leningrad, Donbass and the Central Industrial Region. At the same time, the capital was given a special place, its capture was considered decisive for the victorious outcome of this war.
For the destruction of the USSR, Hitler planned to use all German ground forces, with the exception of only those that were supposed to remain in the occupied territories.
The Barbarossa plan called for the release of the forces of the fascist air force to assist the ground forces of this eastern operation, so that the ground part of the campaign could be completed as quickly as possible. At the same time, the directive ordered by any means to minimize the destruction of eastern Germany by enemy aircraft.
Naval combat operations against the Northern, Black Sea and Baltic Soviet fleets were to be carried out by ships of the Reich Navy together with the naval forces of Romania and Finland.
For a lightning-fast attack on the USSR, the Barbarossa plan considered the participation of 152 divisions, including tank and motorized, two brigades. Romania and Finland intended to deploy 16 brigades and 29 ground divisions in this campaign.
The armed forces of the satellite countries of the Reich were to operate under a single German command. Finland's task was to cover the northern forces, which were to attack from Norwegian territory, as well as the destruction of Soviet troops on the Hanko Peninsula. At the same time, Romania was supposed to link the actions of the Soviet troops, helping the Germans from the rear areas.
The Barbarossa plan set specific goals based on pronounced class contradictions. It was the idea of starting a war, which turned into the destruction of entire nations with the unlimited use of methods of violence.
Unlike the military incursions into France, Poland and the Balkans, the blitz campaign against the Soviet Union was prepared very scrupulously. The Hitlerite leadership spent enough time and effort to develop the Barbarossa plan, so defeat was ruled out.
But the creators could not accurately assess the strength and strength of the Soviet state, and proceeding from the exaggeration of the economic, political and military potential of the fascist empire, they underestimated the power of the USSR, the fighting efficiency and morale of its people.
Hitler's "machine" was gaining momentum for a victory that seemed very easy and close to the leaders from the Reich. That is why the hostilities were supposed to be a blitzkrieg, and the offensive was a continuous advance deep into the USSR, and at a very high speed. Short breaks were provided only for pulling up the rear.
At the same time, the Barbarossa plan completely ruled out any delays due to the resistance of the Soviet Army. The reason for the failure of this seemingly victorious plan was excessive confidence in one's own strength, which, as history has shown, ruined the plans of the fascist generals.