Barbarossa Essays - Field Marshals Of Nazi Germany, Free Essays

Barbarossa Essays - Field Marshals Of Nazi Germany, Free Essays Barbarossa When Germany invaded Russia in 1941, they did so neither near-sighted or as a ?back-handed? diplomatic ploy. While Russia remained a key objective to Hitler, it was also seen as a necessity for long-term victory and survival in Europe for Germany. ?Plan Yellow?, as developed by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, called upon the pre-emptive strike against an imperialistic Russia, using speed and superior leadership as keys to victory. To always remember the axiom: ?History is written by the conquerers,? is key to the history of the German-Russian War 1941-1945. This paper intends to not only convey the necessity and the upside of a German attack and subsequent victorys but also the Russian Army?s offense stance of 1941. As Field Marshal Fedor von Bock wrote in his diaries ?A sense of fright came over the OKH? (German High Command) ?With no more enemies, who do we wait for to fight? Alas they had been waiting for us.? Germany in 1941 had reached a high point. The German economy, bolstered by it?s newly conquered lands, stood by itself with no equal. The citizenery had not witnessed victory like 1939-1941 since the day of Fredrich the Great. Germany, bolstered by such a booming economy and national morale, had yet to truly begin it?s ?witch-hunts,? nor had any of it?s concentration camps. While Jews were politically and often violently blamed and attacked for Germany?s ills, Hitler and the Nazi regime had at this point not begun the holocaust nor the mass killings. Most of Europe belonged to the Axis powers and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel?s Afika Korps, and the Italian Army had beaten the Allies to the far reaches of Africa. Mexico was being courted by the Axis diplomats and Brazil had remained nuetral, but swayed to Germany, (it?s imperialist conquerer). Japan had taken much of China and had moved towards Australia. Germany had no equal: economically, militarily, and no threat of one. The reasons for an invasion of Russia are many, but very simply, in all respects it made perfect sense to retain and protect the security and future of Germany. Contrary to most opinions, Germany was not embroiled in a two-front war in 1941, mainly because of Britain?s inability to bring significant pressure to bear on Germany by land, sea, or air during the proposed time period of ?Plan Yellow.? The naval blockade of German sea ports was failing miserably as the German empire was overly sufficient without imports. Britain?s traditional ?trump card?: sea power and naval blockades of German ports would be rendered obsolete by a victory in European Russia. If Germany defeated or eliminated Russia from the war, any British posture, even with the support of their empire would be meaningless in the face of German control of the fuel, iron, ore and agricultural resources of the entire continent. Britain would be at a complete loss and it would be her economy to collapse. Britain?s only option for obtaining critical materials, or victory of any sort, would appear to be in Africa. However, German air and ground forces freed from the continent (inner France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslavakia), could easily be diverted to Africa to prevent this. The destruction and conquest of European Russia would not only provide Germany with immense resources and capabilities to expand those resources, but it would also make Britain unable to carry on a fruitless war. Hitler?s Lebensraum, or literally ?living space?, is misleading as Germany was not overcrowded and had conquered an immense buffer zone against her enemies and neighbors. Lebensraum sought resources- iron, ore, fuel, food, factory space- it did not have inside the boundaries imposed in the Versailles Treaty of 1917. Hitler, in each of his military endeavors sought out these necessary resources above military strategy, even above diplomatic means. Hitler had so handily conquered Poland, annexed both Austria and Czechoslavakia, defeated Belgium, and a large British Expeditionary Force, and France so quickly.The entire armed forces working brilliantly enough to overrun Norway, nuetralize Britain, and their U-Boats disrupting sea supply lines from America, Hitler turned to the showdown with Soviet Russia. In late 1940 Hitler suggested to a friendly Russia that she enter and join the German-Italian Pact of Steel. The negotiations over the spoils of