World War II

====Axis attack on the Soviet Union (1941)====
{{Main|Eastern Front (World War II)}}
[[File:Second world war europe animation large de.gif|thumb|upright=1.2|[[European theatre of World War&nbsp;II]] animation map, 1939–1945 – Red: [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]] and the Soviet Union after 1941; Green: [[Soviet Union]] before 1941; Blue: [[Axis powers]]]]

With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union made preparations for war. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany, and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in [[Southeast Asia]], the two powers signed the [[Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact]] in April 1941.{{sfn|Garver|1988|p=114}} By contrast, the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, massing forces on the Soviet border.{{sfn|Weinberg|2005|p=195}}

Hitler believed that the United Kingdom's refusal to end the war was based on the hope that the United States and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Germany sooner or later.{{sfn|Murray|1983|p=[https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/AAF-Luftwaffe/AAF-Luftwaffe-3.html 69]}} On 31 July 1940, Hitler decided that the Soviet Union should be eliminated and aimed for the conquest of [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukraine]], the [[Baltic states]] and [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussia]].<ref name="GSWW4_26">{{Harvnb|Förster|1998|p=26}}.</ref> However, other senior German officials like Ribbentrop saw an opportunity to create a Euro-Asian bloc against the British Empire by inviting the Soviet Union into the Tripartite Pact.<ref name="GSWW4_38">{{Harvnb|Förster|1998|pp=38–42}}.</ref> In November 1940, [[German–Soviet Axis talks|negotiations took place]] to determine if the Soviet Union would join the pact. The Soviets showed some interest but asked for concessions from Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Japan that Germany considered unacceptable. On 18 December 1940, Hitler issued the directive to prepare for an invasion of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=810–812}}

On 22 June 1941, Germany, supported by Italy and Romania, invaded the Soviet Union in [[Operation Barbarossa]], with Germany accusing the Soviets of [[Soviet offensive plans controversy|plotting against them]]; they were joined shortly by Finland and Hungary.<ref name=Events1941>{{citation |last1=Klooz |first1=Marle |last2=Wiley |first2=Evelyn |others=Director: Humphrey, Richard A. |year=1944 |title=Events leading up to World War II – Chronological History |series=78th Congress, 2d Session – House Document N. 541 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |at=pp. 267–312 ([https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/events/1941.html 1941]) |url=https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/events/ |access-date=9 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214113907/https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/events/ |archive-date=14 December 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> The primary targets of this surprise offensive{{sfn|Sella|1978|p=555}} were the [[Baltic region]], Moscow and Ukraine, with the [[Strategic goal (military)|ultimate goal]] of ending the 1941 campaign near the [[A-A line|Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line]]—from the [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] to the [[White Sea]]s. Hitler's objectives were to eliminate the Soviet Union as a military power, exterminate [[Communism]], generate ''[[Lebensraum]]'' ("living space"){{sfn|Kershaw|2007|pp=66–69}} by [[Generalplan Ost|dispossessing the native population]],{{sfn|Steinberg|1995}}<!--please, don't add "page needed" template: it is a journal article--> and guarantee access to the strategic resources needed to defeat Germany's remaining rivals.{{sfn|Hauner|1978}}<!--please, don't add "page needed" template: it is a journal article-->

Although the [[Red Army]] was preparing for strategic [[counter-offensive]]s before the war,{{sfn|Roberts|1995}}<!--please, don't add "page needed" template: it is a journal article--> ''Operation'' ''Barbarossa'' forced the [[Stavka|Soviet supreme command]] to adopt [[strategic defence]]. During the summer, the Axis made significant gains into Soviet territory, inflicting immense losses in both personnel and materiel<!-- not a typo -->. By mid-August, however, the German [[Oberkommando des Heeres|Army High Command]] decided to [[Battle of Smolensk (1941)|suspend the offensive]] of a considerably depleted [[Army Group Centre]], and to divert the [[2nd Panzer Army|2nd Panzer Group]] to reinforce troops advancing towards central Ukraine and Leningrad.{{sfn|Wilt|1981}}<!--please, don't add "page needed" template: it is a journal article--> The [[Battle of Kiev (1941)|Kiev offensive]] was overwhelmingly successful, resulting in encirclement and elimination of four Soviet armies, and made possible further [[Crimean campaign|advance into Crimea]] and industrially-developed Eastern Ukraine (the [[First Battle of Kharkov]]).{{sfn|Erickson|2003|pp=114–137}}

[[File:RIAN archive 2153 After bombing.jpg|thumb|Russian civilians leaving destroyed houses after a German bombardment during the [[siege of Leningrad]] ([[Saint Petersburg]]), 10 December 1942]]
The diversion of three-quarters of the Axis troops and the majority of their air forces from France and the central Mediterranean to the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]{{sfn|Glantz|2001|p=9}} prompted the United Kingdom to reconsider its [[grand strategy]].{{sfn|Farrell|1993}}<!--please, don't add "page needed" template: it is a journal article--> In July, the UK and the Soviet Union formed a [[Anglo-Soviet Agreement|military alliance against Germany]]{{sfn|Keeble|1990|p=29}} and in August, the United Kingdom and the United States jointly issued the [[Atlantic Charter]], which outlined British and American goals for the post-war world.{{sfn|Beevor|2012|p=220}} In late August the British and Soviets [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|invaded neutral Iran]] to secure the [[Persian Corridor]], Iran's [[oil fields]], and preempt any Axis advances through Iran toward the Baku oil fields or India.{{sfn|Bueno de Mesquita|Smith|Siverson|Morrow|2003|p=425}}

By October, Axis powers had achieved [[operational objective]]s in Ukraine and the Baltic region, with only the sieges of [[siege of Leningrad|Leningrad]]{{sfn|Kleinfeld|1983}}<!--please, don't add "page needed" template: it is a journal article--> and [[Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942)|Sevastopol]] continuing.{{sfn|Jukes|2001|p=113}} A major [[Battle of Moscow|offensive against Moscow]] was renewed; after two months of fierce battles in increasingly harsh weather, the German army almost reached the outer suburbs of Moscow, where the exhausted troops<ref>{{Harvnb|Glantz|2001|p=26}}: "By 1 November [the Wehrmacht] had lost fully 20% of its committed strength (686,000 men), up to 2/3 of its ½&nbsp;million motor vehicles, and 65 percent of its tanks. The German Army High Command (OKH) rated its 136 divisions as equivalent to 83 full-strength divisions."</ref> were forced to suspend the offensive.{{sfn|Reinhardt|1992|p=227}} Large territorial gains were made by Axis forces, but their campaign had failed to achieve its main objectives: two key cities remained in Soviet hands, the Soviet [[Military capability|capability to resist]] was not broken, and the Soviet Union retained a considerable part of its military potential. The ''blitzkrieg'' [[Phase (combat)|phase]] of the war in Europe had ended.{{sfn|Milward|1964}}<!--please, don't add "page needed" template: it is a journal article-->

By early December, freshly mobilised [[Military reserve force|reserves]]{{sfn|Rotundo|1986}}<!--please, don't add "page needed" template: it is a journal article--> allowed the Soviets to achieve numerical parity with Axis troops.{{sfn|Glantz|2001|p=26}} This, as well as [[Richard Sorge#Wartime intelligence|intelligence data]] which established that a minimal number of Soviet troops in the East would be sufficient to deter any attack by the Japanese [[Kwantung Army]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Blood, Tears and Folly|last=Deighton|first=Len|publisher=Pimlico|year=1993|isbn=978-0-7126-6226-0|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/bloodtearsfollyo0000deig_v3m3/page/479 479]|url=https://archive.org/details/bloodtearsfollyo0000deig_v3m3}}</ref> allowed the Soviets to begin a [[Winter campaign of 1941–1942|massive counter-offensive]] that started on 5 December all along the front and pushed German troops {{convert|100|-|250|km|mi}} west.<ref>{{Harvnb|Beevor|1998|pp=41–42}}; {{Harvnb|Evans|2008|pp=213–214}}, notes that "Zhukov had pushed the Germans back where they had launched Operation Typhoon two months before.&nbsp;... Only Stalin's decision to attack all along the front instead of concentrating his forces in an all-out assault against the retreating German Army Group Centre prevented the disaster from being even worse."</ref>