Joseph Stalin

=== 1941–1942: German invasion ===
[[File:Battle of Moscow.jpg|thumb|With all the men at the front, women dig [[anti-tank trench]]es around Moscow in 1941.]]

In June 1941, Germany [[invaded the Soviet Union]], initiating the war on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=410–411|2a1=Roberts|2y=2006|2p=82|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=198}} Despite intelligence agencies repeatedly warning him of Germany's intentions, Stalin was taken by surprise.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=408–409, 411–412|2a1=Roberts|2y=2006|2p=67|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3pp=199–200, 202}} He formed a [[State Defense Committee]], which he headed as Supreme Commander,{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=414–415|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=206–207}} as well as a military Supreme Command ([[Stavka]]),{{sfn|Service|2004|p=413}} with [[Georgy Zhukov]] as its Chief of Staff.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=420}} The German tactic of ''[[blitzkrieg]]'' was initially highly effective; the Soviet air force in the western borderlands was destroyed within two days.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=417|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=201–202}} The German [[Wehrmacht]] pushed deep into Soviet territory;{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=235|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=416}} soon, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and the Baltic states were under German occupation, and [[Siege of Leningrad|Leningrad was under siege]];{{sfn|Service|2004|p=418}} and Soviet refugees were flooding into Moscow and surrounding cities.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=417}} By July, Germany's [[Luftwaffe]] was bombing Moscow,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=418}} and by October the Wehrmacht was amassing for a full assault on the capital. Plans were made for the Soviet government to evacuate to [[Samara|Kuibyshev]], although Stalin decided to remain in Moscow, believing his flight would damage troop morale.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=248–249|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=420|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3pp=214–215}} The German advance on Moscow was halted after [[Battle of Moscow|two months of battle]] in increasingly harsh weather conditions.{{sfn|Glantz|2001|p=26}}

Going against the advice of Zhukov and other generals, Stalin emphasised attack over defence.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=421, 424|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=220}} In June 1941, he ordered a [[scorched earth]] policy of destroying infrastructure and food supplies before the Germans could seize them,{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=482|2a1=Roberts|2y=2006|2p=90}} also commanding the [[NKVD prisoner massacres|NKVD to kill]] around 100,000 political prisoners in areas the Wehrmacht approached.{{sfn|Gellately|2007|p=391}} He purged the military command; several high-ranking figures were demoted or reassigned and others were arrested and executed.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=239–240|2a1=Roberts|2y=2006|2p=98|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=209}} With [[Order No. 270]], Stalin commanded soldiers risking capture to fight to the death describing the captured as traitors;{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=241|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=210}} among those taken as a [[prisoner of war]] by the Germans was Stalin's son [[Yakov Dzhugashvili|Yakov]], who died in their custody.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=241–242|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=521}} Stalin issued [[Order No. 227]] in July 1942, which directed that those retreating unauthorised would be placed in "penal battalions" used as [[cannon fodder]] on the front lines.{{sfnm|1a1=Roberts|1y=2006|1p=132|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=223}} Amid the fighting, both the German and Soviet armies disregarded the [[law of war]] set forth in the [[Geneva Conventions]];{{sfn|Service|2004|p=423}} the Soviets heavily publicised Nazi massacres of communists, Jews, and [[Romani people|Romani]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=422}} Stalin exploited Nazi anti-Semitism, and in April 1942 he sponsored the [[Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee]] (JAC) to garner global Jewish support for the Soviet war effort.{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=568}}

[[File:RIAN archive 602161 Center of Stalingrad after liberation.jpg|thumb|left|The centre of [[Stalingrad]] after liberation, 2 February 1943]]
The Soviets allied with the United Kingdom and United States;{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=211}} although the U.S. joined the war against Germany in 1941, little direct American assistance reached the Soviets until late 1942.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=423}} Responding to the invasion, the Soviets intensified their industrial enterprises in central Russia, focusing almost entirely on production for the military.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=421}} They achieved high levels of industrial productivity, outstripping that of Germany.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=422}} During the war, Stalin was more tolerant of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], allowing it to resume some of its activities and meeting with [[Patriarch Sergius of Moscow|Patriarch Sergius]] in September 1943.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=442–443|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=242–243}} He also permitted a wider range of cultural expression, notably permitting formerly suppressed writers and artists like [[Anna Akhmatova]] and [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] to disperse their work more widely.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=441}} [[The Internationale]] was dropped as the country's [[national anthem]], to be replaced with [[State Anthem of the Soviet Union|a more patriotic song]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=442}} The government increasingly promoted [[Pan-Slavist]] sentiment,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=446}} while encouraging increased criticism of [[cosmopolitanism]], particularly the idea of "rootless cosmopolitanism", an approach with particular repercussions for Soviet Jews.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=446–447}} Comintern was dissolved in 1943,{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=260|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=444}} and Stalin encouraged foreign Marxist–Leninist parties to emphasise nationalism over internationalism to broaden their domestic appeal.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=446}}

In April 1942, Stalin overrode Stavka by ordering the Soviets' first serious counter-attack, an attempt to seize German-held [[Kharkov]] in eastern Ukraine. This attack proved unsuccessful.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=254|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=424|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3pp=221–222}} That year, Hitler shifted his primary goal from an overall victory on the Eastern Front to the goal of securing the oil fields in the southern Soviet Union crucial to a long-term German war effort.{{sfn|Roberts|2006|pp=117–118}} While Red Army generals saw evidence that Hitler would shift efforts south, Stalin considered this to be a flanking move in a renewed effort to take Moscow.{{sfn|Roberts|2006|p=124}} In June 1942, the German Army began a [[Case Blue|major offensive]] in Southern Russia, threatening Stalingrad; Stalin ordered the Red Army to hold the city at all costs.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=425}} This resulted in the protracted [[Battle of Stalingrad]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=426}} In December 1942, he placed [[Konstantin Rokossovski]] in charge of holding the city.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=427}} In February 1943, the German troops attacking Stalingrad surrendered.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=428|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=225}} The Soviet victory there marked a major turning point in the war;{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=225}} in commemoration, Stalin declared himself [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]].{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=429|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=226 |3a1=''Journal of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR'', 13 March 1943}}