I've always found the German invasion into Russia to be a really fascinating point of World War II, for a few reasons. One is because of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which was signed in Poland two years previously. This pact basically divided up Poland, and these two powers who were vehemently opposed to each other came to an agreement. Basically, you stay on your side of the line and I'll stay on mine, and we won't attack each other.
This pact really stunned the entire world. Hitler and Stalin were about as close to mortal enemies as two people could get outside of a movie, and it shook the game up. What would happen now that these two powers were at peace? Russia, the sleeping giant on the one hand, and Hitler and his obvious zeal for expansion on the other. The entire thing was unheard of.
I've talked a bit about this here.
On Sunday, June 22, 1941, Hitler moved into Russia. But first, let's set some stuff up.
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| German troops on Soviet state border, June 22, 1941 (wikipedia) |
Stalin, for numerous very obvious reasons, wasn't very happy about Hitler moving his troops into Soviet territory. The idea that Hitler would not honor the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact this soon wasn't something Stalin really enjoyed entertaining, and while they were preparing for the eventuality, the reality hit much earlier than anticipated. So when Hitler was massing his forces on Russia's border, Stalin had people calling him basically saying, "Look, boss, there are all these Germans here and like... should we do something about that?" Stalin's answer time and again was a variation of, "Don't worry about it. They won't attack."
"At around 01:00 on 22 June 1941, the Soviet military districts in the border area were alerted by NKO Directive No. 1, issues late on the night of 21 June. It called on them to "bring all forces to combat readiness," but to "avoid provocative actions of any kind." It took up to two hours for several of the units subordinate to the Fronts to receive the order of the directive, and the majority did not receive it before the invasion commenced. A German deserter, Alfred Liskow, had crossed the lines at 21:00 on 21 June and informed the Soviets that an attack was coming at 04:00. Stalin was informed, but apparently regarded it as disinformation. Liskow was still being interrogated when the attack began." (here)
On the Russian side of this, there were a lot more concerns than just, "Look, we have this pact, how dare you act against it". Boiling Stalin's concerns down to that one agreement that split Poland between two powers is easy, but it isn't doing justice to the complexity of the Soviet situation. Let me address just a fraction of what might have made Stalin sink into his 11 day depression after the launch of Operation Barbarossa (Aside from, "Hey, we're being invaded by fascists" which is literally enough to drive anyone into their room in an 11 day depression.)
First, the Russian army, while huge, was not outfitted well. In The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich (which I think should be mandatory reading by literally everyone) she interviews women who had to run into battle and get the weapons off the bodies of their fallen comrades because that's the only way they'd have guns to fire, or bullets, for that matter. There just wasn't enough to go around. So on the one side, there was this huge, fantastically outfitted and extremely well trained German military force, and on the other side, Russia had big numbers, but the military simply didn't have what it needed to stand against these invaders.
Coupled with that, Stalin was doing his Red Army purge (headed by the truly repugnant figure Lavrenty Beria) from about October 1940 through February 1942. Yes, he was even purging his military command during the Battle of Stalingrad. On October 16, 1941, for example, some 300 officers were put to death for one reason or another. (more here) So the military rank and file at the time was also pretty unstable. No one knew who was going to disappear next. Who was going to be blamed for (insert failure here) next. I'd imagine it would feel really close to impossible to feel comfortable in a brand new position when the German army is invading and the guy whose position you're taking over disappeared last Tuesday.
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| Beria's proposal on January 29, 1942 to execute 46 generals. Stalin's reply to "Shoot all named in the list - J. St." (wikipedia) |
On the one hand, you've got a purge going on in the military ranks, and on the other hand, you have the military rapidly trying to increase its numbers in order to address this looming threat. A lot of people were disappearing and/or being shuffled around. General chaos during a chaotic time tends to make things worse rather than better. A brief breakdown here:
"During Stalin's Great Purge in the late 1930s, which had not ended by the time of the German invasion on 22 June 1941, much of the officer corps of the Red Army was executed or imprisoned and their replacements, appointed by Stalin for political reasons, often lacked military competence. Of the fiver Marhsals of the Soviet Union appointed in 1935, only Kliment Voroshilov and Semyon Budyonny survived Stalin's purge. Tukhachevsky was killed in 1937. Fifteen of 16 army commanders, 50 of the 57 corps commanders, 154 of the 186 divisional commanders, and 401 of 456 colonels were killed, and many other officers were dismissed. In total, about 30,000 Red Army personnel were executed. Stalin further underscored his control by reasserting the role of political commissars at the divisional eleven and below to oversee the political loyalty of the army regime. The commissars held a position equal to that of the commander of the unit they were overseeing. But in spite of efforts to ensure the political subservience of the armed forces, in the war of Red Army's poor performance in Poland and in the Winter War, about 80 percent of the officers dismissed during the Great Purge were reinstated by 1941. Also, between January 1939 and May 1941, 161 new divisions were activated. Therefore, although about 75 percent of all the officers had been in their position for less than one year that the start of the German invasion of 1941, many of the short tenures can be attributed not only to the purge but also the rapid increase in the creation of military units." (here)
Stalin was warned about an invasion, however, by numerous intelligence officials not just in his own region but from London and America as well. He knew there was a possibility of Hitler attacking, and so started some preparations in 1940 for such an event. However, his distrust of the British and United States governments generally caused him to ignore their warnings. Aside from his preparations, he decided his best course of action would be to not to provoke Hitler, even after one of his spies gave him the exact date of the planned German invasion.
In early 1941, Stalin mobilized his forces to mass along the western border of the Soviet Union. Some 5 million members of the military were on the move, with about 14 million more in reserve. Before you get too excited about this, however, understand that they were unorganized, and when compared to the German forces, poorly trained with equipment that did not meet the needs of the battles they were facing. And, in an effort to not aggravate Hitler, they'd been told to basically be in place, but not to do much of anything to the Germans, to the point that some units were literally standing in place watching German troops march past them.
Mixed into this is something addressed very personally in the accounts in The Unwomanly Face of War, which is this sudden drive for a nationalistic pride. The idea of socialism is anathema to nationalism. That's one huge reason why the Nazi party and the Communists didn't get along. Hitler wanted to expand his empire, pushing his borders ever outward, whereas the goal of communism is to form one global society. A world without borders, as it were.
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| "Mercilessly annihilate Fascist Saboteurs." (From this website.) |
But here is this German force coming, and Stalin knew he needed to frame the fight in a way that would get the Soviet people to rally to his banner. He needed to embrace a form of nationalist fervor. Suddenly he had to reframe the war to not just being a war fought between Nationalism and Socialism, but a fight for the survival of the Russian people themselves.
"Stalin emphasized a centralist Soviet socialist patriotism that spoke of a collective "Soviet people" and identified Russians as being the "elder brothers of the Soviet people." During World War II, Soviet socialist patriotism and Russian nationalism merged, portraying the war not just as a struggle of communists versus fascists, but more as a struggle for national survival. During the war, the interests of the Soviet Union and the Russian nation were presented as the same, and as a result Stalin's government embraced Russia's historical heroes and symbols and established a de facto alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church. The war was described by the Soviet government as the Great Patriotic War. After the war, however, the use of Russian nationalism dramatically decreased and emphasis returned again to Marxist-Leninist ideology." (here)
Basically, war was coming and Stalin knew he needed to make it personal to get people to fight, if they were going to stand any chance of winning. In The Unwomanly Face of War, many of the women Alexievich interviews discussed why they joined the war: patriotism. A drive to fight for Mother Russia. Stalin's re-framing of the conflict from a war between two ideologies to the survival of the Russian people, was effective. His alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church saw churches re-opened. People were religious again, and they were praying for their motherland. Young people were joining the military in droves.
But it was work to get there. The Soviet government immediately knew they had to make this personal, and so they did, and this great national patriotism campaign was in full swing to try to switch the narrative from being about Communism, to being about Russia.
So you have a lot going on, and I'm not even really touching the tip of the iceberg here. These are just a few things that I think weigh a lot when considering Stalin's reaction. The reality of the situation probably broke him, and it likely took a while to deal with that.
The Germans invade and Stalin...
Basically has a breakdown and locks himself in his room for eleven days. No one can talk to him. He's unreachable. He goes into a huge depression. As the website Traces of War says, succinctly, "The first days after the invasion, Stalin was in a state of deep disturbance, apathy, and [dis]belief and only made himself heard publicly 11 days later, on July 3rd."
Which brings us to the point of this entire post.
Stalin goes into hiding for 11 days. Then, on July 3, 1941, he gives an infamous speech. It's notable for the language he uses here, for the first time calling the Soviet people "my brothers and sisters" According to Michigan State University, "These opening excerpts from Stalin's famous speech of July, 1941 were the first words that Soviet citizens heard from their leader after the crushing first weeks of war. Stalin effectively rallied his fellow citizens by using an entirely new language of Soviet rule, informal and intimate."
The speech was printed in the newspaper the next day. I'll put a copy of it below. I yoined this image and the speech text from this website.
As always, further reading links will be at the end of the post.
Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Soldiers of our army and navy!
To you I turn, my friends.
The treacherous military attack by Hitler-Germany on our motherland, which was launched on June 22nd continues. Despite heroic resistance by the Red Army and although the best divsions of the enemy and his best air force units have already been destroyed and have met their end on the battlefields, the enemy continues to advance and throws new troops into battle. Hitler’s forces have succeeded in conquering Lithuania, a considerable part of Latvia, the western part of Byelorussia and part of western Ukraine. The Fascist air force expands the range of its bombers and subjects Murmansk, Orsha, Mogilyow, Smolensk, Kiev, Odessa and Sevastopol to bombardments. A serious danger hangs over our motherland.
How could it occur that our illustrious Red Army has surrendered a few towns and regions to the Fascist armies? Are the German-Fascist troops really as invincible as the bragging Fascist propagandamachine is relentlessly broadcasting?
Of course not! History shows that invincible armies do not exist and have never existed. The army of Napoleon was thought to be invincible and yet it was defeated by respectively Russian, English and German troops. The German army of Kaiser Wilhelm was also considered invincible during the First Imperial War, yet it was defeated more than once by Russian and Anglo-French troops and ultimately destroyed by Anglo-French armies. The same should be said about the present Fascist German army of Hitler. This army has not yet faced any opposition worth speaking of on the continent of Europe. Only on our territory it has met noticable opposition. If as a result of this opposition the best divisions of the Fascist German army are defeated by the Red Army, then it means that Hitler’s Fascist army can just as well be defeated and will be defeated just like the armies of Napoleon and Wilhelm were defeated.
As to the fact that part of our territory has nevertheless been captured by the German-Fascist troops, this has its origins mainly in the fact that the war of Fascist Germany against the U.S.S.R. was launched in favorable conditions for the German troops and unfavorable conditions for the Soviet troops. The armies of Germany, as the offending nation, had already been fully mobilised and the 170 divisions that were deployed by Germany against the U.S.S.R. and had been transferred to the frontier were already on full alert and waiting only for the signal to attack, whereas the Soviet forces still had to be mobilised and transferred to the borders. Of no small importance here was the situation that Fascist Germany unexpectedly and treacherously violated the non-aggression pactthat she entered into with the U.S.S.R. in 1939, without taking into account that she would be branded as the aggressor by the entire world. It may be obvious that our peace loving nation never wanted to take the initiative towards dissolving the pact and could not have taken the road towards breach of faith.
One may wonder: how could it have come about that the Soviet government has signed a non-aggression pact with such traitors and monsters like Hitler and Von Ribbentrop? Has the Soviet government made a mistake here? Of course not! A non-aggression pact is a treaty between two states. Such a treaty was offered to us by Germany in 1939. Could the Soviet Union reject such an offer? I think no peace loving nation can reject a peaceful arrangement with a neighbouring country, even when such a state is headed by monsters and cannibals such as Hitler and Von Ribbentrop. And that of course on one decisive condition: if the peaceful arrangement is neither directly nor indirectly detrimental to the territorial inviolability, independency and honour of that peace loving state. As we know, the non-aggression pact between Germany and the U.S.S.R. was indeed such a pact.
What did we gain by a non-aggression pact with Germany? We have secured peace in our country for one and a half years and have taken the opportunity to prepare our forces for resistance, should Fascist Germany risk an attack on our country, notwithstanding the pact. This was a definite gain for us and a loss for Fascist Germany.
What did Fascist Germany win and what did she lose by treacherously dissolving the pact and invading the U.S.S.R.? She has gained some advantages for her armies for a short period but suffered a loss in the political arena by portraying herself in the eyes of the world as a blood-thirsty aggressor. There can be no doubt that this short term military gain for Germany is just an episode, whereas the enormous political gain for the Soviet Union is a significant and long-term factor, based on which the Red Army will achieve military successes in the war against Fascist Germany.
See here why our entire fearless army, the whole of our fearless navy, all falcons of our air force, all peoples of our nation, all the best people in Europe, America and Asia and ultimately also the best people in Germany will brand the treacherous actions of the Germanic Fascists and sympathise with the Soviet government, approve the actions of the Soviet government and recognise our cause is just, that the enemy will be defeated and that we must be victorious.
In this war that was thrust upon us with violence our country is engaged in a life and death struggle against its most evil and most underhanded enemy - the Germanic Fascism. Our army heroically fights the enemy who is armed to the teeth with tanks and aircraft. The Red Army and the Red Navy, having overcome numerous problems, fight with selfsacrifice for every inch of Soviet territory. The main body of the Red Army, armed with thousands of tanks and air craft, swings into action. The gallantry of the soldiers of the Red Army is unsurpassed. Our resistance against the enemy increases in force and scope. The whole Soviet population stands up to defend our motherland together with the Red Army.
What is required to take away the danger hanging over our motherland and what measures should be taken to destroy the enemy?
Above all it is necessary that our people, the Soviet population recognise the full scope of the danger that threatens our country and free themselves of the spirit of unconcern, frivolity and peaceful build up, which was fully understandable in the period before the war but which is disastrous in present times when the situation has been changed drastically by the war. The enemy is cruel and unrelenting. His goal is the conquest of our territory, drenched with our sweat and the appropiation of our grain and our oil, harvested by our hard work. His goal is the re-establishment of the rule of landlords, the re-institution of Czarism, the destruction of the culture and the national government systems of the Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Uzbekians, Tatars, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbedjanians and the other free peoples of the Soviet Union; their Germanisation and their slavish submission to the princes and barons. Therefore it means life or death of the Soviet state, life or death of the peoples of the Soviet Union and it concerns the question whether the Soviet peoples remain free or will be subdued. It is imperative that the Soviet peoples understand this and will not remain careless, that they will pull together and base their work on a new military footing, giving no quarter to the enemy.
Furthermore it is necessary that there shall be no place in our ranks for lamentors, panic mongers, cowards and deserters, that our people know no fear in battle and that they shall participate in our national war of liberation against the Fascist suppressors in a sacrificial spirit. The great Lenin, founder of our state, has said that the main characteristics of the Soviet people must be their courage and their gallantry, their fearlessness in battle and their willingness to fight the enemies of our motherland together with the population. It is necessary that millions and millions of soldiers of the Red Army, of our Red Navy and all peoples of the Soviet Union acquire these great characteristics of the Bolshevist.
We must put all our labor efforts on a military footing immediately and make everything subordinate to the interests of the front and the destruction of the enemy. The peoples of the Soviet Union now see that the Germanic Fascism is possessed by an untamable wrath and hatred towards our motherland, which provides all workers with free labor and prosperity. The peoples of the Soviet Union must rise up to protect their rights and their territory against the enemy.
The Red Army, the Red Navy and all citizns of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of Soviet territory, fight till the last drop of blood and show our towns and villages the manliness, the spirit of enterprise and the cleverness that are peculiar to our people.
We must organise vast support for the Red Army, provide the army with additional re-inforcements for its ranks, provide the army with all the required equipment, the speedy progress of troop transports, arrange for war material and set up extensive care for the wounded.
We must re-inforce the rear guard of the Red Army by making all our efforts subordinate to this goal, we must see to it that all industries intensify their activities, more rifles, more machineguns, more artillery pieces, more shells and more aircraft must be produced, we must organise the protection of factories, powerplants, telephone and telegraph lines and we must set up local air defences.
We must wage a ruthless war against anyone who disturbs the rear guard, against deserters, panic mongerers, those spreading rumors; we must exterminate spies, saboteurs and enemy parachutists and we must achieve a speedy co-operation with our shock battalions. We must keep in mind that the enemy is sly, cunning and experienced in deceit and the spreading of false rumors. We have to take all this into account and not accept provocations. Anyone who thwarts the national defence by panicking and cowardice must be brought before a military tribunal immediately regardless of who or what he is.
In case of a forced retreat by units of the Red Army all rolling railway stock must be taken away without leaving behind even a single locomotive, a single railway carriage, a single pound of grain or a single gallon of fuel for the enemy. Colchoz farmers must take away all their livestock and surrender the grain to the state to be transferred to rear areas. All valuable possessions that cannot be taken away, such as non-ferro metals, grain and fuel must absolutely be destroyed.
In areas occupied by the enemy, partizan units must be established, motorised as well as on foot and sabotage groups must be formed to engage the hostile army,to unleash partisan warfare everywhere, to blow up bridges and roads, to disable telephone and telegraph lines and to set fire to woods, depots and convoys. In the occupied areas, an untenable situation must be created for the enemy and his henchmen, they must be persecuted and destroyed at each step and all their measures must be made to fail.
The war against Fascist Germany cannot be considered a normal war. It is not only a war between two armies, it is also a great war of the entire population of the Soviet Union against the Fascist German troops. The goal of this Patriotic War of the entire population against the Fascist suppressors is not only to remove the danger that hangs over our country but also to help all European peoples that suffer under the rule of German Fascism. In this war of liberation, we will not stand alone. In this great war we will have at our disposal loyal allies in the form of European and American people, also including the German people that has been enslaved by the Hitlerian rebels. Our war for the freedom of our fatherland will blend in with the struggle of the European and American population for their independence, for democratic freedom. This will be a united front of people who promote freedom and oppose suppression or the threat of suppression by Hitler’s Facist armies. In this connection, the historical statement of the British Prime Minister, mister Churchill about aid to the Soviet Union and the declaration of the American government about its willingness to come to the aid of our nation are completely understandable and characteristic and cannot evoke anything else but feelings of gratitude in the hearts of the Soviet peoples.
Comrades! Our forces are boundless. The arrogant enemy will soon experience this. Many thousands of laborers, colchoz farmers and members of the intelligentsia have already risen up to engage the invading enemy in battle in co-operation with the Red Army. Millions of citizens will rise up as well. The laborers of Moscow and Leningrad have already begun to establish a people’s militia with thousands of members to support the Red Army. We must raise such people’s militias in every city which is threatened by enemy invasion and we must call on all workers to commence the struggle in order to defend their freedom, their honour and their motherland with their bodies in our Patriotic War against Germanic Fascism.
In order to quickly mobilise all forces of the Soviet people and to defend ourselves against the enemy who has treacherously invaded our country, a State Defence Committee has been established in whose hands the complete power of governemnt is concentrated. The Committee has begun its work and calls on the entire population to gather around the party of Lenin and Stalin and around the government to lend unselfish support to the Red Army and to the Red Navy in order to defeat the enemy and achieve victory.
All our efforts in support of our heroic Red Army and our illustrious Red Navy.
All efforts by the population for the destruction of the enemy.
Forward, for our victory.
Further Reading
On Occasion of the German Invasion, June 22, 1941
WWII Eastern Front: Stalin Speaks to the People of the Soviet Union on the German Invasion
The Propaganda of the Soviet Union during World War II
The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
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