Statistics+of+Invasion

OPERATION BARBAROSSA- IN NUMBERS Historians rely on more than just accounts and stories. Often, numbers be just as informative in the study of history. Consider the following data and complete the analysis exercises on a separate piece of paper to learn about Operation Barbarossa through statistics.

1. TOTAL NUMBERS Population of USSR: 194 million Population of Germany: 78 million Looking at the numbers, many people now think it was ludicrous for Hitler to invade the USSR. Back that up with math. Find how many Russians there were for every German (divide Russia's population by Germany's population).

2) That figure isn't entirely accurate though, because not every German person could fight (old men, women, children) let alone were invading Russia. So, we need to recalculate, based on the numbers of each side's army. So, considering that 3,300,000 German soldiers invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa against Russia's army of 5,700,000, what is the proportion now of German soldier to Russian enemy? (How badly was the German army outnumbered?)

Still, despite these odds, Germany still did EXTREMELY well in the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. They conqured most of Eastern Europe, taking 2.5 million Soviet soldiers prisoner, in a very short amount of time.

3) To give you a sense of how far Germany got, consider the following- By December of 1941 the German army was only 15 miles from Moscow. Use Google Maps to find how far their army went then. ['Get directions' from Berlin to Moscow. Record the total distance in miles. (The default setting will give you kilometers- there's a 'show options' button beneath it though, if you click on that, one of your options is for miles).  Then subtract 15 from that total distance to get the distance they travelled. ]

Crazy, right? At first, based on this, would you call Operation Barbarossa successful? Now let's take a look at what Nazi occupation was like for the Soviet people.

4) Wh en the Nazis moved into the USSR they put in place their program of Social Darwinism- which means they sought to replace ‘inferior’ people with Germans. So, they would wipe out whomever they came across, so Germans could move in and take their land. This followed Hitler’s goal of gaining ‘lebensraum’ (living space) for his people, which he promised to do in “Mein Kampf”.  To illustrate the effects of this policy, consider what happened to an area known as Belarus, which was a part of the USSR at the time.  Belarus’s population before the Nazis invaded: 8.8 million  Total killed under Nazi occupation: 3,650,000  Belarusians sent back to Germany to work as slaves: 380,000

Calculate the percent of Belarusians who were lost/taken as a result of Hitler’s policies. [First add killed and kidnapped together. Then divide it from the total population before the war. Multiply that number by 100 to convert it from a decimal to a percent]

Some were taken off to concentration camps and killed:



Others were killed for resisting the Nazis. These civilians who fought back (called partisans) were often executed, either by hanging or firing squad.
 * Soviet civilians about to be hanged by German soldiers near Smolensk ||
 * Soviet civilians about to be hanged by German soldiers near Smolensk ||

Based on this, how would you describe life under Hitler's rule?

THINGS START TO TURN AGAINST THE GERMANS

As time went on, a number of factors helped stop the German onslaught. 5) First, Stalin ordered every man woman and child to do their best to fight the Germans. Now we need to recalculate how badly Germany was outnumbered, if every person in the Soviet Union was now out to kill the Germans. Total Russian Population: 194,000,000 Germany's Army in Russia by 1942: 3,100,000

How many Russians were there for every German Soldier? How might this impact the course of the war?

6) Next, Stalin forced every factory in the USSR to start cranking out tanks and planes as fast as possible (under threat of death). Look at the following chart. **Aircraft Available In Europe ** What happens to Soviet plane production? How does it compare to the number of planes that Germany has? (Remember too that Germany had to split its planes between Russia and the other places it was fighting). How might this affect Operation Barbarossa?
 * **Date ** || **Soviet ** || **German ** ||
 * June 1942 || 2100 || 3700 ||
 * December 1942 || 3800 || 3400 ||
 * June 1943 || 5600 || 4600 ||
 * December 1943 || 8800 || 4700 ||
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">June 1944 || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">14,700 || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">4600 ||
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">December 1944 || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">15,800 || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">8500 ||

7) The clearest turning point of the War on the Eastern Front was at the Battle of Stalingrad, which Germany lost. There they suffered nearly a million casualties. What portion of their entire army (in the East) was that? How might that impact the rest of their war?

**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER **

**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Percentage Of German Forces On The Eastern Front Each Year ** 8) If Germany focused that much of their strength on the Eastern Front, and they LOST the Eastern Front, what can you say about the significance of Hitler's decision to invade the USSR on the outcome of WWII?
 * **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Unit ** || **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1941 ** || **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1942 ** || **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1943 ** || **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">1944 ** ||
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Troops || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">84% || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">74% || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">72% || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">40% ||
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Aircraft || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">64% || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">65% || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">42% || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">45% ||

RUSSIA'S LOSSES:

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">The USSR was able to take down the Nazis, but they suffered heavily in doing so. Check out this fun fact:
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive WWII

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">9) What would you say the lasting impact of Hitler's decision to invade the USSR was on Russia's society?