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Operation Barbarossa Research Paper

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Introduction / Thesis Statement The purpose of this paper is to apply critical reasoning techniques to Operation Barbarossa, which was a German offensive in 1941 during World War II (WWII) against the Soviet Union. I will identify alternative intelligence assets which could have been employed by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to develop alternative courses of action / outcome to this operation. In addition to these alternative courses of action, I will identify second and third order effects that could have changed the outcome of WWII and potentially the world as we know it today.
Background
Prior to the onset of WWII, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact in 1939. This agreement stated that “the two countries …show more content…

This tactic employed the rapid deployment of troops and equipment to an area of operations, in order to overwhelm the defender. In July 1940, Adolf Hitler declared his intention to invade the Soviet Union and remove it from a being conventional world power (Taylor, 2013). Hitler and the German High Command (OHK) began planning the operational approach to Operation Barbarossa in July 1940. However, there was a contention between Hitler and the OHK Chief of Staff Franz Halder; with their point of view differing on the axis of advance and where their main efforts should be focused. Hitler wanted a two axis approach while focusing effort towards the Baltic States and Ukraine. While, Halder wanted to focus the brunt of military operations against Moscow; Halder viewed Moscow as the communications hub / economic center of Russia (Taylor, 2013) and vital to the success of the …show more content…

The outcome of this war game concluded that invasion forces directed at Ukraine and the Baltic States would support operations against Moscow, prior to reinforcing the northern and southern flanks (Taylor, 2013). This conclusion was rejected by Hitler, who favored securing the Baltic States and Ukraine, only then focusing Germany’s efforts towards Moscow (Taylor, 2013). On 18 December, Hitler signed directive 21, officially setting the campaign against the Soviet Union into motion. Directive 21 incorporated Hitler’s approach to the invasion of Russia and ultimately sealed Germany’s fate in WWII. Despite, planning operations against the Soviet Union continued Germany maintained diplomatic ties with the country and entered into a new agreement with Russia in January 1941. As the result of this agreement or concession Russia would provide Germany with natural resources it required to maintain its war effort (Jewish Virtual Library,

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