The Battle of Kursk - Operation Barbarossa - Extra History - Part 1

📜 The Battle of Kursk - Part 1 - Extra History
June 1941, Nazi Germany launched an attack upon the Soviet Union. The German Reich had been building up forces along the Eastern Front for a long time, but the sudden aggression caught Soviet forces unprepared. Many troops were captured and the Germans quickly conquered territory from the Soviet states. But the Soviets reorganized, improved their communication structure, and pulled together a defense at Smolensk. Although they lost again, they critically slowed the German advance and halted their race towards Moscow. Instead, the Germans tried to lay siege at Leningrad, only to be struck themselves by insufficient supply lines and a brutal winter that claimed the lives of many soldiers. With that, the Wehrmacht withdrew and redirected its efforts towards Stalingrad. Josef Stalin refused to let them take any land "further than the Volga" in Russia, and mounted a stiff defense. Even when the Luftwaffe, the German air force, reduced the city to rubble, Soviet soldiers continued to wage war from the debris. Meanwhile, the Germans were so focused on their offensive that they let their defensive lines collapse, and in October 1941 the Soviets managed to surround and pin down the German 6th Army. Their commander refused surrender terms because he didn't want to displease Adolf Hitler, but the 6th Army's resistance inevitably collapsed in February 1942.

*Miss an episode in our Battle of Kursk Series?*

Artist: Heather McNabb I Writer: James PortnowI Voice: Daniel FloydI Editor: Carrie Floyd

#ExtraHistory #BattleofKursk #History

[Marconius]

"I want you to draw Hitler really happy, with a big smile on his face, surrounded by roses." That must have been an interesting conversation.

[andro]

''I was killed near Rzhev
In a nameless bog,
In fifth
company,
On the Left flank,
In a cruel air raid

I didn’t hear explosions
And did not see the flash
Down to an abyss from a cliff
No start, no end

And in this whole world
To the end of its days - Neither patches, nor badges
From my tunic you’ll find

I am where the blind roots
Seek for food in the dark
I am where the rye waves
On a hill in the dust''

–Alexander Tvardovsky

[orcaeng]

when one city owns 2 places for the most deadly sieges.

[wiggumesquilax]

The Germans' mistake was in rushing Pavlov's house directly, rather than taking C first.

[archangeldo]

So who all is enjoying the sequel in 2024?

[WargamingEurope]

Aaaannd we are live! Thank you Extra Credits team for a wonderful presentation of history.
We hope everyone enjoys this episode.

[definitly_not_putin]

0:29 there is a mistake (?) the one in the left is Ribbentrop and the one of the right is Molotov.

[Hamsterdami]

*CORRECTION! Baltics, *
*not Balcans*

[thehistoricalgamer]

When you say the Germans are hailed as liberators in the "Balkans" I assume you mean the "Baltic" states that the USSR occupied in 1940 (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).

[TheKMB]

5:11 I never knew that Operation Barbarossa involved France invading Germany.

[Bizmarckus]

German Empire: Takes down Russia
The third Reich: takes down France
I see...

[pythonkillr]

Operation Barbarossa?
Adidas? Check
Vodka? Check
Tanks that malfunction every 2 minutes? Check
I'm ready.

[Turbopotato]

6:15 so glad you used a picture of "Pavlov's House". The whole story about the brave soviets holding that appartment is incedebly heroic. So much so in fact, that "call of duty" had a level about it in the original COD game.

It's genuinly a wikipedia article i enjoyed reading.

[ColegaBill]

WTF is that "And in the Balkans..." part? Oh, you mean Baltics. Indeed.

[jeffreyzheng]

Germany: Peace was never an option!
Russia, smiling: *NOR WAS WINTER*

[dorkfish]

*INTO THE MOTHERLAND THE GERMAN ARMY MARCH!*

[pavelZhd]

I just want to point out that a great lack of competence in Soviet command in the beginning of the War, was not entirely due to purges Stalin made out of his bloodlust, of fear of opposition.
A much greater role in this was due to a civil war thar raged in USSR a few decades bofere.
Before USSR was even born, Russian army was loyal to Russian Emperor. And with Emperor being effectively dethroned by the time Soviets were grabbing the Power meant that many officers refused to serve Soviets. Or even worse -took arms against them. And beside this, common soldiers (who supported Soviets mostly) often killed their officers withour asking if those officers would support the new power - in anger for the massivelossesRussian Army took in first World War.

So by the time Stalin got to power, he had not so many competent officers to begin with... So even without the purges, conpetence of Soviet Army during the initial stagesof the war would not be soaring.

***

And on a side note. It alwyas astonish me why people never mentioned how much of the tactics used by Soviets to stall German winter offensive operations were actually learned by Russian from Finns, during the Winter War...

[jameswxy]

You labeled Molotov and Ribbentrop as one another at 0:29, it should be the other way around.

[justinleea]

No one can defeat Russia in the winter... except the mongols!

[MT]

That's the type of sponsoring more companys should do. Just awesome!