Shape of the Day Hook: Enemy at the Gates A Brief Introduction to the War in Russia Research Time Presentations Conclusion

Movie Questions What do you notice about the battle? Why would they send out men without guns? What does this mean? What are the people at the back of the Russian lines doing?

The War Moves East

Hitler’s Decision to Attack the Soviet Union With the Battle of Britain at a standstill, Hitler decided it was time to attack the Soviet Union, but why? With Europe under control, Hitler could focus on his main target the Soviet Union The Soviet Union had the “Lebensraum” (Living Space) that Hitler thought was necessary for Germany Hitler believed that the Soviet Union was full of Jews

Why It Was the Wrong Decision Hitler was now fighting a two front war, something he has said was “suicidal” in his book Mein Kampf Hitler had greatly underestimated the strength, leadership, and ferocity of Stalin and the Soviet Union The winters of the Soviet Union were extremely critical and forced the Soviet’s enemies to not only fight them, but winter as well

How Was the Soviet Union Different? Every man and woman was involved in some way or another in the War 80% of Soviet men born in 1923 did not live past World War Two 800,000 women fought during the War against the Nazis More Russians lost their lives during the Siege of Leningrad (Soldiers and Citizens) than all American and British Soldiers in World War Two

How Was the Soviet Union Different? Order No. 270 and 227 In August 1941 Stalin passed Order No. 270 which stated that anyone who surrendered would be executed if they made it back to Russia In July 1942 Stalin passed Order No 227 which stated that if any soldier took “one step back” they would be executed Special blocking units were created that would be responsible for killing as many as 150,000 people

Did You Know? Antitank Dogs The Soviet Union trained dogs to crawl under German tanks in the belief there would be food there These dogs had enough explosives on them to blow up tanks The explosives would be triggered as the dogs crawled under the tanks leaving German tanks destroyed It is estimated the 300 tanks were destroyed using this method

Results While the War on the Eastern Front started heavily in favour of the Germans, this would soon change By the end of the War the Soviets would have a larger and more effective army than the Nazis Despite their victory, the Soviets would suffer 10,651,000 deaths while the Axis would lose just over 5,000,000

Activity: Presentations on 5 Important Events Operation Barbarossa (June 22, 1941- The Battle of Moscow) Siege of Leningrad (8 September 1941 – 27 January 1944) Battle For Moscow (2 October 1941 – 7 January 1942) Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 19430 Kursk (5 July 1943 – 23 August 1943)