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The Soviet Union During WWII

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First Lieutenant
Jul 10, 2005
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The Soviet Union During World War 2

Study of the history of the Soviet Union during the second world war is of great importance in helping us to understand the world around us as it stands today. To that end this history of the war will attempt to analyse the Soviet role in it; how it came to become involved, the decisions it made during the conflict, and what it attempted to gain from the war.

To do this, we must go back to the period before the outbreak of war.

Foreign Policy

The Soviet Union spent much of the late nineteen thirties courting the nations of Eastern Europe. Indeed, much effort and energy was expended attempting to bring nations like Romania and Bulgaria into the Soviet sphere of influence. That these attempts largely failed can be attributed to long standing political differences. It is also largely accepted now that during the inter war period many European states viewed the Soviet Union and its leader Josef Stalin with a suspicious eye.

stalin4ja.jpg

Josef Stalin

Stalin himself reciprocated this view and was heard commenting to a close aide in nineteen thirty-eight, “These fascists, capitalists and imperialist dogs would gladly see our workers paradise in ruins.” So it is perhaps not hard to understand what lay behind the events of the following year.

What of German expansionism? The Soviet Union appeared disinterested on the issue of the German-Austrian union, Auchless, and of German territorial gains in Czechoslovakia. This position was determined more by practicality than anything else. Stalin himself spent much of his time overseeing the rapid expansion of the Red Army, and in any case, the Soviet Union was in no position to intervene in these matters, even if it had the desire to.
 
Military

The Soviet Union had rapidly expanded its military capability to a point where by the end of nineteen thirty-eight the Red Army could field nearly twice as many divisions as its nearest rival, Germany.

Natioanl Army Comparison for the Year Ending 1938

Soviet Union

136 Infantry Divisions
5 Cavalry Divisions
11 Mountain Divisions
0 Garrisons

16 Motorised Divisions
10 Light Armoured Divisions
10 Armoured Divisions

1 Headquarters

Total Divisions: 189

Germany

76 Infantry Divisions
1 Cavalry Division
4 Mountain Divisions
4 Garrisons

4 Motorised Divisions
7 Light Armoured Divisions
0 Armoured Divisions

4 Headquarters

Total Divisions: 106

France

48 Infantry Divisions
4 Cavalry Division
4 Mountain Divisions
0 Garrisons

0 Motorised Divisions
2 Light Armoured Divisions
0 Armoured Divisions

2 Headquarters

Total Divisions: 60

Red Army armoured corps were organised thusly: 1 Motorised Division with Brigade attachment, 1 Light Armoured Division equiped with the BT-7 light tank with heavy armour Brigade attachment, the KV-1, and 1 Armoured Division equiped with the BT-7m tank, again with a KV-1 Brigade attached.

kv17pz.jpg

The KV-1 heavy tank

However, all was not well within the Red Army. During the June of nineteen thirty-seven, Marshal M. N. Tukhachevskii and several other distinguished officers were tried and executed on false charges of treason. A full-blown purge of the Soviet officer corps ensued, resulting in the expulsion of thousands of Red Army officers. The Soviet secret police (NKVD) imprisoned or shot many of those dismissed. The precise rationale behind the purge is still obscure, although it is believed that Josef Stalin was massively paranoid about the Red Army, and wished to cripple its leadership, preventing any possibility of dissent.
 
I like this AAR alot. Great start, and I hope it "goes places". :)
 
Sir Humphrey said:
I like this AAR alot. Great start, and I hope it "goes places". :)
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Thanks Sir Humphrey, I am attempting to do a 'history book' style of AAR for my second game of HOI2, largely because I have neither the desire or talent to write a long winded fiction, and anyway I prefer reading the 'history book' style. Hopefully doing this will help me play a better game, ie thinking about my decisions in historical context.
 
bluermonkey said:
Thanks Sir Humphrey, I am attempting to do a 'history book' style of AAR for my second game of HOI2, largely because I have neither the desire or talent to write a long winded fiction, and anyway I prefer reading the 'history book' style. Hopefully doing this will help me play a better game, ie thinking about my decisions in historical context.
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I think a history book style AAR is the best kind to do. I tried doing a similar idea with the USSR in Victoria. I will be following this one and I think it's off to a great start bluermonley. Good luck with this one!
 
January-March 1939

The early months of the year of nineteen thirty-nine was indeed a time of great uncertainity for the nations of Europe. The origins of the war can be found during this period, for it was then that the nations of Germany and Italy stepped up their expansionism, sending shock waves throughout the world.

On March 15th the German Reich annexed the Chzechs and entered into a military alliance with Slovakia, turning that nation into a German satellite state. Days later on the 24th Lithuania, under intenses German pressure, ceded the province of Memel to Germany.

The Italians to were busy during the month of March. On the 30th Mussolini offered an ultimatum to King Zog: accept Italian rule or face the consequences. This was refused by Zog, in acknowledgement of his peoples desire to keep Albanian rule over Albanian land. The Italians promptly declared war.

Sensing the danger of ever expanding German borders, the nations of France and the UK, along with her dominions and colonies, quickly established a full blown military alliance with Poland on the 30th of March. They had expected this to halt Hitlers advance eastwards.

These events came as a shock to Stalin, who could envisage a future where the Germans and her allies could be sitting along the huge expanse of the Soviet border. Stalin realised the Soviet Union was vulnerable. Indeed, on the evening of the 30th Stalin was heard commenting, "...it will soon be time to tame the fascist beast." Indeed, documents show that as March drew to a close, the Soviet leadership had come to view war with the "fascists, capitalists and imperialists" as inevitable.
 
The Baltic War

The Soviet war with the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania grew out of a fear of a fascist invasion of the Soviet Union. Indeed, many now agree that this war was, for the most part, a war of ideologies.

Josef Stalin had tasked the Red Army to draw up a plan for the swift conquest of this region only weeks before war broke out. The plan called for a massive and overwhelming invasion of Estonia, and then a drive southwards towards Latvia, an ally of Estonia's, and then on towards Lithuania. All armoured corps along the western border, totalling thirty six divisions, and twenty seven infantry divisions were commited to the offensive. Massive movements of men and materialswere in place within a very short time indeed.

War was declared on the 6th of May at 23:00, and simultaneously sixty three Red Army divisions crossed the border into Estonia. At first Soviet advances were outstanding, with Estonian divisions evaporating on contact with their enemy. One Estonian soldier wrote after the war:

First there came the thud of the enemy guns. They pounded us for one hour solid. An officer who had sat with us, huddled down in our position waiting for the bombardment to end, got a crazy look in his eyes. Moments after their guns fell silent the tanks and infantry came. After failing to recieve any orders from anyone, including the officer with the crazy eyes, we retreated. Much to our shame, most of my platoon never fired a shot in anger during the war.

With overwhelming odds the Red Army quickly swallowed up Estonia, and Tallinn fell on the 23rd of May.

warmapbaltic2oi.jpg

The Soviet Union invades Estonia

The red arrows depict Red Army advances, achieved by the 23rd of May. The black line depicts where 27ya Armiya was held by Estonian troops. This resistance had collapsed by the 18th of May however.

It wasn't all so easy, however. In the north Field Marshall Budennji, commanding 27ya Armiya, ran into all sorts of trouble. He had under him nine divisions of infantry with two attached artillery brigades, and they soon found themsleves bogged down and unable to advance. Budennji, of the old guard, has been much critised for his failure to achieve as rapid a succes in his advance as elsewhere. However, such accusations are perhaps a little unfair. His divisions had had little time to prepare, and despite the still frozen conditions in the Estonian province of Narva, he was ordered not to delay his attack. Despite such difficulties, success elsewhere prevented this episode from turning from a slight problem into a disaster.
 
Estonia officialy became a part of the Soviet Union only hours after the country was subdued. Soviet Generals could now turn their attention southwards. Immediately after the capture of the Estonian capital of Tallinn on the 23rd of May, Red Army tanks and motorised infantry, followed up by non-motorised infantry swung southwards and flooded into lightly defended Latvian territory. This action caused the Lithuanian leadership to declare war on the Soviet Union. This would seem like a rather bizarre decision at best. However, it is now known that the Lithuanians had a long standing policy of guaranteeing the independance of fellow Baltic states Estonia and Latvia. Lithuania was honour bound to declare war.

The combined military strength of Latvia and Lithuania was weak in comparison to that of the Soviet Union. Indeed, on June 6th after the capture of Mazibre Latvia was annexed into the Soviet Union and after a twenty-four hour battle with General Rastikis and his nine infantry divisions of the Lithuanian army, the Red Army was easily able to occupy Lithuania and declare it part of the Soviet Union at 20:00 on the 15th of June.

bt79fs.jpg

The BT-7 light tank saw extensive action during the Baltic war

The Baltic war proved the superiority of mobile, armoured warfare against the infantry tactics of the Great War. Indeed, so swift were the Soviet advances that even senior figures inside the Kremlin were surprised. Of course, the Baltic states fielded hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned divisions, and only on two occasion throughout the entire campaign did the armies of the Baltic states offer up any kind of prolonged resistance. The Red Army had nonetheless proved that it could fight and win wars practicing the modern techniques of war fighting.
 
bluermonkey said:
War was declared on the 6th of May at 23:00, and simultaneously sixty three Red Army divisions crossed the border into Estonia.
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Hmmm, a bit overkill for those poor, poor Baltic States? Good updates, I can't wait untill your war with Germany (It is inevitable......)
 
therev said:
Great Start

Will this history book require quizzes to get a passing grade?
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therev I'm not sure what you're saying, excuse me for being thick! :confused:

Rapcw Thanks, I hope so to.

Atruejed Yeah, I prefer this style of AAR as well.

Lt Hilsdorf Overkill? Yes, maybe, but I've been stung before in this game where I haven't used overwhelming force. And yes, a war with Germany is inevitable.
 
Great AAR! Can you please give as a little resume of your production and technology you are currently researching (in historical style of course)

Can't wait for winter war and ze Germans.
 
Spricar said:
Great AAR! Can you please give as a little resume of your production and technology you are currently researching (in historical style of course)

Can't wait for winter war and ze Germans.
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Yes, I'l be doing that after writing up a little incident in the east.
 
excellent update. A most worty one at that.
 
Nomonhan

Throughout the nineteen thirties border clashes between the Japanese and Soviet Union were common. At first these were small incidents, involving the Mongolian People’s Republic (Soviet clients) or Manchuko (Japanese clients). It was not long however before such incidents increased in gravity, drawing in Soviet and Japanese soldiers.

In nineteen thirty-nine the world’s attention shifted from east to west, and the Manchuria-Mongolia border was not well defined. The Soviet Union claimed a border based on an eighteen fifty-eight treaty. The Japanese claimed the Halha river as the border, which they based upon old Chinese maps. Neither claim was particularly strong.

Several skirmishes took place Manchukuoan and Mongolian forces during the first half of nineteen thirty-nine, and eventually Soviet and Japanese troops were committed directly. So it was then that during the summer months of that year the Soviet Union and the empire of Japan clashed around Nomonhan village. The Japanese were eventually defeated by a massive Red Army counter attack, involving tanks and armoured cars.

Following this Japanese defeat the Soviet Union quickly secured a non-aggression treaty, which was something Stalin was immensely pleased with. Indeed, without it the Soviet Union may not have acted as ambitiously in the west as it did do.
 
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