First Period of the Great Patriotic War (June 1941 to November 1942)

Operation Barbarossa: the attack of 22 June 1941

Germany broke the 1939 Pact and attacked without warning on 22 June 1941. It used about three million soldiers, thousands of tanks and aircraft, in three groups: North (towards Leningrad), Centre (towards Moscow) and South (towards Ukraine and its grain and coal). Germany planned a quick victory in a few months (a "Blitzkrieg").

• Many Soviet aircraft were destroyed on the ground, and the army lost millions of men in the first months.
• Brave stands, such as at the Brest Fortress and Smolensk, slowed the attack.
• On 3 July 1941 Stalin called on the people to fight a "Patriotic War", and a State Defence Committee ran everything.
• In September 1941 the German armies surrounded Kyiv and a huge Soviet force was lost.

Moving factories east and the home front

To keep making weapons, the state evacuated over 1,500 factories and millions of workers by rail from the west to the Volga, the Urals and Siberia in 1941 and 1942. Machines were set up in open fields; production restarted within weeks or months. By 1942 Soviet factories produced more tanks, guns and aircraft than Germany.

On the farms and in towns, women, old people and teenagers replaced men who had gone to the front. Rations were small.

Siege of Leningrad

German and allied armies closed the ring around Leningrad on 8 September 1941. The siege lasted 872 days, until 27 January 1944.

• Food was cut to tiny rations, and winter 1941 to 1942 was very cold, so hunger and cold killed several hundred thousand civilians.
• The Road of Life: trucks crossed the frozen Lake Ladoga to bring food in and take children and the weak out.
• The city kept factories, schools and radio working. In January 1943 a narrow land corridor was opened, and in January 1944 the siege was fully lifted.

Battle of Moscow

In October 1941 Germany began Operation Typhoon to take Moscow. By early December its tanks were about 30 km from the city edge in places.

• Citizens dug trenches, and Moscow was put under a state of siege. On 7 November the usual parade was held, and soldiers went straight to the front.
• Fresh Soviet reserves from Siberia and the Far East, mud and an early severe winter wore the Germans down.
• 5 to 6 December 1941: the Soviet counteroffensive pushed the German front back 100 to 250 km by January 1942.
• Meaning: the myth of a quick German victory was broken. It was the first big defeat of Germany on land in the war.

Summer 1942 and the road to Stalingrad

In summer 1942 Germany gathered its strength in the south, aiming at the Volga and the Caucasus oil. The Soviet army had to retreat again. On 28 July 1942 Order No. 227 told soldiers: "Not a step back". Meanwhile the USSR also received more help from the Allies through Lend-Lease (trucks, food, aluminium). In August the Battle of Stalingrad began, and on 19 November 1942 the Soviet counter-stroke started. Historians use this date as the end of the "first period" and the beginning of the radical turn.

Try it

Use the date slider in step 5. Write the six dates on paper. For each, decide: is the front moving forward, stopping or going back? Then cover your notes and say the chain RUSH, MOVE, RING, STOP, VOLGA.

Key formulas and definitions

• 22 June 1941: Operation Barbarossa begins
• 8 Sep 1941 to 27 Jan 1944: siege of Leningrad = 872 days
• 5 to 6 Dec 1941: Soviet counteroffensive at Moscow
• 28 July 1942: Order 227 "Not a step back"
• 19 Nov 1942: Soviet counter-stroke at Stalingrad (end of the first period)
• About 1,500 factories evacuated east in 1941 to 1942
• Three German armies: North, Centre, South

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Thinking the Germans took Moscow. They were stopped outside it and pushed back in December 1941.
• Mixing the siege of Leningrad (8 Sept 1941 to 27 Jan 1944) with Stalingrad (1942 to early 1943).
• Saying the USSR was ready. It was surprised, and it lost heavily in the first months.
• Forgetting that factories moved east and that this helped later victories.