Tornado

Barbarossa

Barbarossa:

    Spring of 1941. Nazi Germany occupies Europe and only the British remain to fight on. After being shot down by the British, Hitler turns to the east where the lands of his future empire lies. 

    April, 1941, in a feild in Ukraine, a Soviet pilot examines a plane he had just shot down. It was a twin engine german bomber with civilian markings. It was easy  though, to detect the military outlook of the pilots. A smelting stench of plastic photographs showed that the Germans were trying to destroy photos they had recently taken. At this time,the Nazis and the Soviets were allies but it was expected not to last. 

    German recon, flying 33,000 feet above Russia were normally bypassed. But on April 15th, an engine problem caused a Junkers 87 to lose altitude, and quickly intercepted and shot down by a Soviet pilot. The pilots were interogated, and cllaimed to have lost their way flying to Krakow Poland. Being shot down 200 miles from that location, their argument was invalid. The pilots were from the Rowel Recon Squadron. They had been secretly photogaphing the Soviet territories for months, preparing Germany for their invasion of Russia. 

    10 days after the interogation, a secret report arrived in Moscow from Tupikov, the Soviet military attach'e in Berlin. The report saying Germany will attack Russia before years end. Nobody could specify when the Germans would attack. Stalin's best spy, claimed the attack could happen in March of June after harvest. The news was confusing. 

    5 months earlier, Hitler ordered German troops to prepare for thge invasion of Russia, to be named "Operation Barbarossa" Germans had began to take positions along the Soviet line. To save publicity, Hitler claimed the Soviets had been preparing to invade Europe, so Barbarossa would have been a defensive move. In private, Hitler said that in order to make Britain surrender, he had to crush their hope of the Soviet Union saving Europe. 

    Barbarossa relied on the Blitzkreig tactics. At the spearhead, 4 Panzer groups would rush through Soviet territory. The four groups lead by Generals Hoepner, Von Kleist, Guderian, and Hoth. The goal was to reach Moscow, and Europian Russia. German hopes were all too high, thinking victory would be theirs in a matter of months. 

   For the invasion, German forces were split into sections. The North to Leningrad, center to Moscow, and the south to Kiev. North and south each had a panzer group of their own. Center had the other two Panzer groups. The sections had arrived at the Soviet line during the winter of 1940, but tanks did not arrive until the eve of the attack. Hitlker wished the plan to look like he was invading Britain.

    The Wehrmacht was at its height of power and morale after victory in the west. In contrast, the Red Army was spread vastly with many units in peacetime. Troops at the front spent their time listening to politics. It would take 2-3 weeks to reinforce them. There was also little defensive planning time. Stalin knew he was not ready to fight Germany. Stalin began to increase his military structure. The Red Army had grown from over 1 million troops to over 5 million. While his army was growing, Stalin tried to avoid confrentations with Germany. 

    With tensions high, Stalin tried to negotiate with Hitler, but after no reply, he begain to reinforce his troops. On June 22nd, 1941, the Soviet line was displaced in 3 lines. Staring at Poland, and reaching the Dinepa River. At the beggining of the invasion, the Soviets with 92 Divisions, were going against 127 German Divisions. 

    June 21st, Operation Barbarossa begins. But the day before, a German  Sapper runs for the border and as he is captured by the Russians, he tells them that Germany will attack the next day. The first Germans in the Soviet Union were German Commandoes, who secured key bridges and roads. The Nazi Luftwaffe was in the air preparing to raid key cities and airfields. At 4 am, bomb doors opened. Russia's war had begun.