Eastern Front #2 Day 2 of Operation Barbarossa: The North Army Attacks Podcast Por arte de portada

Eastern Front #2 Day 2 of Operation Barbarossa: The North Army Attacks

Eastern Front #2 Day 2 of Operation Barbarossa: The North Army Attacks

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 Last time we spoke about Day 1 of Operation Barbarossa. On June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa commenced, marking the beginning of one of history's largest military campaigns. German soldiers received the shocking news just hours before the assault, rallying under Nazi ideology with grim determination. At dawn, artillery and air raids erupted, catching Soviet forces unprepared. The Wehrmacht launched a surprise attack, swiftly advancing deep into enemy territory, achieving significant early victories against a disorganized Soviet defense. As the first day wore on, German forces encountered fierce resistance from Soviet soldiers demonstrating unexpected resolve. Despite initial success, logistical challenges soon became evident, as the harsh terrain of the Eastern Front complicated the advance. Roads were poor, forcing troops to abandon vehicles and rely on manpower to pull them free. While high-ranking German leaders celebrated their swift progress, the reality for individual soldiers was increasingly sobering; they faced a determined Soviet army far from the feeble force they had anticipated. This episode is: Day 2 of Operation Barbarossa: The North Army Attacks Well hello there, welcome to the Easter Front week by week podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800’s until the end of the Pacific War in 1945. Well hello there. In the last episode we opened up the can of worms that was Operation Barbarossa, only for day one. In this podcast we are going to continue that story, but for cohesive sack we decided to tackle this by army group. So for the remainder of the week each episode will cover the different groups and today we are talking about Army Group North. Prior to the invasion, Adolr Hitler emphasized that the most important objective was to prevent the Red Army from retreating in an orderly fashion. He stated that the blows against the Red Army must be sufficiently powerful to eliminate any chance of recovery. To achieve this, he asserted the necessity of deploying tank forces to encircle and annihilate the enemy's strongest units. Commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, Army Group North was stationed in East Prussia. Its strategic objective was Leningrad, with operational goals that included capturing the territories of the Baltic republics and securing the northern flank of Army Group Centre in Northern Russia, specifically between the Western Dvina River and the Daugavpils-Kholm Army Group boundary. Each of the German Army Groups was supported at the operational level by an Air Corps, except for Army Group Centre, which was supported by two Air Corps. A German Air Corps in 1941 was of variable strength but usually included at least 3 Air Wings of various types, including but not limited to Medium Bombers, Ground Attack and Fighter wings. There was a small Reconnaissance element in the Air Corps, but this was usually limited to a single flight of planes. Army Group North received support from the 1st Air Corps, led by Lt. General Förster, part of the 1st Air Fleet, led by Colonel General Keller. While this Corps lacked the dedicated ground attack Ju-87 Stuka wings found in other Air Corps, it compensated with a heavy concentration of Ju-88 medium bombers. In addition to the forces of the 1st Air Corps, there was also an ad-hoc organization led by Lieutenant Colonel von Wild, which was established to secure the coastline and ensure that the Soviet Navy could not disrupt the movement of the Heer along the coast. As was the case along the entire front, the 1st Air Corps launched surprise attacks on Soviet air bases in its sector with brutal effectiveness. The Soviet response was minimal, hindered by a significant lack of modern equipment, poor command and control, and the shock of being attacked without any warning. The few Soviet fighters that managed to take to the air were completely outclassed by their German counterparts. Soviet losses in the initial days of the war were so staggering that even the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe found them hard to believe. It is estimated that 1,800 Soviet planes were destroyed on the first day, with hundreds more lost throughout the week. In the far north, the war opened with a massive Soviet bomber raid on June 25, targeting cities across Finland with approximately 500 medium bombers. This ...
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