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Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's World War II invasion of the Soviet Union. The operation was driven primarily by an ideological desire to conquer the Western Soviet Union so that it could be repopulated by Germans since both Jews and communists were considered equivalent enemies of the Nazi state. German forces achieved victory and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the Soviet Union, mainly in Ukraine. -
Battle of Smolensk
The First Battle of Smolensk was a battle during the opening stage of Operation Barbarossa. The German's next target on the way to the Soviet capital was the town of Smolensk. Battles around Smolensk were divided into phases and operations to halt any German offense. The Battle of Smolensk was another severe defeat for the Red Army in the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa but the battle had a strategic effect. -
First Battle of Kharkov
The 1st Battle of Kharkov was the 1941 tactical battle for the city of Kharkov during the final phase of Operation Barbarossa between the German 6th Army of Army Group South and the Soviet Southwestern Front. Although the main objectives of the German Army before winter fell were to capture Leningrad, Moscow and the approaches to the Caucasian oilfields, Kharkov was a very important secondary objective. -
Battle of Moscow
The battle of Moscow consists of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a 600 km sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. Soviet reserves ran low, and the offensive halted in January of 1942, after having pushed the exhausted and freezing German armies back 100–250 km from Moscow. Hitler was furious that his army had been unable to take Moscow. Stalin later announced that he was planning a general spring offensive, which would be staged simultaneously near Moscow. -
Second Battle of Kharkov
This battle was an Axis counter-offensive in the region around Kharkov against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted on the Eastern Front during World War II. Its objective was to eliminate the Izium bridgehead over Seversky Donets or the "Barvenkovo bulge" which was one of the Soviet offensive's staging areas. However, Stalin misconceived the capabilities of the Red Army and in the abilities of the Germans to defend themselves and successfully launch a counteroffensive. -
Case Blue
Case Blue was the German Armed Forces' name for its plan for the strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between June and November of 1942. The operation was a continuation of the previous year's Operation Barbarossa, intended to knock the Soviet Union out of the war. Gains were seen to advance Caucasus to capture large areas of land and several oil fields. In the end Soviets were only able to force the German Army back from Caucasus which delayed the final decision on the Eastern Front. -
Operation Little Saturn
Operation Little Saturn was a Red Army operation on the Eastern Front that led to battles in Caucasus and regions of the Soviet Union from Dec. 1942-Feb. 1943. The first stage operation consisted of a pincer movement which threatened to cut off the relieving forces. In the second stage Alpini held a front but Soviets advanced left and right of the them and forced them to escape. Lastly in February Alpini reached the Kharkov area where Axis forces were successful in organizing a line of defense. -
Third Battle of Kharkov
The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, assumed by the German Army Group South against the Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between February and March of 1943. On February 19th, Field Marshal Erich von Manstein launched his Kharkov counter-strike. The Wehrmacht encircled and defeated the Red Army's armored spearheads south of Kharkov. Later, German forces recaptured Belgorod creating a salient which would lead to the Battle of Kursk in July. -
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a Second World War encounter between German and Soviet forces on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union during July and August of 1943. Germans hoped to weaken the Soviet offensive potential by cutting off a large number of forces that would be in the Kursk salient. In the end it was a success for the Soviet as German offensive had been stopped before achieving a breakthrough; resulting in a change of pattern of operations on the Eastern Front by the Soviet Union. -
Battle of Dnieper
The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Between August and December, the eastern bank of the Dnieper was recovered from German forces by the Red Army's fronts. During this time several lodgements on the western bank were established however, the Battle of Dnieper was another defeat for the Wehrmacht. The Red Army which Hitler hoped to contain at the Dnieper, forced the Wehrmacht's defenses.
