World War II: Soviet War Damage


Figure 1.--Stalin ordered a scoarched earth policy within days of the NAZI invasion. When the Red Army began driving the Germans back, Hitler ordered a devestating orgy of destruction designed to leave the liberated areas uninhabited. Here we see a village after the Germans departed.

Substantial areas of the Soc=viet Union, especially the western Soviet Union was devestated by the War. Much of the destruction was in the non-Russian areas of the wesern Soviet Union. This included the areas annexed in 1939-40 (the Baltics, Poland, and ??? as well as Bylorussia and the Ukraine. There were three major reasons for the destruction: war damage and then the Soviet Scoarched earth policy as the Red Army was driven back early in the War (1941-42) and the NAZI scoarched earth policy (1943-45) as the Wehrmcht retreated back to Germany. The result was not only emense loss of like but a virtually unfathomable destruction of homes, farms, factories, and public buildings. The occupied areas of the Soviet Union were devestated to a greater extent than even Germany.

Areas

Substantial areas of the Soviet Union, especially the western Soviet Union was devestated by the War. Much of the destruction was in the non-Russian areas of the wesern Soviet Union. This included the areas annexed in 1939-40 (the Baltics, Poland, and ??? as well as Bylorussia and the Ukraine. The were the areas occupied by the NAZIs as a result of Operation Barbarossa (1941) and the subsequent Summer Offensive (1942). The Germans without a strategic bombing force employed the Luftwaffe primarilly in a tactical role. Thus the devestation of the Soviet Union was concentrated orimarily in the occupied area. The major exception was Leningrad which was not only bombed, but heavilly shelled by the Germans. The city never fell, but large areas were destroyed.

Extent

The Western Soviet Union occupied by the NAZIS was devestated. Stalin was to say after the War that it was comparable to a nuclear attack. Not only was the industrial and agricultural infrastruture devestated, but there was massive loss of life. Soviet estimates range above and below 30 million people. Most estimates fall between 27-35 million people. The great majority of these individuals were civilians. This would be about 15 percent of the pre-War Soviet population. Of course it would be a much higher percentage of the population of the occupied areas. No one knows how many Soviets doed in the War. Faulty records as well as political issues cloud this grisley calculation. For example do you count the population of the countries and areas seized by the Sobiets in 1939-40 as Soviet citizens. Another complicating factor is the very large number of Soviet citizens killed by Soviet authorities themselves.

Causes

There were three major reasons for the destruction: war damage and then the Soviet Scoarched earth policy as the Red Army was driven back early in the War (1941-42) and the NAZI scoarched earth policy (1943-45) as the Wehrmcht retreated back to Germany. The result was not only emense loss of like but a virtually unfathomable destruction of homes, farms, factories, and public buildings.

War damage


Soviet scoarched earth policy (1941-42)

Stalin was stunned by the NAZI Operation Barbarossa (June 1941). Despite the warnings, he was convinced that with the NAZI-Societ Non-Agression Pact that Hitler woulsd never attack, especially as the Germans had not defeated Britain in the West and america was increasingly intervening. The shock appears to have paralyzed the reputed iron-willed Soviet dictator. Stalin was silent for 11 days. Finally Stalin spoke on the radio to the Soviet people (July 3, 1941). He condemned the NAZI invasion and called Hitler and Ribbentrop "fiend". Stalin announced a "scorched earth" policy. This ment destroying land and buildings in the path of advancing NAZI troops so as to leave nothing usefulto the enemy. It was not the first time the Russians had used this policy. Stalin instructed the Soviet people, "In case of a forced retreat... all rolling stock must be evacuated, the enemy must not be left a single engine, a single railway car, not a single pound of grain or gallon of fuel. The collective farmers must drive off all their cattle and turn over their grain to the safe keeping of the state authorities for transportation to the rear. All valuable property, including non-ferrous metals, grain and fuel that cannot be withdrawn must be destroyed without fail. In areas occupied by the enemy, guerilla units ... must set fire to forests, stores and transports." The numbers involved in this operation are staggering. The Soviet, drove shipped 6 million head of cattle from Ukraine east to safe areas in Russia. They managed to move 550 large factories and thousands of small factories. The buildings of course could not be moved, but the equipment and tools could be moved. Much of this equipment was set at secure sites in the Urals and beyond and production initiated even before factory buildings could be built. An estimated 300,000 tractors the were shipped east. The Soviets evacuated 3.5 million skilled workers from Ukraine to secure areas in the Russian Republic. Ukranian partisans attacked nearly 5,000 trains, destroyed 607 railway bridges, 915 warehouses, and damaged over 1,500 tanks and armoured vehicles. Soviet authorities destroyed major industrial facilities. The most spectaculasr was the Dniprohes Dam on the Dnieper River, which was the largest hydro-electric dam in Europe. The Soviet destroyed mines and factories. Hitler had premised Barbarossa on securing the bountiful agricultural and mineral resources of the Soviet Union. Hitler was sure that with Soviet resources in his hands that he could wage war indefintly. The Soviet scoarched earth policy, however, seriously impaired the NAZI efforts to exploit the Soviet potential. The Soviet strategy had other benefits, by withdrawing east into the seemingly edless steppe of Russia, the Red Army bought time and stretched German manpower reserves and supply lines..

NAZI scoarded earth policy (1942-45)

The Soviet Winter offensive before Moscow startled the NAZIs. For the first time in World War II, areas conquuered by the Germans were liberated. A furious Adolf Hitler issued scoarched earth orders of his own to his commanders. The Commander of the Army Group South in the Ukraine issued a "Top Secret" Memorandum (December 22, 1941). "The following concept of the Fuehrer is to be made known ... to all commanders ... " "Each area that has to be abandoned to the enemy must be made completely unfit for his use. Regardless of its inhabitants every locality must be burned down and destroyed to deprive the enemy of accomodation facilities ... the localities left intact have to be subsequently ruined by the air force." [Kondufor, p. 172.] German actions were not limited to the destruction of property. The Germans retreating from villages drove villagers into churches and then burned the churches. These actions were not just the work of the SS, but regular Wehrmacht units. The retreat from the the eastern Ukraine began with the fall of Stalingrad (February 1943). The defeat at Kursk (July-August 1943) meant that the western Ukraine would have to be abandoned. The NAZIs intensified their destruction. SS leader Henrich Reinhard Himmler ordered SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Prutzmann "to leave behind in Ukraine not a single person, no cattle, not a ton of grain, not a railroad track ... The enemy must find a country totally burned and destroyed" (September 7, 1943), [Bezymenski p. 38.] The Wehrmascht as it retreated west destroyed 18,414 miles of railroad track. Mines were flooded and otherwuse destroyed, factories that the Soviets had left standing were blown up. Efforts were also made to make it impoosible for the Siviet people to survive. Wells were poisoned and over two million dwellings and other uildings were burned or destroyed. The Ukraine was devestated. The Germans "razed and burned over 28,000 villages and 714 cities and towns, leaving 10,000,000 people without shelter. More than 16,000 industrial enterprises, more than 200,000 industrial production sites, 27,910 collective and 872 state farms, 1,300 machine and tractor stations, and 32,930 general schools, vocational secondary schools and higher educational institutions of Ukraine had been destroyed. The direct damage to the Ukrainian national economy caused by the fascist [Nazi German] occupation came to 285,000,000,000 rubles..." [Bazhan, p. 155.]

Sources

Bezymenski

Kondufor, Yu. ed. History Teaches a Lesson (Kiev: 1986). Document no. 119.

Bazhan, M.P. ed. Soviet Ukraine (Kiev: Editorial Office of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, 1969). 569 p.






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Created: 6:33 AM 3/24/2005
Last updated: 4:39 AM 3/25/2005