What problems did Russia experience during its campaign on the Eastern Front?
1 Answer
The Soviet Union was unready for the Second World War, largely due to the effects of Stalin's Great Terror in the 1930s but also to the inefficiencies of the Communist Economy.
Explanation:
There are many histories of the Second World War and the Eastern Front. You may wish to get the small picture from Catherine Merridale's "Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army 1939-1945; the big picture from John Keegan's "The Second World War" and the expert picture from the works of Professor John Erickson.
The Soviet Union in the late 1930s was an intimidated society: The Great Purges and the Terror unleashed by Stalin had eliminated even the idea of questioning his rule, and suppressed initiative and independent thought throughout the society. Stalin had also arrested and executed thousands of senior military officers in 1937-38. Political commissars and officers from the NKVD also closely supervised all military commanders at all levels.
The German military (even under Hitler) was much more flexible and innovative at all levels, encouraging independent thought and action by even private soldiers in accordance with the 'mission tactics' of Augtrastaktik. What we call 'Blitzkrieg' was not just about radios, tanks and dive-bombers, but about tactics of innovation, surprise and speed at all levels of command and by all units.
Soviet soldiers would wait for orders, Germans rarely did. Soviet officers would want to check their decisions with Political Officers and the NKVD; Germans didn't have to, and could change their plans if circumstances in battle changed on them, so long as they achieved their goals.
German soldiers had been carefully trained to be flexible and adaptable; and they were probably the best trained soldiers in the world in 1941. Russian training was much less thorough and complete. German officers were the product of careful training in leadership and command, a lot of Soviet officers were new to their jobs after their superiors had been arrested.
It took the Soviets a couple of years to learn how to fight as effectively as the Germans did, but by that time the Germans were deep inside Russia and millions of Russians were dead.
