Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front during World War II or the Great Patriotic War was where the Axis countries and the Soviet Union fought. It began in 1941 with Operation Barbarossa and ended in 1945 by the Soviet soldiers capturing Berlin. Both the Axis countries and the Soviet Union had many millions of soldiers, and both sides lost millions.

Eastern front
Part of The European theatre of World War II
Map from August 1943 - December 1944
Date 22 June 1941 - 8 May 1945 Location Eastern Europe Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Allied powers Soviet Union Polish People's Army Czechoslovakia Template:Country data Democratic Federal Yugoslavia Template:Country data Communist Albania LANÇ Former Axis Powers Romania (from August 1944) Bulgaria (from September 1944) Finland (from September 1944) Supported by United States British Empire Template:Country data Mongolian People's Republic Template:Country data Tannu Tuva Free France	Axis powers Germany Slovakia Croatia Romania (until August 1944) Finland (until September 1944) Italy (until September 1943) Hungary Supported by Spain
Commanders and leaders
Allied Leaders Joseph Stalin Georgy Zhukov Boris Shaposhnikov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Aleksei Antonov Kliment Voroshilov Semyon Timoshenko Semyon Budyonny Nikolai Kuznetsov Ivan Isakov Pavel Zhigarev Alexander Novikov Sergei Khudyakov Markian Popov Fyodor Kuznetsov Dmitry Pavlov  Mikhail Kirponos  † Ivan Tyulenev Andrey Yeremenko Pavel Kurochkin Ivan Konev Yakov Cherevichenko Rodion Malinovsky Kiril Meretskov Filipp Golikov Konstantin Rokossovsky Leonid Govorov Nikolai Vatutin  † Maksim Purkayev Vasily Sokolovsky Fyodor Tolbukhin Ivan Petrov Ivan Bagramyan Ivan Chernyakhovsky  † Stanislav Poplavsky Edvard Beneš Template:Country data Democratic Federal Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito Template:Country data Communist Albania Enver Hoxha	Axis Leaders Adolf Hitler Wilhelm Keitel Alfred Jodl Walther von Brauchitsch Franz Halder Kurt Zeitzler Hermann Göring Hans Jeschonnek Wilhelm von Leeb Fedor von Bock Gerd von Rundstedt Günther von Kluge Georg von Küchler Wilhelm List Maximilian von Weichs Ewald von Kleist Erich von Manstein Ernst Busch Walter Model Johannes Friessner Georg Lindemann Ferdinand Schörner Lothar Rendulic Heinrich Himmler Ion Antonescu Eastern Front (World War II) Media Semyon Timoshenko and Georgy Zhukov in 1940 Situation in Europe by May/June 1941, immediately before Operation Barbarossa German soldiers in a Panzer III tank; Kalmyk steppe north of Stalingrad, September 1942 German infantry in Russia, June 1943 Europe at the height of German military expansion, 1942 A map of the South Western Front (Ukrainian) on 22 June 1941. Operation Barbarossa: the German invasion of the Soviet Union, 21 June 1941 to 5 December 1941:*     to 9 July 1941*     to 1 September 1941*     to 9 September 1941*     to 5 December 1941 Moscovites gather by a loudspeaker to listen to Vyacheslav Molotov's announcement of the German invasion, 22 June 1941 Wehrmacht soldiers pulling a car from the mud during the rasputitsa period, November 1941 C. G. E. Mannerheim

Romania, Italy and other Axis members joined the war, and Finland fought the Continuation War against the Soviet Union in cooperation with the bigger Axis war.

The Eastern Front is called the "Great Patriotic War" in Russia, and it is sometimes called the "Soviet-German War" in the West.

About four fifths of the Axis soldiers killed in World War II died on the Eastern Front. Even more millions of Soviet soldiers died. Many war crimes were committed by German troops. The Eastern Front was the most important conflict in Europe during World War II.

The winter of 1941-1942 began unusually early. It was not noted as being particularly bad by the Soviets, but the Germans were accustomed to warmer temperatures and so were ill-prepared. The Germans' equipment broke down in the cold, and some men were still wearing summer uniforms, which they stuffed with newspapers in an attempt to stay warm. Many German soldiers froze to death in the extreme cold.

The partly successful Operation Barbarossa was followed in 1942 by the failed "Fall Blau" (Case Blue), which was intended to take the Caucasus region and its oilfields. It ended with Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad. In 1943 the Soviet Army won Battle of Kursk, the biggest battle among tanks in history.

A few years later, the Soviets pushed the German soldiers and invaded the German-occupied territories in Eastern Europe. The Soviets then invaded Germany itself and fought the Battle of Berlin, the final battle before Germany's surrender. And the soviets linked up with the western allies and the western front, Although the Soviets eventually repelled the Germans, the tremendous cost was five times as many Soviet deaths as Germans.

Main events

• 22 June 1941 - German invasion.
• 22-29 June 1941 - Defense of Brest Fortress.
• 2 October 1941 - 7 January 1942 - Battle of Moscow;
  • 5 December 1941 - counterattack starting.
• 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943 - Battle of Stalingrad.
• 5 July - 23 August 1943 - Battle of Kursk.
• 16 April - 2 May 1945 - Battle of Berlin.