Other Allied Resistances

Reorganisation of USSR

• Successfully defended against Operation Barbarossa

Stalin

• Learnt from his mistakes in the initial months of German invasion
• Delegated control over the Red Army to competent generals
• Eliminated incompetent generals and fleeing soldiers

Red Army

• Made use of harsh winters in 1941 and 1942 to rebuild and reorganise
• Reorganised troops along German military lines
• Improved Communications
• Produced large amounts of weapons
• Fierce resistance even in retreat

Economy

• Moved major industrial plants to central and eastern Russia
• All resources devoted to military production
• Large amounts of resources provided by the USA through the Lend-Lease Programme
• By 1943, only second to the USA in military production

Sheer numbers, attitude, and the winter gave a lot of advantage to USSR

British resistance

• Hitler never planned for a war with BR
• Churchill made it clear that he planned to fight GR

10 Jul 1940

• Luftwaffe attacked British coastal defences and airfields with great success

15, 23 Aug 1940

• GR accidentally bombed cities
• BR retaliated by bombing Berlin

7 Sep 1940

• Hitler changed focus of attacks to BR cities
  • Gave RAF enough time to repair their airfields.
  • RAF retaliated and Luftwaffe failed to achieve air supremacy

18 Dec 1940

• Hitler made preparations for invasion of USSR
• Threat of an invasion of BR subsided

10 May 1941

• Blitz ended
• Hitler shifted focus to USSR

Underground Movements

• Communists long accustomed to working underground
  • Actively involved in resisting the Nazis when USSR was invaded
  • From June 1941, many civilians who opposed the Nazis joined the communist resistance
    • Saw it as a successful resistance movement
• Resistance actively encouraged and supported by BR and USSR