ThatDamnedPanda
Posts: 6060
Joined: 1/26/2009 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: vincentML quote:
ORIGINAL: ThatDamnedPanda quote:
ORIGINAL: LadyEllen Barbarossa was launched in 1941 as I recall, albeit a few weeks late - which proved very important indeed as it meant the Germans and their friends (Italians, Hungarians, Romanians) didnt make Moscow before winter closed in, as the plan had required. E Mid-June, actually. June 20 or 22, if I recall correctly. It was a month later than planned, and that month is probably what cost them victory. Hitler had meticulously studied Napoleon's invasion of Russia in order to avoid making the same mistakes, but wound up making the most important one all over again. Right down to the date, in fact. Napoleon launched his own invasion of Russia in the last week of June - 23 or 24, I believe. Of course, the fundamental difference was that Napoleon never intended to fight his way all the way to Moscow in the first place - he expected to meet and destroy the Russian army early in the campaign. The Russians wouldn't cooperate, however, realizing they had no chance of winning that battle. So they fell back, forcing Napoleon to extend his supply lines much longer than he'd expected would be necessary. He couldn't sustain a contested advance all the way to Moscow, and by the time he got there he had less than a quarter of his army remaining. But still, the lesson was there for Hitler to have learned. Unfortunately for him, the Soviets were the ones who learned it, not him. I have read that Napoleon's return trip was even worse, the weather was so bad (Little Ice Age) the men were dropping and freezing in place. Napoleon of course had a new SUV with heaters. (or maybe Hooters) ~laughing~ The Russians' legendary military genius, "General Winter." Actually, a lot of meteorological records indicate that the winter of 1812-1813 was relatively mild, by Russian standards, but for troops who were already starving, sick, physically exhausted, and completely demoralized, it was severe enough. Napoleon invaded with anywhere between 450,000 and 600,000 soldiers, and fewer than 100,000 of them ever saw Moscow. Of those, anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 ever saw home again. Between the weather, the famine, and the marauding Cossacks wreaking vengeance every step of the way, it was a tough walk home.
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Panda, panda, burning bright In the forest of the night What immortal hand or eye Made you all black and white and roly-poly like that?
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