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World War II: The Battle of Kursk - I: Operation Barbarossa - Extra History (Patreon)

Published:
2016-02-15 15:30:33
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

We've teamed up with Wargaming to bring you an extra series of Extra History about World War II: The Battle of Kursk!

Make sure you watch the additional video with a comment from James: http://bit.ly/1Pzy1k5

Files

Previews only

The Battle of Kursk - I: Operation Barbarossa - Extra History

*Sponsored* by Wargaming! Download World of Tanks: http://bit.ly/1oejwZD Support Extra History on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon Subscribe for new episodes every Saturday! http://bit.ly/SubToEC --- (Episode details below) Watch the full Kursk series: http://bit.ly/1TL1FWr Grab your Extra Credits gear at the store! http://bit.ly/ExtraStore Play games with us on Extra Play! http://bit.ly/WatchEXP Talk to us on Twitter (@ExtraCreditz): http://bit.ly/ECTweet Follow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/ECFBPage Get our list of recommended games on Steam: http://bit.ly/ECCurator ____________ Why doesn't this series use the Nazi swastika symbol? James explains: http://bit.ly/1Pzy1k5 ____________ In June 1941, Nazi Germany launched an attack upon the Soviet Union. The German Reich had been building up forces along the Eastern Front for a long time, but the sudden aggression caught Soviet forces unprepared. Many troops were captured and the Germans quickly conquered territory from the Soviet states. But the Soviets reorganized, improved their communication structure, and pulled together a defense at Smolensk. Although they lost again, they critically slowed the German advance and halted their race towards Moscow. Instead, the Germans tried to lay siege at Leningrad, only to be struck themselves by insufficient supply lines and a brutal winter that claimed the lives of many soldiers. With that, the Wehrmacht withdrew and redirected its efforts towards Stalingrad. Josef Stalin refused to let them take any land "further than the Volga" in Russia, and mounted a stiff defense. Even when the Luftwaffe, the German air force, reduced the city to rubble, Soviet soldiers continued to wage war from the debris. Meanwhile, the Germans were so focused on their offensive that they let their defensive lines collapse, and in October 1941 the Soviets managed to surround and pin down the German 6th Army. Their commander refused surrender terms because he didn't want to displease Adolf Hitler, but the 6th Army's resistance inevitably collapsed in February 1942. ____________ ♫ Get the intro music here! http://bit.ly/1EQA5N7 *Music by Demetori: http://bit.ly/1AaJG4H ♫ Outro music provided courtesy of Wargaming! "Reading 'Stars and Stripes'" by Sergey Khmelevsky http://bit.ly/1Oak2wZ

Comments

Tommy Laukkanen

Thumbnail of a sharkman punching some books? Count me in.

Luna

Not sure what that graphic with the different temperatures is supposed to be saying. It says -48C at the top but it's placed between the (above-zero) freezing points of other materials, suggesting that either those values are below zero (despite not being labelled as such and being to the right of 0C, typically the direction reserved for the positive direction on an axis) or the -48 temperature should be above zero.

Tommy Laukkanen
>>1369633

The only thing that makes sense is that the degrees for frozen oil and gas should say "-40°C"and "-50°C" respectively (and that right is the negative direction)

RMS Oceanic

Couple of nitpicks: The comparative maps of Germany and USSR at the beginning seem to be their 1939 configurations, both lacking the territory they grabbed in Poland and the Baltic region. And speaking of the Baltic, is that what you meant when you said the Balkans greeted the Germans as liberators? The Axis forces had already launched campaigns in the Balkans by the time of Barbarossa, and they sure as hell weren't greeted as liberators. The Balkans didn't play a role in the Eastern Front until the USSR reached them in 1944. Also it wasn't just the Baltic lands greeting false liberators, there were also Polish and Belorussian and Ukrainian groups who were essentially duped into thinking they'd be delivered from Moscow. Still, a great summary of the first 18 months. Onward to not learning any lessons from the counter-offensive at Kharkov!

barefoot James

It might help put things in perspective to mention that the distance from Berlin to Moscow is equivalent to the distance from Denver to Chicago. Also, one of the issues that affected getting supplies to the front was that the Russian railway gauge was much wider than the gauge used by the Germans.

Tommy Laukkanen
>>1369598

Thanks, I was aware this was not likely to actually be a sharkman based on the subject matter of the episode (though I guess until I saw the episode "Marvel's Juggernaut" wasn't much more likely) The misinterpretation of the imagery was intentional but still, thanks, I guess.

Thomb

A fact worth mentioning, relating to the subject of Russian reinforcements to Moscow, was that they were originally meant to guard against a Japanese attack from Manchuria(Northern China). These troops were stationed in Siberia, hence they were well prepared for the Russian winter. Fortunately a soviet spy in Tokyo informed Stalin, that the Japanese had no plans to attack Russia as they were preparing for Pearl Harbor and their attack across the pacific.

Sean Sarff

Stalingrad within the first few months was taken down to, if rumors of German officers in field can be trusted, a single street was all the Russians held in the entire city. Of course since that one street was right up against the Volga river, there's no wonder why the Germans had trouble at the last second taking the city.

schuyler

will the battle of kursk be a 4 5 or 6 part and will there be a lies.

Parker

Was there any reason that they choose Stalingrad other than the name? It is protected by a river and if Civ 5 has taught me anything is not to send your forces over a river of you can avoid it.

RMS Oceanic
>>1388232

There was legitimate strategic value in Stalingrad, mainly the sheer volume of industry, and controlling the mouth of the Volga strangles one of the main Russian waterways. The effort expended in the assault outweighed such considerations however.

ExtraCredits
>>1398956

Answered this partially elsewhere - mainly the Baltic/Balkan mix-up, which was a mistake we've already corrected. As for the rest, I'm totally fine with people finding and pointing out errors. We do it ourselves in the Lies episode (which this may not get, being a sponsored series, because even Lies episodes take time and quite frankly our team is stretched to the limit with this).

JT Barrett
>>1388232

Also allowed for control over large oilfields. Thing about fuel is that it's hard to have a mechanized army without it