Why did Hitler repeat Napoleon's error (attacking Russia in mid-summer instead of late spring)?
Upvote:3
There is no good season for invasion of Russia
Napoleon and Hitler invaded in the beginning of the summer. Weather in this part of the year is relatively good for advance, and Russian roads are passable. Napoleon went straight to Moscow and captured it relatively early in the year ( September 14, 1812). However, he did not capture Kiev and his army could not move against St Petersburg. Consequently, his deep and thin penetration into Russia depended on a single route (through Smolensk) which was constantly harassed. Napoleon was compelled to withdraw, first through muddy autumn weather, and then through early Russian winter (November and early December) which ended the way it ended.
Hitler was more cautious in this regard - he moved to capture Kiev first, and besieged Leningrad. Only after that was he able to go to Moscow, but at that time the autumn rasput**sa settled in, and this the slowed German advance until ground froze in November. Unfortunately for the Germans, they were not prepared for a winter campaign and again the rest is history.
Before French and German invasions, it is worth to mention Swedish invasion of Russia which actually did start in the middle of the winter. However, despite being better prepared for winter warfare then later French and Germans attempts, Swedes were also forced to remain in winter quarters after initial trust. Consequently, they only resumed campaign in July, after spring rasput**sa has passed, and after that their attempt met similar fate as their successors, with many troops lost during Great Frost of 1709.
Overall, conventional wisdom would be to wait for spring mud season to end, this usually happens in late May. Do to various circumstances, invaders usually cannot attack right away, forcing the beginning of operations to late June instead. After that it is race against time until October rains start and again create autumn rasput**sa followed by dreaded Russian winter . This actually leaves barely four months of good campaigning weather, which definitely is not enough to defeat Russia.
More post
- 📝 What is the age of the oldest written proof of Christianity?
- 📝 Were there often intra-USSR wars? If not, why not?
- 📝 Were the Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan officially volunteers?
- 📝 Was there a rational reason for Napoleon to attack Russia while the Peninsular War was still in progress?
- 📝 How did attitudes of German citizens toward Hitler and the Nazi Party change over the course of the pre-war and the post-war periods?
- 📝 Did USSR used tactics learned during the winter war against Germany?
- 📝 Was simply addressing the English monarch wrongly ever a punishable crime?
- 📝 Is this painting by a famous artist?
- 📝 Did any Ethiopian leaders help the Italians?
- 📝 What were conditions like for Chinese men subject to recruitment by the army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War?
- 📝 When did the practice of formal declaration of war start?
- 📝 How did the education system in Colonial North America work?
- 📝 Why did Russian Federation declare independence from Soviet Union?
- 📝 What was the Soviet plan to respond to a nuclear first strike post WW 2?
- 📝 How long would it take to travel from the United Kingdom to America in 1890?
- 📝 What explanations have been given as to why the Jews were not killed in Italy?
- 📝 What would a Roman education include in the years 77 - 85?
- 📝 Why were there so many known (and caught) stage coach robbers?
- 📝 Why was Japanese Unit 731 immune from War Crime trials?
- 📝 Who is this person depicted on the “Ianua Nova” Latin textbooks?
- 📝 Why don't/can't the different ethnolinguistic groups of people in erstwhile Yugoslavia get along with each other?
- 📝 Why was metal armor phased out after gun powder was weaponized?
- 📝 Did Hitler have an end goal during the "appeas*m*nt" phase, or was he just picking a fight?
- 📝 How common were private bathing facilities in Late Republican Rome?
- 📝 What was the original cause of the Camel War in Islamic history?
- 📝 How did the US fall behind in airplane technology from 1909-1917?
- 📝 What is the name of this hat and the function of those wearing them (worn by Nansouty's French Guard cavalry)?
- 📝 Were there many instances when an "overaged" commander was at odds with a much younger second in command?
- 📝 Looking for a symbol for Southern USA communism
- 📝 How and when was the modern company ownership structure invented?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why did Hitler repeat Napoleon's error (attacking Russia in mid-summer instead of late spring)?
- 📝 Why did Hitler send Manstein's army (and not some other) to Leningrad in the summer of 1942?
- 📝 Why did the Streltsy in Russia have no summer uniform?
- 📝 Why did Hitler split army group south for the 1942 summer offensive?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Why did Hitler not invade Sweden?
- 📝 Why did Hitler declare war on the USA?
- 📝 Why did Britain not purchase Alaska when Russia had it up for sale?
- 📝 Why did Hitler not order the use of poison gas in combat?
- 📝 Why did Chamberlain act to appease Hitler leading up to the outbreak of World War 2?
- 📝 Why did Peter the Great name Saint Petersburg, Russia with a foreign styled name?
- 📝 Why did Hitler not concentrate more on North Africa?
- 📝 Why did Jodrell Bank assist the Soviet Union to collect data from their spacecraft in the mid 1960's?
- 📝 Why did other German political parties disband so fast when Hitler was appointed chancellor?
- 📝 Did Japan ever pay Russia war reparations after WW2? Why or why not?
- 📝 Why did Germany decide not to restore the Hohenzollern dynasty to the throne of a German Empire after the defeat of Hitler in World War Two?
- 📝 Why did Russia inherit the USSR status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto power?
- 📝 Why did Hitler not claim the German-majority areas of Schleswig?
- 📝 Why did Hitler treat the Slavs inconsistently?
- 📝 Why did Russia give up its claims to the Oregon Country?
- 📝 Why did Britain object to the Ottomans bringing its ships-of-the-line against Russia in the beginning of the Crimean War?
- 📝 Why did Russia support Serbia in the years leading to World War I?
- 📝 Why did Mettius Fufetius not join the Veiites in directly attacking the Roman King Tullus Hostilius?
- 📝 Why did Paul von Hindenburg wrongly call Adolf Hitler "Bohemian corporal"?
- 📝 Why did Russia set up so many cities in Siberia and Far East?
- 📝 Why did Empress Elizabeth and Catherine the Great of Russia have such different policies toward Frederick the Great?
- 📝 Why did Russia accept the legal framework that led to Kosovo's independence?
- 📝 Why did the Allies let Hitler break the Treaty of Versailles?
- 📝 Why did Hitler order counter-attacks as late as 21/04/1945?
- 📝 Why did Hitler meet with Subash Chandra Bose in 1942?