OPERATION BARBAROSSA [Main Title]

A documentary account of the background to Germany's attack on the Soviet Union. Focusing particularly on the diplomatic and political history, the film ends during the early successful period of the German invasion.

The film opens with a dramatic commentary summarising the conflict as a struggle to the death between two totalitarian nations for world domination. It then examines Hitler's pre-war intentions for the Soviet Union which was to provide new territory for Germans to colonise (Lebensraum). But that his tactics in the thirties was to attempt to exclude the nation from European affairs. A policy which found support among anti-Communist European governments. In Britain sympathy with Hitler's increasingly vociferous anti-communism meant that the Government's position on Nazism was compromised and contributed to appeasement. Batty examines this policy, with evident disgust, and the effect it had on Stalin; which was to increase his fear of encirclement. He argues that the purges of the Red Army and outdated military equipment (supported by footage of contemporary May Day parades) left the Soviet Union ideologically and strategically unprepared for war. The diplomatic build up to war is traced. Chamberlain is accused of being foolish for accepting the Polish idea of an Anglo-French alliance which excluded the Soviet Union. Stalin was thus convinced that the West could not be trusted. As a result the western looking Litvinov was replaced with Molotov. But Batty points out that although the Soviets became increasingly wary of Germany (cutting in footage from Alexander Nevsky) they continued to trade with them. However, he largely blames bungled attempts by the British, to form a military pact with the Soviets, for forcing Stalin to play for time through the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Albert Speer reminisces on the signing of the pact and Hitler's annoyance that he had to do so. Another motivation for Stalin was that Hitler promised to put pressure on the Japanese to stop fighting in Outer Mongolia (footage of Soviet and Japanese troops fighting). Footage of the German invasion of Poland is used to highlight the futile Anglo-French pact. The Soviet Union's brief fruits of their German rapprochement, the occupation of eastern Poland is covered including footage of a joint military parade at Brest-Litovsk with fraternisation of German and Soviet officers and troops. The Soviet war with Finland is then covered and the affect this had on the Soviet Union's diplomatic position and to undermine international belief in its military might. The film then looks at the Soviet attempts to reform the army in the light of the Finnish war and German military success in 1940. Interviews with General Walter Warlimont and Von Manteuffel then describe the shock and opposition to Hitler's announcement to invade the Soviet Union. The film follows the developments in Eastern Europe which raised the tension between the two powers. There is an account of Molotov's toughness in negotiations with Hitler in Berlin. Then the factors which were to weaken the German military offensive: Hitler's time-wasting attack on Yugoslavia and the growing strength of the Red Army. Finally, the military build up to the German invasion, with Stalin inexplicably appeasing the Germans despite both American and Soviet intelligence reports of hostile German troop movements, and regular German reconnaissance flights over the border. The chaos caused by this policy on the opening day of the attack (22 June 1941) with Soviet planes stranded on the airfields and border troops practically immobilised by indecision is well illustrated with German footage of the opening days of Barbarossa.

16mm