d the Caucasus as well as Moscow. These factors would make it seem as though operation Barbarossa was doomed from the start. But the Germans did have some success. The Luftwaffe played key roles including the destruction of the Soviet air force. The Luftwaffe destroyed the largest air force in the world in only two days. General Rychagov, the Commander of Russian Aviation, was sentenced to death for what Stalin called treasonable activity (defeat in battle). Despite Hitlers tactical incompetence, his armies quickly advanced thanks to the tactics that the German generals employed. The German army was very mobile and so could easily surround and overwhelm Russian armies that usually surrendered soon afterwards. German tactics led to staggering defeats for the Russians who often lost ten lives compared with only one German life. In August of 1941 one of Hitlers generals, Guderian contacted him. Guderian requested that an attack be made on Moscow but Hitler said to stick with the current strategy. Hitler was angry, but admitted to Guderian, had I known Russian tank strength... I would not have started this war.. Despite Hitlers concerns the Germans were still successful having captured Minsk, Smolensk, and Kiev. Finally, in October, Hitler agreed to attack Moscow. In late November the attack on Moscow, known as operation Typhoon, began. The attack failed and at the end of 1941 Hitler wondered what could be holding Russia together. The Russians had lost 3 million men and half of its economic base. Russia still had 9 million men that were of military age and had produced 4,500 new tanks over the winter, and so a continued war favored Russia since at this point Germany could not match those numbers. In May of 1942, Hitler began operation BLUE whose objective was to capture southern oil fields. Later in May Stalin began to allow his troops to retreat which over road his fa...
