For Napoleon and Hitler, Russia was “A Bridge Too Far”
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Do Napoleon and Hitler know what a scale is on a map?
Please tell me the draw in capturing Moscow for European warriors who had great success up to that point when they turned east.
The Empire has always been an uncontrollable magnet for headstrong warmongers to try and conquer. I guess it's an attempt to prove you were the baddest warlord to ever command an army ... or ego. The thought of doing what others couldn’t, defeat Russia.
NAPOLEON
In July 1812, the Grand Armée of France advanced on the Russians. This is after Napoleon had established himself from 1803 on as being a military genius the likes the world had never seen. The General combined speed, flexibility and firepower, humiliating larger armies throughout central Europe. With post-revolution verve and wanting to challenge Britain's colonial world dominance, the “Little Corporal” engaged in several successful military campaigns or coalitions in the early 1800s.
Napoleon Bonaparte was not only a brilliant military tactician, he had installed himself as the Emperor of France through intimidation, achievement and popularity. A political leader of the populace, he enacted several new societal laws for the first time concentrating on the individual man, sorry ladies.
Back to Russia, the diminutive General advanced across the Russian boarder with 650,000 men. As with most major offenses, the Grande Armée had initial success, but he should have checked the maps and now the calendar too. Troop advances were slowed by harassing skirmishes, supply issues and disease.
As the crow flies, it's 1,700 miles from Paris to Moscow. Foraging through present day Poland and Belarus, the outnumbered Russian army used scorched-earth tactics to slow down the French invaders. By the time Napoleon reached Moscow, the city had been evacuated. The Russkis torched many of the buildings, there wasn’t much left.
Nonetheless, Napoleon and his army waited in Moscow for five weeks expecting a surrender or at least a peace treaty proposal that never came. As the Russians planned, he waited too many days before retreating.
Winter was near.
First, trying to return by another route, however, due to constant harassment from the Cossacks and tenacious smaller Russian Army units, Napoleon was forced to retrace the army's steps, following the barren route used months earlier, it was a disaster.
Freezing temperatures, typhus, starvation and sporadic clashes demolished the French Army, making the Russian Campaign one of the costliest defeats in military history. Of the 650,000 soldiers committed, six months later, only 100,000 returned to their homeland. This historical failure marked the beginning of the end for Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
HITLER
Not only did Hitler need to look at a map, he should have studied history. Mein Fuhrer had the same overwhelming drive to attack and annihilate his most hated enemy as Napoleon.
Like Napoleon, when Hitler ordered Operation Barbarossa to commence, he had rolled over much of Europe, no doubt feeling his mechanized blitzkrieg army was invincible.
In Hitler’s case, at least there was an ulterior motive other than destroying a hated enemy ... oil. The southern armies were to capture the mineral rich Caspian Sea region and Romania’s Ploesti oil fields.
The other two targets, Leningrad on the Baltic and capital Moscow, were strategic to capture and occupy, forcing the country to surrender. Nobody ever suggested Hitler lacked confidence.
Not listening to his general’s advice to avoid fighting on two separate fronts at the same time, on June 22, 1941 Hitler ordered an attack, surprising Russia with a 4-million man invasion force in a three-prong formation. Joining those men were 3,000 tanks, 2,500 aircraft and 7,000 pieces of artillery. It was the largest invasion force ever assembled in world history.
The northern army surrounded Leningrad, Russia’s second largest city, with a 1940 population of 3.3 million. The city ended up being under siege for 873 days, longest in WWII history, never surrendering to the Nazis. Over 1 million Russian died in the city from starvation, disease and constant bombardment.
Hitler’s center thrust towards Moscow mirrored Napoleon's 129 years earlier. Winter set in early, poor planning and execution spelled disaster for that Third Reich army. The Germans were in eye sight of the capital, but got no farther.
To the South, the Battle of Stalingrad turned the war. It is estimated Germany suffered 850,000 casualties in the 199-day battle while the Russians lost over 1 million combatants. The movie “Enemy at the Gates,” portrays the battle fantastically in gripping detail.
Why are these numbers and battles important?
There were just 50,000 German troops defending the Atlantic wall on D-Day, with 300,000 in reserve. We had a hard enough time on Omaha Beach, having walked the US National Cemetery in Normandy I can attest to that.
If Hitler had not lost such a massive number of troops on the Eastern Front he could have fortified France with a half a million veteran soldiers throwing the D-Day invasion and success into question, changing history.
Hitler was greedy to a fault, it cost him the war but mankind paid dearly for his existence.
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Bob Ford’s History will appear in each edition of the Midweek and Weekender. You can find more of Bob’s work on his website bobfordshistory.com and videos on YouTube, TikTok and Clapper.
