- Cpt Nicholson
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- Noble Member
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein
The primary Russian defensive strategy was a line strategy. There would be a line of defense every couple dozen kilometers, when the Germans punched through a line of defense, the remaining forces from that line would fall back into the one behind it, therefore strengthening it. This occurred from Poland until just a couple of Kilometers outside of Moscow where the accumulated defense was a able to hold the Germans at bay.
Also, the Barbarossa campaign of 1941 came as a complete surprise to the Soviets. Nevertheless, they reacted swiftly, particularly in the civilian aspect. As the army was being defeated and gave ground at an amazing speed, a gigantic operation was staged to move the economic capacity from the Western areas that were about to be overrun, to Eastern regions that were out of reach for the Germans, like the Ural. Entire factories, including their labour force, were simply moved out of reach from the Germans, and what couldn't be taken was destroyed ("Scorched earth"). Thus, even though huge territories were captured by the Germans, the production potential of the Soviet economy was not correspondingly harmed, and the factories shifted to mass production of military equipment quickly, soon outproducing the German economy.
[Edited on 11.27.2012 7:48 PM PST]