First period of World War II

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The First period of World War II describes the events on the Eastern Front form the Soviet historiographic method of periodisation. The period is formally known as the First Period of the Great Patriotic War and its duration is determined to be from 22 June 1941 to 18 November 1941.

The period includes

  • Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1941 from 22 June to 4 December that marked the commencement of the Operation Barbarossa
  • Winter Campaign of 1941 and 1942 from 5 December 1941 to 30 April 1942 for commencement of the Moscow Strategic Offensive Operation (also known as the Battle of Moscow)
  • Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1942 from 1 May to 18 November which was marked not by a significant operation, but for political reasons of the International Workers' Day. The first significant operation of this campaign in Soviet sources is taken to be the Struggle for Kharkov (Russian: Харьковское сражение) (12 May 1942 - 29 May 1942). However David Glantz suggests that the Kerch Defensive Operation (Russian: Керченская оборонительная операция) (8 May 1942 - 19 May 1942) was in fact the opening operation of the campaign.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ p.30, Glantz

[edit] Sources

  • Glantz, David, M., Colossus reborn: The Red Army at war, 1941-1943, University Press of Kansas, 2005