Editing Total war (section)

=====Soviet Union=====
[[File:RIAN archive 216 The Volkovo cemetery.jpg|thumb|Three men burying victims of [[siege of Leningrad|Leningrad's siege]], in which about 1 million civilians died]]

The Soviet Union (USSR) was a [[planned economy|command economy]] which already had an economic and legal system allowing the economy and society to be redirected into fighting a total war. The transportation of factories and whole labour forces east of the [[Urals]] as the Germans advanced across the USSR in 1941 was an impressive feat of planning. Only those factories which were useful for war production were moved because of the total war commitment of the Soviet government.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lieberman |first1=Sanford R. |title=The Evacuation of Industry in the Soviet Union during World War II |journal=Soviet Studies |date=1983 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=90–102 |doi=10.1080/09668138308411460 |jstor=151494 }}</ref>

The Eastern Front of the [[European Theatre of World War II]] encompassed the conflict in [[central Europe|central]] and [[eastern Europe]] from 22 June 1941, to 9 May 1945. It was the largest theatre of war in history in terms of numbers of soldiers, equipment and [[World War II casualties|casualties]] and was notorious for its unprecedented ferocity, destruction, and immense loss of life (see [[World War II casualties]]). The fighting involved millions of [[Nazi army|German]], Hungarian, Romanian and [[Red army|Soviet]] troops along a broad front hundreds of kilometres long. It was by far the deadliest single theatre of World War II. Scholars now believe that at most 27&nbsp;million Soviet citizens died during the war, including at least 8.7&nbsp;million soldiers who fell in battle against [[Hitler]]'s armies or died in [[POW]] camps. Millions of civilians died from [[starvation]], exposure, atrocities, and massacres.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4530565.stm |work= BBC.co.uk |title= Leaders mourn Soviet wartime dead |access-date= 5 August 2015|date= 9 May 2005 }}</ref> The Axis lost over 5&nbsp;million soldiers in the east as well as many thousands of civilians.<ref>German losses according to: Rüdiger Overmans, ''Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg''. Oldenbourg 2000. {{ISBN|978-3-486-56531-7}}, pp. 265, 272</ref>

During the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], newly built [[T-34 tank]]s were driven—unpainted because of a paint shortage—from the factory floor straight to the front. <!-- World at War series not sure which programme number-->This came to symbolise the USSR's commitment to a policy of total war.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beevor |first=Antony |title=Stalingrad |publisher=Penguin books |year=1999 |isbn=0-14-024985-0 |page=110}}</ref>{{dubious|date=September 2020}}