Operation Barbarossa- The German invasion of the Soviet union

In May 1941 Germany has been bombing Britain day and night for over nine months. The plan was for Britain to give up. Hitler intends to invade the Soviet Union and he doesn’t want to have to fight against Britain at the same time. But Britain refuses to give up. Now the German bombings stop, as Hitler turns his attention to the Soviet Union.

He had planned to begin invading on May 15, but Germany's friend and ally, Italy, has begun an invasion of Greece that is going badly. Hitler decides to send troops to Greece to help the Italians. On June 22, more than a month later than planned, the Germans begin their invasion of the Soviet Union: Operation Barbarossa. When the Germans attack, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Finland also declare war on the Soviet Union. Thousands of German tanks roll across the border - from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.

And Bombers attack Soviet airfields. The attack takes place in three directions. Army Group North attacks the Baltics and marches towards Leningrad. Army Group Center marches towards Moscow. And Army group South attacks Ukraine.

Everything is moving fast. It seems the Germans will achieve their goals: to conquer Leningrad, Moscow and Ukraine before winter comes. Stalin has been warned that Hitler intended to invade. But he is convinced that Hitler will not break the non-aggression agreement — the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact — that Germany and the Soviet Union signed in August 1939. Stalin is wrong, and the Soviet Union is unprepared for Germany's invasion... ...millions of Russians are dying.

At first, things are going well for the Germans. The Germans occupy the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and they quickly enter the Soviet Union. Over just a few days, they destroy 3,000 Soviet aircraft. By mid-August, German troops stand just 50 kilometers from Leningrad. On September 8, they cut the city off from the outside world.

It will remain under siege for two and a half years. On September 19, the German army captures Ukraine's largest city, Kiev. Now begins the last part of Hitler's plan, to conquer Moscow: Operation Typhoon. In early October, the Germans approach Moscow without difficulty. The Soviet Red Army has many more soldiers than the German army, but the Germans have better equipment and more highly skilled soldiers.

The Germans' tactics to move forward quickly, Blitzkrieg, takes them far into the Soviet Union. But now the Germans start to get into trouble. Because they moved forward so fast and far, it becomes difficult for resources to reach them. Roads in the Soviet Union are poor and the railway network has been bombed. Wounded German soldiers must be sent home and it is difficult to get new soldiers there.

Weapons, ammunition, petrol and food are hard to send over the long distance. Autumn rains turn the Russian roads to mud and the Germans' tanks get stuck... ...And then - the Russian winter arrives… In early December, German troops are stuck on the outskirts of Moscow. Hitler had expected to defeat the Soviet Union by October, so the German soldiers lack winter uniforms. The supplies they need don’t reach them, and they freeze. In the meantime, Stalin gathers half a million new, rested and well-equipped troops, who counterattack.

Now it is the Germans who have to defend themselves against the Red Army — with summer equipment in temperatures that dip to minus 40 degrees. Hitler's plan to easily defeat the Soviet Union, has failed.