Notes

- Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty.-
- The Nazi-Soviet Pact came as a complete surprise to other nations, given the ideological differences between the two countries.
- For the next year and a half Germany also benefitted economically from the arrangement, with Russia exporting grain and oil in return for manufactured goods.
- But peace with Russia would not last. Hitler had always wanted to see Germany expand eastwards to gain Lebensraum or 'living space' for its people.
- fall of France Hitler ordered plans to be drawn up for an invasion of the Soviet Union
- The conquest and enslavement of the Soviet Union's racially 'inferior' Slavic populations would be part of a grand plan of 'Germanisation' and economic exploitation lasting well beyond the expected military victory.
- On 18 December 1940 Hitler issued Führer Directive 21, an order for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
- was launched on 22 June 1941. Over three and a half million German and other Axis troops attacked along a 1,800-mile front. A total of 148 divisions - 80 percent of the German Army - were committed to the enterprise.
- Seventeen panzer divisions, formed into four Panzer Groups, formed the vanguard with 3,400 tanks. They were supported by 2,700 aircraft of the Luftwaffe. It was the largest invasion force to date.
- The German forces were split into three army groups, each with a specific objective. Army Group North was to head through the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and take Leningrad
- Hitler expected these all to be attained in approximately ten weeks.
- The Soviets had massed large forces on their western frontier, but they were under orders not to provoke the Germans. Although mistrustful of Hitler, Stalin did not believe that he would attack so soon, despite the ominous German build-up and a stream of intelligence warnings
- He had some 5 million men available immediately and a total of 23,000 tanks, but the Red Army was still unprepared when the Germans struck.
- The Germans got off to a good start, with the panzer groups quickly pushing towards their objectives and Russian forces falling apart in confusion
- On the first day alone 1,800 Soviet aircraft were destroyed,


https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/07/world-war-ii-operation-barbarossa/100112/
- 2.5 million troops launched a surprise attack deployed from German-controlled Poland, Finland, and Romania.
- both sides remained suspicious of one another, and the agreement merely gave them more time to prepare for a probable war.
- The Soviets were unprepared for the sudden blitzkreig attacks across a border that spanned nearly 2,900 km
- Within a single week, German forces advanced 200 miles into Soviet territory, destroyed nearly 4,000 aircraft, and killed, captured, or wounded some 600,000 Red Army troops
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