Operation Barbarossa
Barbarossa "red Beard" code name German attack on Russia june 1941
Complete surprise for Russia despite warnings
Breaks non-aggression pact
2000mile long front
Blitzkrieg tactics surprise Red army
Nazis briefly seen as liberators
Russian peasants began scorched earth policy (burning all crops and shelters)
Leningrad was besieged, captured kiev, reached the Crimea and on the outskirts of Moscow
Cold winter weather halts Germans
Almost 2 million Red army troops taken prisoner
Complete surprise for Russia despite warnings
Breaks non-aggression pact
2000mile long front
Blitzkrieg tactics surprise Red army
Nazis briefly seen as liberators
Russian peasants began scorched earth policy (burning all crops and shelters)
Leningrad was besieged, captured kiev, reached the Crimea and on the outskirts of Moscow
Cold winter weather halts Germans
Almost 2 million Red army troops taken prisoner