What Was the Deadly Error of Operation Barbarossa?

• Largest invasion in history
• Germany used millions of troops
• Winter weather hurt the invaders
• The Soviets had a huge country
• Germany lost their advantage

Germany had already conquered many countries in Western Europe with great speed. Adolf Hitler felt very confident in his powerful military machine. He wanted to gain more land and resources for his people. He decided to break his peace treaty with the Soviet Union. This invasion was known as Operation Barbarossa. It became the largest invasion in human history. Hitler thought his troops would reach Moscow in just a few months. He ignored warnings about how difficult the Soviet terrain could be.

On June 22, 1941, over three million German soldiers moved across the border. They started the attack with thousands of tanks and airplanes. At first, the German army destroyed many Soviet defenses quickly. They captured many soldiers and seized huge amounts of territory. However, the Soviet Union was a massive country with endless space. Supply lines stretched across thousands of miles of rough roads. Soviet forces retreated but burned crops and factories so Germany could not use them. This was called the scorched earth policy. As autumn rain turned the ground into deep mud, the German vehicles got stuck. Then the harsh Russian winter arrived with temperatures far below freezing. German soldiers lacked proper winter uniforms and proper fuel for their machines. The Soviet army launched a major counterattack near Moscow to stop the German advance. Germany failed to capture the capital city before the winter froze their progress. This failure changed the course of the war forever.

This was the turning point for Germany. They spent all their supplies and lost so many men that they could never recover from the defeat.

• Wehrmacht
• Red Army
• Luftwaffe
• Soviet Air Force

• 1.History Channel
• 2.Britannica
• 3.US Holocaust Memorial Museum