Buoyed by their victories over Poland and France, on the 22 June 1941 the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa, and over 3 millions men advanced over the border to attack Russia. The opening of the Eastern Front would be one of Hilter’s most momentous decisions of WWII.
Having only signed a nonaggression pact with German in 1939, Stalin was taken by surprise. The opening weeks of the offensive were wildly successful for the Germans, but as the Panzer formations rapidly advanced the infantry struggled, on foot, to keep up. At Kiev, the Germans would take over half a million Russian soldiers prisoner. Barbarossa was a campaign where one Panzer Divisional commander queried if the Germans were ‘winning themselves to death’.
Joining me for this episode is now regular of the podcast Jonathan Trigg. In episode 55 and 77 Jon and I looked at foreign recruits to the SS, in 102 we looked at D Day from the German perspective and in episode 115115 – To VE Day Through German Eyes we talked about the end of the war for Germany. Jonathan has been busy and has a new book available, Barbarossa Through German Eyes.
Patreon: patreon.com/ww2podcast
166 - Rodolfo Graziani
165 - P-51 Mustang
164 - Marshall and Stimson
163 - British Wartime Industry
162 - Tobruk
161 - Marine Aces of the South Pacific
160 - African American Medal of Honor Recipients
159 - The Aztec Eagles
158 - With the Old Breed: EB Sledge
157 - General Patton
156 - Churchill, Master and Commander
155 - Pearl Harbor
154 - Chemical Weapons
153 - Canadian Army Civil Affairs Units
152 - U.S. Naval Gunfire Support in the Pacific
151 - Escape from Greece
150 - Eisenhower's Broad Front Strategy
149 - Australia's war with France
148 - Luftwaffe Special Weapons
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