Operation Barbarossa
Barbarossa "Red Beard" code name German attack on Russia june 1941
- Complete surprise for Russia despite warnings - Breaks non-aggression pact - 2000 mile long front - Blitzkreig tactic surprises enemy - Nazi's 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 halts Germans - Almost 2 million red army taken prisoner “When Operation Barbarossa begins, the world will hold its breath.”
Hitler, 1941 Would the outcome of the war change if Operation Barbarossa hadn't have been a success?
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Germans broke non-aggression pact, and attacked Russia. Russia suffered major losses, but Germany as halted by the Russian winter.
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