✦ History

Operation Barbarossa

June 22, 1941 – January 7, 1942

Result Axis strategic failure

Nazi Germany and its Axis allies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 with over 3.8 million troops along a 2,900-kilometer front. The largest and costliest offensive in history, it caused over 8 million casualties by its end on 5 December, opening the Eastern Front and drawing the USSR into the Allied camp.

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Battles and events 7

1941
June Uprising in Lithuania
1941
Summer War Estonian-German victory Kliment Voroshilov, Georg von Küchler
June 1941 – June 29, 1941
Defense of Brest Fortress German victory Brest Fortress Ivan Zubachyov, Andrey Kizhevatov, Pyotr Gavrilov
July 10 – September 10, 1941
Battle of Smolensk (1941) German victory Smolensk Semyon Timoshenko, Fedor von Bock, Konstantin Rokossovsky
August 7 – September 26, 1941
Battle of Kiev (1941) German victory Kyiv Semyon Timoshenko, Gerd von Rundstedt, Semyon Budyonny
September 6 – October 21, 1941
Operation Beowulf German victory Saaremaa Georg von Küchler
September 12, 1941
Roslavl–Novozybkov offensive German victory Bryansk Oblast Maximilian von Weichs

Key commanders

Axis 19

Adolf Hitler head of state/government Hermann Göring Wilhelm Keitel Alfred Jodl Gerd von Rundstedt Field Marshal, Commander of Army Group South (drive into Ukraine) Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim military commander Ion Antonescu military commander Fedor von Bock Field Marshal, Commander of Army Group Center (drive on Moscow) Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Field Marshal, Commander of Army Group North (drive on Leningrad) Franz Halder General, Chief of the Army General Staff (OKH); directed Barbarossa planning Walther von Brauchitsch military commander Eberhard von Mackensen military commander Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist military commander Walter von Reichenau military commander Heinz Guderian military commander Maximilian von Weichs military commander Hermann Hoth military commander Adolf Strauss military commander Georg von Küchler military commander

Allies 14

Joseph Stalin head of state/government Semyon Timoshenko Kliment Voroshilov Georgy Zhukov Chief of the General Staff; led the defense of Moscow Ivan Konev military commander Markian Popov military commander Fyodor Kuznetsov military commander Semyon Budyonny military commander Mikhail Kirponos military commander Konstantin Rokossovsky military commander Andrey Yeryomenko military commander Ivan Zubachyov military commander Andrey Kizhevatov military commander Pyotr Gavrilov military commander