✦ History

Operation Barbarossa

June 22, 1941 – January 7, 1942

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 1

1941 – September 26, 1941
Battle of Kiev (1941) Kyiv Semyon Timoshenko, Gerd von Rundstedt, Semyon Budyonny

Key commanders

Axis 11

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 Eberhard von Mackensen military commander

Allies 6

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 Semyon Budyonny military commander