Operation Barbarossa

 1941 – 1943

Timeline of the German Invasion of the Soviet Union -Up to the Defeat at Stalingrad  

Operation Barbarossa: Was the German codename for the invasion of the USSR which took place on 22 June 1941. Launched by Hitler in violation of the existing non-aggression treaty with Stalin, it was designed to provide the Reich with 'living space in the East'.

The German dictator had advocated the conquest of the USSR as early as 1924 in his book, Mein Kampf. At the same time, the campaign was to lay the foundations for the expected conflict with the two Anglo-Saxon powers for primacy as a world power and to free Germany of the economic warfare the Allies were waging against it.

The German invasion marked the beginning of a rapacious war of annihilation and conquest in which a scorched earth policy was employed by both sides. Hitler intended a 'ruthless Germanization' of the occupied eastern territories, conducted with great severity.

Orders violating international law, such as the Kommissarbefehl, the order to execute all Red Army political commissars, and the 'Barbarossa jurisdiction Decree', which exempted German soldiers from prosecution if they committed a crime against any Soviet civilian, meant a departure from traditional military conduct for the Wehrmacht. At the same time, Einsatzgruppen were to carry out the murder of Jewish and Slav elements of the population.

1941 The Southern and Central Thrusts

June 22 1941 Operation Barbarossa begins:

Army Group North – Wilhem Ritter von Leeb

Army Group Centre – Feodor Von Bock

Army Group South – Gerd von Runstedt

Invade Soviet Territory and head for Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev respectively. Easy progress is made in the North and Centre but Runstedt meets desperate Soviet resistance in the South.

June 24 – 30 1941 Army Group Centre seals off Soviet resistance into pockets at Bialystok, Novogrudok and Volkovysk

Read the full timeline here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/opbarb.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

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