This is the third part of a series on Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa Full Description The German invasion of the Soviet Union, launched on 22 June 1941 with over three million men — the largest military operation in history. Hitler intended a rapid campaign of six to eight weeks, expecting Soviet resistance to collapse immediately. Instead, the Red Army absorbed catastrophic losses while trading space for time. By December 1941, German forces were outside Moscow but had failed to deliver the knockout blow Hitler had planned, setting the stage for a war of attrition Germany could not win. Critical Perspective Operation Barbarossa was not merely a military campaign — it was the launch of an ideological war of annihilation. Hitler’s Commissar Order (to shoot captured Soviet officers) and the Hunger Plan (to starve occupied Soviet populations to feed German troops) were issued before the invasion began. Understanding Barbarossa as a war of extermination, not a conventional military conflict, is essential to understanding both the scale of Soviet casualties and the origins of the Holocaust., the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. This podcast focuses on the views and beliefs of attackers, defenders and the citizens caught in the middle.

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