
Road To Berlin – Episode 6: Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa: The German Army invaded Russia on June 22, 1941 with over 3,000,000 troops supported by Panzer (tanks), artillery and air power. The three-pronged attack pushed over 400 miles in six days. The main objectives: The North army group: Leningrad. The Center army group: Moscow. The South army group: The Caucuses oil fields. The German Army reached Leningrad on September and that began a 900 day siege. In the center, the German Army eventually got to within 18 miles of Moscow and in the South the German took Kiev and moved to Rostov at the edge of the Caucuses. The Russian winter hit and the German army was not equipped to fight a winter war. The Russians mounted a counter offensive on December 5, 1941 that eventually stalled creating a stalemate on the Eastern Front. Over time, the Germans lost the entire 6th Army at Stalingrad and eventually the Red Army was able to restart its offensive and continually push the German army back – from Russia into Eastern Europe into Germany and finally Berlin. The Eastern front is looked upon as the most costly conflict in history with over 30,000,000 dead (military and civilian).