The Biggest Invasion in History

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa — the largest military operation ever conducted. 3.8 million soldiers, 600,000 vehicles, and 3,600 tanks surged across an 1,800-mile front into the Soviet Union.

Hitler expected the whole campaign to be over in six weeks. It was not. The Russian winter, Soviet factories relocated beyond the Urals, and German supply lines stretched too thin turned the lightning war into a slow, grinding disaster.