Operation Barbarossa: June 22 - winter, 1941
June 22 ¡V winter, 1941:
Hitler took his largest gamble of WWII on June 22, 1941 when he decided to end the Nazi ¡V Soviet Pact. He ordered the launch of a massive attack on the Soviet Union. Code-named Operation Barbarossa, a blitzkrieg, larger than any other, aimed at taking out the Soviet Union hard and fast. Hitler was positive that he could defeat Soviet Union in months, but he was mistaken. The Soviet Union had the largest army and took a strong stand. Further more, the Soviet army had close to unlimited retreat space. Not having taken Moscow before winter, the Soviet won out with their efforts and their harsh winters. At the beginning, the Soviet had more than 1 million casualties, more than twice that of the Germans. However, as the harsh Russian winter set in, Germans found themselves freezing, while well trained and warmly clad Soviet commandos began picking them off. The Soviet army was able to cut off the German supply and starved the soldiers. Hitler failed in his gamble to conquer Soviet Union. Though it had been as close as 50 km, it wasn¡¦t good enough. Hitler was now locked in a war with the Allied troops on one side and the Soviet military on the other.
