BARBAROSSA Begins
On this day in 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in world history, codenamed Operation BARBAROSSA. Two years earlier, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact, which guaranteed that the two countries would not attack each other.
Over 3 million German troops, 3,600 tanks and 2,700 aircraft swarmed the Soviet Union. Within the first month, German forces had successfully destroyed four thousand Soviet aircrafts and ninety percent of Soviet tanks. By December 1941, German forces had taken control of Kiev, Ukraine, destroyed the Red Army’s front line, and taken over 2 million Soviet prisoners.