June 1942

Eastern Front

Maj Reichel, operations officer of the 23rd Panzer Division is flying over the Soviet lines near Nezhegol when his plane is forced down. Inside the aircraft, carefully stored in Reichel's briefcase, is a complete set of plans for the attack by the XL Panzer Corps as part of Case Blue. The plans are forwarded to the Southwest Front headquarters and from there to the Stavka, but the Soviet command believe the plans are a plant, a German attempt to draw attention away from the expected attack toward Moscow. With Army Group Center still close to the capital, the Stavka believes the Germans will resume their attack in the center. Hitler though is the one factor that the Soviets can not account for.