Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union

during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers
invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front, it also involved 600,000 motor vehicles and 750,000
horses.

The secret preparations and the military operations, for Operation Barbarossa, lasted almost a
year, from spring to winter 1941.

The Germans won some resounding victories and occupied some of the most important
economic areas of the country, mainly in Ukraine. Despite these successes, the Germans were
pushed back from Moscow and could never mount an offensive simultaneously along the
entire strategic Soviet-German front again.

Although the Germans had failed to take Moscow outright, they held huge areas of the
western Soviet Union, including the entire regions of what are now Belarus, Ukraine, and the
Baltic states, plus parts of Russia proper west of Moscow.

The invasion of the USSR eventually cost the German Army over 250,000 dead and 500,000
wounded the majority of who became casualties after 1 October and an unknown number of
Axis casualties such as Hungarians and Romanians.

Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in human history in both manpower
and casualties. Its failure was a turning point in the Third Reich's fortunes. Most important,
Operation Barbarossa opened up the Eastern Front, to which more forces were committed
than in any other theatre of war in world history.

Operation Barbarossa and the areas that fell under it became the site of some of the largest
battles, deadliest atrocities, highest casualties, and most horrific conditions for Soviets and
Germans alike.