90 GERMANY TRIUMPHANT 1939–1941
Sep 8
The Siege of
Leningrad begins.Jul 16
The Germans
take Smolensk
but fighting
continues until
August 5.Jun 22 The German
4th Panzer Group
penetrates 50 miles
(80 km) into
Soviet territory.Jun 22 Panzer
groups break
through toward
Minsk.Jun 26–30 The Soviets
mount a counterattack but
the Germans beat them off.Jun 26 Soviet troops
are encircled at former
Polish city Bialystok.Aug 8 The Uman pocket
surrenders; 100,000 Soviet
prisoners are taken.Aug 8–Oct 16
Axis forces
besiege Odessa.Sep 19 Kiev falls
but fighting
continues to the
east.Jul 3 The Germans
encircle Soviet
forces west of
Minsk.Jul 1 German
forces take Riga.Jul 27 German
forces capture
Tallinn, the capital
of Estonia.1920s The Stalin Line
is built as a series of
fortified zones rather
than a continuous
defensive line.Sep 4 The Finns
move up to the
pre-1941 border
with the USSR.▽ The operation begins
German infantry and mechanized forces
advance on the USSR in 1941. Vehicles are
marked with swastika flags to avoid being
attacked by friendly aircraft.THE INVASION BEGINS JUNE 22, 1941
The invasion began early in the morning of June 22,
1941, with an artillery barrage on Soviet defenses
along almost the entire front and Luftwaffe attacks
on Soviet airfields. Germany’s three million troops
and 3,000 tanks advanced into Soviet territory in
three groups: the North striking across the Baltic
to Leningrad; the Center heading east to Smolensk
and Moscow; and the South destined for Kiev and
the Black Sea, with the aim of securing access to
the Caucasus oil fields.1
THE ADVANCE ON LENINGRAD
JUNE 22–SEPTEMBER 8, 1941
The German Army Group North made swift
progress toward Leningrad. The Soviet troops
fell back to the Stalin Line (a defensive network
of bunkers, fortresses, and gun emplacements)
but by July 8 the Germans had broken through
and captured Pskov. As the Germans began their
final advance on Leningrad, the Finns also began
their own assault on the USSR. By September, the
city was hemmed in by the Finns to the north and
the Germans to the south and west.2
Ba
lt
ic(^) S
e
a
Gu l f^ o f
F
in
la
n d
Black
Sea
Sea
of Azov
Prut
Bug
Vi
stu
la Pri
pe
t
Lake
Ladoga
Bug
Dnie
ster
Caucasus
Crimea
Donbass
region
B
E
SS
AR
AB
IA
R
O
M A
N I A
FINLAND
BELORUSSIA
UKRAINE
EAST
PRUSSIA
GENERAL
GOVERNMENT
LATVIA
ESTONIA
H U
N
G
A
R
Y
SLO
VA
KI
A
G R E A T E R
G E R M A N Y
LI
TH
UA
NI
A
SWE
DE
N
BOHEMIA
AND MORAVIA
Army Group
North
North-West
Front
South-West
Front
West
Front
Army Group
Center
Army Group
South
U
S
S R
Novgorod
Leningrad
Maladzyechna
Khmelnytskyy
Staraya Russa
Novozybkov
Kremenchuk
Stary Oskol
Velikiye Luki
Volkovysk
Voznesensk
Kirovograd
Daugavpils
Kryvyy Rih
Chernobyl
Berdyansk
Zhytomyr
Mykolayiv
Mogilev
Smolensk
Vinnytsya
Vitebsk
Cherkassy
Nelidovo
Korosten
Babruysk
Belgorod
Mariupol
Bialystok
Konotop
Ventspils
Moscow
Kishinev
Memel
Kherson
Warsaw
Tarnopol
Nikopol
Helsinki
Bryansk
Brovary
Vyazma
Grodno
Tilsit
Kharkov
Odessa
Poltava
Nizhyn
Kaunas
Ryazan
Polotsk
Roslavl
Tallinn
Orsha
Narva
Mazyr
Rzhev
Uman
Minsk
Pskov
Kerch
Rivne
Kovel
Sumy
Tartu
Lutsk
Kirov
Brest-Litovsk
Luga
Przemysl
Kiev
Riga
Tula
Lida
Iasi
Axis advance on Leningrad and the Baltic Lyck
Finnish offensive against the USSR
Stalin Line
Key targets for Germany
US_090-091_Operation_Barbarossa.indd 90 24/05/19 1:16 PM