x The code name for the invasion of Russia was Operation Barbarossa,
and it was to be a classic blitzkrieg. Armored spearheads would
plunge through the Russian lines on narrow fronts, then rapidly
speed deep within enemy territory. They would then curve back
toward one another, encircling huge chunks of the Russian army.
The panzers would carve up the Russians, and the infantry and
artillery following the tanks would force the isolated Russian
groups to surrender.
x With its army obliterated, it was believed that Russia itself would
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unknowingly assisted the Germans in their strategy by deploying
most of their army right along the border, thus playing right into the
Germans’ hands.
x Operation Barbarossa began on June 22, 1941, with a massive
artillery barrage and air attacks. Then, the panzers rolled forward.
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for the Germans. The panzers blasted through the Russian lines and
cruised deep into Russia. Some panzer groups were averaging 50
miles per day, a rate previously unheard of in war.
x As the invasion stretched into the fall, unease began to creep into the
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that no matter how many hundreds of miles they advanced, there
was always more ahead. And no matter how many men they killed
and tanks they wiped out, new ones kept appearing. Even though
the Germans were eliminating Russian armies at a phenomenal rate,
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x The Germans, on the other hand, could not so easily make good
their losses of experienced men or valuable tanks. By the winter of
1941, the Germans had reeled off a string of astonishing victories
and had progressed 800 miles into Russia, but they had lost nearly
65 percent of their men and vehicles.