From Frenemies to Enemies: When Nazi Germany Invaded the Soviet Union

Nazi Germany launched a surprise invasion against the Soviet Union, its ally in the war against Poland, on June 22, 1941. By the end of the year, German soldiers had advanced hundreds of miles to the outskirts of Moscow. Soon after the invasion, mobile killing units began the mass murder of Soviet Jews while German military and civilian occupation policies led to the deaths of millions of Soviet prisoners of war and Soviet civilians. The destruction of the Communist Soviet Union and the conquest of Soviet territory as Lebensraum, or “living space”, for German settlement were long-term goals of Hitler and the Nazi Party. Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, known as "Operation Barbarossa,” is considered one of the largest military operations in the history of modern warfare: Germany and its allies assembled more than 3,500,000 troops for the attack.

After months of fighting, however, the German army was exhausted. Having expected a quick Soviet defeat, the Nazi government had failed to equip their troops for fighting battles in the harsh, Soviet winter. They did not provide adequate food and medicines, as they had expected their military personnel to live off the land of a conquered Soviet Union at the expense of the local population. As a result, the Germans forces - spread out along the 1,000 mile Eastern Front—became vulnerable to Soviet counterattack. On December 6, 1941, the Soviet Union launched a major offensive against the German troops that drove the Germans back from Moscow in chaos. This was the beginning of the end of "Operation Barbarossa”.

Please watch the video below to learn more about the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a major turning point in both the history of World War II and the Holocaust:

Video Source: Imperial War Museums