Page 14 - History of War - Issue 29-16

Frontline
OPERATION BARBAROSSA

Axis forces wage their rst invasion of Russia, creating a new front

and the bloodiest theatre of the entire war

Wehrmacht troops advance into
Russia in 1941, with a Swastika
identifying them to friendly aircraft
THE INVASION
OF THE SOVIET

UNION BEGINS

Despite establishing trade
agreements two years
previous, Hitler pushes
ahead with the plan to
invade the Soviet Union,
purge its population and
repopulate with Aryan
blood. In the early hours
of, bombing raids begin in
Poland and the Crimea.

22 June 1941
3 July 1941 6 July – 5 August 1941 23 August – 26 September 1941
STALIN THE BATTLE OF SMOLENSK KIEV FALLS TO THE GERMANS

ENACTS THE Over the course of a single month, the Axis commits over As the German advance continues at an astonishing pace
from multiple angles, the Ukrainian city of Kiev is one of the
400,000 infantry and 1,000 tanks encircle and pummel the
SCORCHED city of Smolensk. The Germans suffer considerable losses, but next big targets on the Axis radar. The city is encircled by
500,000 troops and Panzer tanks, while the Red Army, with
eventually take the key strategic point on the road to Moscow.
EARTH POLICY between 650,000-800,000 troops, is completely routed.
With a new Eastern Front A German artillery piece
surveys the Dnieper River after
carved out in the space the capture of Kiev
of a single morning,
and Germany crushing
the Red Army at every
encounter, Stalin orders
Soviet troops to destroy
bridges, sabotage
railway lines, take
down telegraph lines
and demolish roads to
hamper the Axis advance. Left: German infantrymen during ghting
near Smolensk, 1 September 1941

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