Barbarossa: The War of Annihilation

CHAPTER 6 · JUN–DEC 1941 · The War Room — WW2, 1936–1945

At 03:15 on 22 June 1941, betraying the pact, 3.6 million Axis soldiers cross the Soviet border on a 2,900-kilometer front — the largest invasion in history. Three spearheads: north to Leningrad, center to Moscow, south to Kiev and the grain and oil beyond.

The turn: The gates of Moscow, 5 December.

This chapter is one scene of an interactive atlas: the map repaints as the dates advance, campaigns draw themselves, and every chapter argues its causes and consequences — then a field exam asks you to prove it on the map.