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Operation Barbarossa: Quick Facts

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The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Facts

Also Known As Operation Fritz
Date June 22, 1941
Location Soviet Union
Participants Germany • Red Army • Soviet Union
Context World War II • Eastern Front

Did You Know?

  • Stalin had been informed that the Germans would invade, but he did not believe the sources.
  • Accompanying the army were Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing units that murdered Jewish people, Roma, individuals with intellectual or physical disabilities, and political enemies.
  • The Russian winter was nicknamed "General Winter."

Photos and Videos

Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa: Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union
Why Did the German-Led Invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 Fall Short?
See All Videos and Images →

Related Topics and References

Topics
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Timeline

Samuel Bak: Smoke
Holocaust
1933 - 1945
Learn how the Third Reich utilized U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic to destroy Allied supply convoys
Battle of the Atlantic
September 3, 1939 - May 8, 1945
Nazi leaders in Paris
Battle of France
May 10, 1940 - June 25, 1940
Dunkirk evacuation
Dunkirk evacuation
May 26, 1940 - June 4, 1940
Map showing the British and Axis military campaigns in North Africa during World War II, with labeled troop movements, key battles, and shifting front lines from Egypt across Libya to Tunisia along the Mediterranean coast. The map includes arrows and dates marking advances and retreats by both sides, and highlights major turning points and defensive lines.
North Africa campaigns
June 1940 - May 13, 1943
the Blitz
Battle of Britain
July 1940 - September 1940
German bombing of London during the Blitz
the Blitz
September 7, 1940 - May 11, 1941
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
June 22, 1941
Pearl Harbor attack
Pearl Harbor attack
December 7, 1941
Wake Island
Battle of Wake Island
December 8, 1941 - December 23, 1941
U.S. troops advancing on Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, in 1943
Pacific War
December 8, 1941 - September 2, 1945
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March
April 9, 1942
Doolittle Raid
Doolittle Raid
April 18, 1942
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
June 3, 1942 - June 6, 1942
eastern New Guinea, from the 10th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, c. 1902
Kokoda Track Campaign
July 1942 - January 1943
U.S. Marines in combat gear wade ashore from a landing craft onto a sandy beach during the Guadalcanal landing in August 1942.
Battle of Guadalcanal
August 1942 - February 1943
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
August 22, 1942 - February 2, 1943
Operation Mincemeat documents
Operation Mincemeat
1943
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
April 19, 1943 - May 16, 1943
The Allied invasion of Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
July 9, 1943 - August 17, 1943
Italian Campaign, World War II
Italian Campaign
July 9, 1943 - May 2, 1945
Battle of Anzio
Battle of Anzio
January 22, 1944 - June 5, 1944
American soldiers in helmets crouch inside a landing craft approaching a smoke-covered beach during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944.
Normandy Invasion
June 6, 1944 - July 9, 1944
Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
Cowra breakout
August 5, 1944
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf
October 23, 1944 - October 26, 1944
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
December 16, 1944 - January 16, 1945
Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
February 19, 1945 - March 26, 1945
U.S. Marines on Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
April 1, 1945 - June 21, 1945
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 6, 1945 - August 9, 1945

Key People

Portrait of Adolf Hitler in a collared shirt and tie, facing forward with a serious expression, circa 1933.
Adolf Hitler
dictator of Germany
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
premier of Soviet Union
Georgy Zhukov
Georgy Zhukov
Soviet military commander
Gerd von Rundstedt in German military uniform and cap, shown in a black-and-white portrait.
Gerd von Rundstedt
German field marshal
Ivan Konev
Ivan Stepanovich Konev
Soviet general
Heinz Guderian
Heinz Guderian
German general
Bock, Fedor von
Fedor von Bock
German military officer
Kleist, Paul Ludwig von
Paul Ludwig von Kleist
German general
Brauchitsch, Walther von
Walther von Brauchitsch
German military officer

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