Operation Barbarossa: Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union

NARRATOR: 3:15 a.m., June 22, 1941 - The German Wehrmacht invade the Soviet Union. Operation, code name Barbarossa, is launched. At 1,600 kilometers, it is the longest front in history. More than three and a half million German and allied soldiers are in active combat, supported by artillery, air force, and tanks. The German propaganda declares the offensive as a pre-emptive strike, for which the Soviets are unprepared.

GERHARD GOERTZ: "They even came out in their night shirts and started shooting. They were taken by complete surprise."

NARRATOR: A Non-aggression Pact between the two dictatorships is officially in force. Only one year earlier, the Soviet Foreign Minister paid a goodwill visit to Berlin.

WEEKLY NEWSREEL: "In the new Reich Chancellery, Molotov was welcomed by the Führer for a long discussion."

NARRATOR: At the same time, secret preparations for Operation Barbarossa are in full swing. Soviet Russia is to be crushed in a swift campaign, according to the German plan of attack. In May 1941, Moscow displays its strength at a Military Parade. Stalin has long been warned of the planned German offensive. But he does not believe Hitler will dare to attack. Only a few weeks later, German fighter planes dominate Soviet air space. Despite clear warnings, the Red Army is not ready for action. The invaders are confident of victory. Along a broad front, the Wehrmacht occupies the Ukraine, White Russia, and the Baltic States. During the battles of those first months, the defenders suffer enormous losses. In 1941 alone, over three million Russian soldiers are captured by the Germans. The majority of them die in the POW camps as intended.

HERBERT BAIER: "Our superiors told us time and time again that the Russians were subhuman, uneducated, so the Russians were given short shrift. And we were also told that we'd be home by the end of December, in time for Christmas."

NARRATOR: Hitler and his generals conduct a war of destruction, in violation of international law. General Field Marshal Keitel prepares a batch of criminal directives. One of them, the so-called Commissar Order,directed Communist Party officials to be shot immediately upon capture for all the world to see.

WILLI HANISCH: "I was there and saw with my own eyes how the commissars were picked out and just shot right there on the street."

NARRATOR: The Wehrmacht also conducts man-hunting raids on the Jewish population.

WILLI HEIN: "They were dragged from their homes and led away and had to bring along their spades and dig their own graves. And then the military police just shot them."

NARRATOR: Destruction: the goal of Hitler's ideological war.