OPERATION BARBAROSSAThe invasion of Russia was the largest military campaign of the Second World War. Operation Barbarossa, as it was called, was launched on June 22, 1941 and took Russia completely by surprise. The scale of the war raging in Africa and Eastern Europe provided a major distraction for Hitler from his ultimate goal of attacking Russia. Although the British army remained undefeated in the west, Hitler's goal became urgent for him to begin advancing east. While plans were being made throughout 1940 for the invasion of Russia, time was favorable to the Russians and they continued to mobilize their resources and build up their defense forces. The German invasion came as a complete surprise because Russian dictator Joseph Stalin had failed to do so. He recognized the growing concentrations of German troops on the border and he also ignored British intelligence reports indicating that Germany intended to attack. Hitler once again used the Blitzkrieg technique with German tanks and air power leading the attack. Three powerful German armies, consisting of more than 3 million men, moved towards Russia. While one army group headed north toward Leningrad, a central group headed toward Moscow, and a southern group headed to capture the food-producing area of ​​Ukraine. The Germans were now delighted with their rapid advances and early successes, including the fact that they had captured more than 400,000 Russian troops. At the end of July, the advance on Leningrad and Moscow...