Operation Barbarossa

It is the early morning of June 22, 1941. In just a few hours Germany will launch the largest invasion in military history. Three million men along an 1,800 mile front that stretches from the Arctic to the Black Sea will attempt to conquer the largest country in the world--Russia! Germany has been preparing for this attack for more than a year, and is confident of success. Moreover, it appears this was done in secrecy, and the imminent attack will come as a complete surprise to the Russians. The strategy is simple: use the blitzkrieg technique that worked so well in Poland, Belgium, and France to overwhelm the poorly trained and poorly equipped Russian army. If this can be accomplished within the first few weeks, Russia will certainly be doomed.

The Russian army is in a state of disarray. It is still trying to recover from Stalin's murderous purge of thousands of its best officers. The result is a great lack of leadership and experience at all command levels. Russia must absorb the initial blows and use the sheer size of the country to their advantage. This might buy enough time to bring their equipment up to date, and marshal their forces to put up a strong defense of Moscow.

You will command one of the German army groups, or the forces of Russia. The tasks of each side are daunting. Can you do better than the Germans actually did and advance your troops a mere 30 more miles to take Moscow? Can you take Leningrad, or reach the Caucasus oil fields? Germany was able to do neither. As Russia, can you overcome a serious deficit in equipment and manpower to repel the German invaders? These are just some of the questions to be answered in Operation Barbarossa!