ABSTRACT
In the early hours of June 22, 1941, Hitler's Wehrmacht launched Operation Barbarossa, the massive surprise invasion of the Soviet Union that opened the greatest land campaign in the history of the world. The Red Army (Workers-Peasants Red Army: RKKA) was engulfed in merciless combat that raged for 1,425 days. After the Soviet-German war ended in May 1945, Soviet forces conducted a brief 23-day blitzkrieg campaign in the Far East against the Japanese Kwantung Army. In the spring of 1942, the Red Army slowly expanded and diversified, re-introducing the tank corps and the rifle corps. Rifle formations also were receiving tank regiments and independent tank breakthrough regiments with 21 heavy tanks as infantry support. Though "mixed" establishment and in spite of being roughly handled by the Panzers in the summer of 1942 the new tank armies proved their worth in the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942.
