ABSTRACT
Operation Barbarossa (Red Beard) was launched at 3.30 (Moscowtime) on the morning of Sunday 22 June 1941 across a wide front.There were three main groups to the German attack. Army Group North headed for the Baltic States and Leningrad, Army Group Centre struck towards Belorussia and Moscow, and Army Group South thrust towards Ukraine and Kiev. The Wehrmacht had 3.2 million men at its disposal and Finnish, Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Italian and Spanish troops joined in later.
