Osprey Campaign 129 : Operation Barbarossa (1) 1941 : Army Group South

Operation Barbarossa was Germany's surprise attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. Its aim was nothing less than complete destruction the Soviet Union. The reason for the attack was that Hitler sought to establish 'Lebensraum' for the German people in the East. The German attack on the Soviet South-west and Southern Fronts were against the best equipped, trained and commanded units in the Soviet Union. Once again German Blitzkrieg in the east was as successful as the German Blitzkrieg into France and the low countries, with entire Soviet Armies engulfed and destroyed. This book describes how the Soviet Army was encircled and destroyed at Uman, so that by October 1941 the Red Army appeared to be in the final stages of collapse and nothing could stop the German juggernaut. Text by Robert Kirchubel with illustrations by Howard Gerrard.

Contents

• Origins of the Campaign
• Chronology
• Opposing Plans
• Opposing Commanders
• Opposing Armies
• The Frontier Battles
• Uman and Odessa
• The Kiev Pocket
• the Crimea
• Donets Basin and Rostov
• Aftermath
• The Battlefields Today
• Bibliography
• Index