Raid de la Luftwaffe

On June 22, 1941, Panzer Group 1 stormed into the northwestern corner of Ukraine. Although not the best country for tanks, it was in this countryside that Operation Barbarossa was launched. The German operational plans called for a rapid advance …

1941-06-23

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On June 22, 1941, Panzer Group 1 stormed into the northwestern corner of Ukraine. Although not the best country for tanks, it was in this countryside that Operation Barbarossa was launched. The German operational plans called for a rapid advance to capture the town of Lutsk, an important road nexus, allowing the mobile German units an opportunity to break out into open terrain and advance to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Lieutenant General M. P. Kirponos, commander of the Southwestern Front, received instructions from the Soviet National Defense Committee to immediately counterattack. As the Soviet mechanized formations began moving, the German Luftwaffe launched relentless and merciless air attacks on the armored columns strung out along the narrow roads. Due to losses from air attacks and mechanical failures, some of the Soviet tank formations eventually went into action with less than 50 percent of their operational strength.

Lutsk, Ukraine

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which started on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. The operation put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goal of conquering the western Soviet Union so as to repopulate it with Germans. The German Generalplan Ost aimed to use some of the conquered people as slave labour for the Axis war effort while acquiring the oil reserves of the Caucasus as well as the agricultural resources of various Soviet territories. Their ultimate goal included the eventual extermination, enslavement, Germanization and mass deportation to Siberia of the Slavic peoples, and to create more Lebensraum for Germany.

Wikipedia: Operation Barbarossa

German

Russian

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Countryside

Website Access: Classified