Tolochino: The T-34

On June 22, 1941, German forces invaded Russia. Conñdent in the Superiority of their technology and training, the Germans believed they could defeat the Red Army in 6 months. However, when the 18th Panzer encountered Soviet T-34/76 tanks outside Tolochino …

1941-07-03

E10

On June 22, 1941, German forces invaded Russia. Conñdent in the Superiority of their technology and training, the Germans believed they could defeat the Red Army in 6 months. However, when the 18th Panzer encountered Soviet T-34/76 tanks outside Tolochino on July 3rd, they were stunned. Unknown to German intelligence, the T-34 was vastly superior to any tank the Germans had. It was better armed, more mobile, and German 37 mm shells were ineffective against the T-34's armor. Only superior training and communications allowed the Germans to prevail against the T-34s.

Tolochino, Belarus

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