The operation pitted two utterly opposed armed forces against one another: the Wehrmacht, the world's most advanced military force, and the downtrodden and humiliated Soviet armed forces, most of which had little military education. The ultimate failure of German troops to defeat Soviet forces in the campaign signalled a crucial turning point in the Second World War.
Christer Bergström dispels many myths surrounding the campaign. Here, writing for History Extra, he explores nine of the most popular misconceptions…
1. Stalin's collapse
In his famous speech to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in February 1956, first secretary Nikita Khrushchev said: “After the first severe disaster and defeat at the front Stalin thought that this was the end. In one of his speeches in those days he said: ‘All that Lenin created we have lost forever!' After this Stalin, for a long time ceased to do anything whatever.”
