Discovery Channel - The Russian Front 1941-1945 (1998) Part 1 Barbarossa Hitler Turns East

The Russian Front chronicles the war between the Soviet Union and Germany that began on June 22, 1941, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, and ended with a Soviet assault on Berlin in April 1945. More combatants were killed on the Eastern Front than in all other theaters of World War II combined. The war on the Russian Front was a bitter, deadly struggle, triumphant for the Nazis at first, but eventually proving to be their downfall. Among the military campaigns examined is the brutal battle for Stalingrad in 1942, in which the Red Army lost more than 1 million men in defense of the city, and the engagement at Kursk in July 1943 involving 1 million men and 2,700 tanks. Relive campaign by campaign and battle by battle the bloody war between Nazi Germany and the Red Army of the Soviet Union. Featuring rare archive footage from the front, this fascinating series retells a story of barbarism, heroism, self-sacrifice, patriotism, despair, and triumph. An epic history of war and warfare, it is also the story of ordinary soldiers on both sides who found themselves fighting to the death in an unimaginably harsh and brutal war. Professor John Erickson, the award-winning author of “Road to Stalingrad” and “Road to Berlin” reassesses the titanic struggle between Hitler and Stalin on the Eastern Front. Series features rare archive footage from both Russian and German sources, informative graphics and maps, and incisive commentary and analysis by Professor John Erickson.

Part 1 Barbarossa Hitler Turns East

On 22 June 1941, German tanks rolled into the Soviet Union in an offensive which was to claim the lives of nearly 49 million people. Over 3 million German troops invade Russia in three parallel offensives, in what is the most powerful invasion force in history. Nineteen panzer divisions, 3,000 tanks, 2,500 aircraft, and 7,000 artillery pieces pour across a thousand-mile front as Hitler goes to war on a second front.

This episode covers the opening phase of the war, as the forces of Germany focused their eyes on the prize of Moscow, and the destruction of Russia.

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