1. World War II: The Eastern Front

2. Operation “Barbarossa”
June 22, 1941
German army invades USSR with 3 million men
Soviet resistance almost collapses – Germans occupy huge areas of Eastern Russia
Germans capture millions of Soviet POW’s

5. Battle of Moscow
German offensive slows down near Moscow by October rains, mud
Attacks halted by arrival of “General” Winter (-50oC !) and Soviet counter-attack
Germans driven backwards km before front stabilizes

7. 1942: Road to Disaster
German summer offensive drives Soviets back towards Stalingrad

8. Battle of Stalingrad
Germans attempt to take city – Soviets resist fanatically – city mostly destroyed

10. Nov. Soviets counter-attack and encircle German 6th Army (200 000 men) inside Stalingrad
Jan – 6th Army surrenders – major defeat for Germany

11. Summer 1943: Battle of Kursk
Largest tank battle in history
German attacks fail – huge numbers of tanks lost
Germans can now only retreat

13.
Soviets steadily push Germans back out of USSR, across Poland and into Germany

14. Apr. 1945: Battle for Berlin

17. The Final Act... Hitler spends final days in underground bunker
April 30: Hitler & Eva Braun commit suicide

18. What About Il Duce ? 1945: Mussolini captured by partisans and killed
Body is hung up by heels and ridiculed by Italians

19. Finis: VE- Day
May 8, 1945: Germany surrenders to Allies