22 juin 1941 - Operation Barbarossa

Description:

- Major turning point in the European Theatre, bringing in Soviet Union, a massive industrial and military power; have 5.5 million in the army reserves, good LONG-TERM capacity for war
- Significant purge within Soviet Union, picking off enemies within the army to become more efficient
-Stalin was stunned by the invasion and refused to accept the news was true; delusional reaction, doesn't believe his own intelligence officers
- Eventually, Soviet size and productional capacity will win out victory over the Germans in the LONG-TERM
- Germany needed it to be a quick war with a quick victory...
- Germany's full capacity spent on the Eastern Front
-Soviet equipment is inferior to high-qualilty German, BUT is much easier/simpler to put together