Editing Operation Barbarossa (section)

==Initial attacks==
[[File:Invasion1941.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|German advances from June to August 1941]]

The initial momentum of the German ground and air attack completely destroyed the Soviet organisational [[command and control]] within the first few hours, paralyzing every level of command from the infantry platoon to the Soviet High Command in Moscow.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|pp=31–33}} Moscow failed to grasp the magnitude of the catastrophe that confronted the Soviet forces in the border area, and Stalin's first reaction was disbelief.{{sfn|Roberts|2011|p=156}} At around 07:15, Stalin issued NKO Directive No. 2, which announced the invasion to the Soviet Armed Forces, and called on them to attack Axis forces wherever they had violated the borders and launch air strikes into the border regions of German territory.{{sfn|Clark|2012|p=83}} At around 09:15, Stalin issued NKO Directive No. 3, signed by Timoshenko, which now called for a general counteroffensive on the entire front "without any regards for borders" that both men hoped would sweep the enemy from Soviet territory.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|p=31}}{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=287}} Stalin's order, which Timoshenko authorised, was not based on a realistic appraisal of the military situation at hand, but commanders passed it along for fear of retribution if they failed to obey; several days passed before the Soviet leadership became aware of the enormity of the opening defeat.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|p=31}}

===Air war===
{{Main|Axis and Soviet air operations during Operation Barbarossa|German-Soviet air war 22 June 1941}}
''Luftwaffe'' reconnaissance units plotted Soviet troop concentrations, supply dumps and airfields, and marked them down for destruction.{{sfn|Askey|2014|p=253}} Additional ''Luftwaffe'' attacks were carried out against Soviet command and control centres to disrupt the mobilisation and organisation of Soviet forces.{{sfn|Fritz|2011|p=85}}{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p= 51}} In contrast, Soviet artillery observers based at the border area had been under the strictest instructions not to open fire on German aircraft prior to the invasion.{{sfn|Hastings|2012|p=141}} One plausible reason given for the Soviet hesitation to return fire was Stalin's initial belief that the assault was launched without Hitler's authorisation. Significant amounts of Soviet territory were lost along with Red Army forces as a result; it took several days before Stalin comprehended the magnitude of the calamity.{{sfn|Fritz|2011|pp=85–86}} The ''Luftwaffe'' reportedly destroyed 1,489 aircraft on the first day of the invasion{{sfn|Bergström|2007|p=20}} and over 3,100 during the first three days.{{sfn|Bergström|2007|p=23}} Hermann Göring, [[Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany)|Minister of Aviation]] and [[Oberkommando der Luftwaffe|Commander-in-Chief of the ''Luftwaffe'']], distrusted the reports and ordered the figure checked. ''Luftwaffe'' staffs surveyed the wreckage on Soviet airfields, and their original figure proved conservative, as over 2,000 Soviet aircraft were estimated to have been destroyed on the first day of the invasion.{{sfn|Bergström|2007|p=20}} In reality, Soviet losses were likely higher; a Soviet archival document recorded the loss of 3,922 Soviet aircraft in the first three days against an estimated loss of 78 German aircraft.{{sfn|Bergström|2007|p=23}}{{sfn|Hardesty|2012|p=9}} The ''Luftwaffe'' reported the loss of only 35 aircraft on the first day of combat.{{sfn|Bergström|2007|p=23}} A document from the [[German Federal Archives]] puts the ''Luftwaffe''{{'}}s loss at 63 aircraft for the first day.{{sfn|Hardesty|2012|pp=8, 390}}

By the end of the first week, the ''Luftwaffe'' had achieved [[air supremacy]] over the battlefields of all the army groups,{{sfn|Hardesty|2012|p=9}} but was unable to extend this air dominance over the vast expanse of the western Soviet Union.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p= 19}}{{sfn|Hardesty|2012|p=54}} According to the [[war diary|war diaries]] of the [[OKW|German High Command]], the ''Luftwaffe'' by 5 July had lost 491 aircraft with 316 more damaged, leaving it with only about 70 percent of the strength it had at the start of the invasion.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|p=54}}

===Baltic countries===
{{Main|Baltic Operation}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-009-0882-04, Russland-Nord, Vormarsch durch Lettland.jpg|thumb|German forces pushing through [[Latvia]], summer 1941]]
On 22 June, Army Group North attacked the Soviet Northwestern Front and broke through its 8th and 11th Armies.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=37}} The Soviets immediately launched a [[Battle of Raseiniai|powerful counterattack]] against the German 4th Panzer Group with the Soviet 3rd and 12th Mechanised Corps, but the Soviet attack was defeated.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=37}} On 25 June, the 8th and 11th Armies were ordered to withdraw to the Western Dvina River, where it was planned to meet up with the 21st Mechanised Corps and the 22nd and 27th Armies. However, on 26 June, [[Erich von Manstein]]'s LVI Panzer Corps reached the river first and secured a bridgehead across it.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=38}} The Northwestern Front was forced to abandon the river defences, and on 29 June Stavka ordered the Front to withdraw to the [[Stalin Line]] on the approaches to Leningrad.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=38}} On 2 July, Army Group North began its attack on the Stalin Line with its 4th Panzer Group, and on 8 July captured [[Pskov]], devastating the defences of the Stalin Line and reaching [[Leningrad oblast]].{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=38}} The 4th Panzer Group had advanced about {{convert|450|km|mi}} since the start of the invasion and was now only about {{convert|250|km|mi}} from its primary objective Leningrad. On 9 July it began its attack towards the Soviet defences along the [[Luga River]] in Leningrad oblast.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=93}}

===Ukraine and Moldavia===
{{See also|Operation München|Battle of Brody (1941)}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2005-1017-521, Ostfront, -Generaloberst von Kleist besichtigt ein Hüttenwerk in der Ukraine.jpg|thumb|upright|General [[Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist|Ewald von Kleist]] (left), commander of the [[1st Panzer Group]], inspects a large iron works facility in Ukraine, 1941.]]

The northern section of Army Group South faced the Southwestern Front, which had the largest concentration of Soviet forces, and the southern section faced the Southern Front. In addition, the Pripyat Marshes and the [[Carpathian Mountains]] posed a serious challenge to the army group's northern and southern sections respectively.{{sfn|Fritz|2011|pp=89, 140}} On 22 June, only the northern section of Army Group South attacked, but the terrain impeded their assault, giving the Soviet defenders ample time to react.{{sfn|Fritz|2011|pp=89, 140}} The German [[1st Panzer Group]] and 6th Army attacked and broke through the Soviet 5th Army.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=41}} Starting on the night of 23 June, the Soviet 22nd and 15th Mechanised Corps attacked the flanks of the 1st Panzer Group from north and south respectively. Although intended to be concerted, Soviet tank units were sent in piecemeal due to poor coordination. The 22nd Mechanised Corps ran into the 1st Panzer Army's III Motorised Corps and was decimated, and its commander killed. The 1st Panzer Group bypassed much of the 15th Mechanised Corps, which engaged the German 6th Army's 297th Infantry Division, where it was defeated by antitank fire and ''Luftwaffe'' attacks.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=42}} On 26 June, the Soviets launched another counterattack on the 1st Panzer Group from north and south simultaneously with the 9th, 19th and 8th Mechanised Corps, which altogether fielded 1649 tanks, and supported by the remnants of the 15th Mechanised Corps. The battle lasted for four days, ending in the defeat of the Soviet tank units.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|pp=43–44, 225}} On 30 June Stavka ordered the remaining forces of the Southwestern Front to withdraw to the Stalin Line, where it would defend the approaches to Kiev.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|pp=21, 43–44}}

On 2 July, the southern section of Army Group South—the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies, alongside the German 11th Army—invaded [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Moldavia]], which was defended by the Southern Front.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|p=45}} Counterattacks by the Front's 2nd Mechanised Corps and 9th Army were defeated, but on 9 July the Axis advance stalled along the defences of the Soviet 18th Army between the [[Prut River|Prut]] and [[Dniester River|Dniester]] Rivers.{{sfn|Glantz|2011|pp=45, 112}}

===Belorussia===
{{Main|Battle of Białystok–Minsk}}
In the opening hours of the invasion, the ''Luftwaffe'' destroyed the Western Front's air force on the ground, and with the aid of [[Abwehr]] and their supporting anti-communist fifth columns operating in the Soviet rear paralyzed the Front's communication lines, which particularly cut off the Soviet 4th Army headquarters from headquarters above and below it.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=29–33}} On the same day, the [[2nd Panzer Group]] crossed the Bug River, broke through the 4th Army, bypassed [[Brest Fortress]], and pressed on towards [[Minsk]], while the [[3rd Panzer Group]] bypassed most of the 3rd Army and pressed on towards [[Vilnius]].{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=29–33}} Simultaneously, the German 4th and 9th Armies engaged the Western Front forces in the environs of [[Białystok]].{{sfn|Seaton|1972|pp=119–125}} On the order of the Western Front commander, [[Dmitry Pavlov (general)|Dmitry Pavlov]], the 6th and 11th Mechanised Corps and the 6th Cavalry Corps launched a strong counterstrike towards [[Grodno]] on 24–25 June in hopes of destroying the 3rd Panzer Group. However, the 3rd Panzer Group had already moved on, with its forward units reaching Vilnius on the evening of 23 June, and the Western Front's armoured counterattack instead ran into infantry and antitank fire from the V Army Corps of the German 9th Army, supported by ''Luftwaffe'' air attacks.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=29–33}} By the night of 25 June, the Soviet counterattack was defeated, and the commander of the 6th Cavalry Corps was captured. The same night, Pavlov ordered all the remnants of the Western Front to withdraw to Slonim towards Minsk.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=29–33}} Subsequent counterattacks to buy time for the withdrawal were launched against the German forces, but all of them failed.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=29–33}} On 27 June, the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups met near Minsk and captured the city the next day, completing the encirclement of almost all of the Western Front in two [[Pocket (military)|pockets]]: one around Białystok and another west of Minsk.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=29–33, 56}} The Germans destroyed the Soviet 3rd and 10th Armies while inflicting serious losses on the 4th, 11th and 13th Armies, and reported to have captured 324,000 Soviet troops, 3,300 tanks, 1,800 artillery pieces.{{sfn|Murray|Millett|2000|pp=122–123}}{{sfn|Fritz|2011|pp=88, 509}}

[[File:Niemieckie czołgi i pojazdy pancerne przed atakiem na Słuck (2-929).jpg|thumb|right|German mechanised forces staging in preparation to attack [[Slutsk]] in present-day Belarus]]

A Soviet directive was issued on 29 June to combat the mass panic rampant among the civilians and the armed forces personnel. The order stipulated swift, severe measures against anyone inciting panic or displaying cowardice. The [[NKVD]] worked with commissars and military commanders to scour possible withdrawal routes of soldiers retreating without military authorisation. Field expedient general courts were established to deal with civilians spreading rumours and military deserters.{{sfn|Seaton|1972|p=111}} On 30 June, Stalin relieved Pavlov of his command, and on 22 July tried and executed him along with many members of his staff on charges of "cowardice" and "criminal incompetence".{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=56–57}}{{sfn|Forczyk|2014|p=253}}

On 29 June, Hitler, through Brauchitsch, instructed Bock to halt the advance of the panzers of Army Group Centre until the infantry formations liquidating the pockets caught up.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=54–56}} But Guderian, with the tacit support of Bock and Halder, ignored the instruction and attacked on eastward towards Bobruisk, albeit reporting the advance as a [[reconnaissance-in-force]]. He also personally conducted an aerial inspection of the Minsk-Białystok pocket on 30 June and concluded that his panzer group was not needed to contain it, since [[Hermann Hoth]]'s 3rd Panzer Group was already involved in the Minsk pocket.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=60–62}} On the same day, some of the infantry corps of the 9th and 4th Armies, having sufficiently liquidated the Białystok pocket, resumed their march eastward to catch up with the panzer groups.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=60–62}} On 1 July, Bock ordered the panzer groups to resume their full offensive eastward on the morning of 3 July. But Brauchitsch, upholding Hitler's instruction, and Halder, unwillingly going along with it, opposed Bock's order. However, Bock insisted on the order by stating that it would be irresponsible to reverse orders already issued. The panzer groups resumed their offensive on 2 July before the infantry formations had sufficiently caught up.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|pp=60–62}}

===Northeast Finland===
{{Main|Continuation War}}
[[File:JR45 crossing Murmansk railway.jpg|thumb|Finnish soldiers crossing the Murmansk Railway, 1941]]
During German-Finnish negotiations, Finland had demanded to remain neutral unless the Soviet Union attacked them first. Germany therefore sought to provoke the Soviet Union into an attack on Finland. After Germany launched Barbarossa on 22 June, German aircraft used Finnish air bases to attack Soviet positions. The same day the Germans launched [[Operation Rentier]] and occupied the [[Pechengsky District|Petsamo Province]] at the Finnish-Soviet border. Simultaneously Finland proceeded to [[Operation Kilpapurjehdus|remilitarise the neutral Åland Islands]]. Despite these actions the Finnish government insisted via diplomatic channels that they remained a neutral party, but the Soviet leadership already viewed Finland as an ally of Germany. Subsequently, the Soviets proceeded to launch a massive bombing attack on 25 June against all major Finnish cities and industrial centres, including Helsinki, Turku and Lahti. During a night session on the same day the Finnish parliament decided to go to war against the Soviet Union.{{sfnp|Nenye|Munter|Wirtanen|Birks|2016|pp=36, 39–41}}{{sfnp|Mann|Jörgensen|2002|pp=74–76}}

Finland was divided into two operational zones. Northern Finland was the staging area for Army Norway. Its goal was to execute a two-pronged pincer movement on the strategic port of [[Murmansk]], named [[Operation Silver Fox]]. Southern Finland was still under the responsibility of the Finnish Army. The goal of the Finnish forces was, at first, to recapture Finnish Karelia at [[Lake Ladoga]] as well as the Karelian Isthmus, which included Finland's second largest city [[Vyborg|Viipuri]].{{sfnp|Ueberschär|1998|pp=941–944; 974–980}}{{sfnp|Nenye|Munter|Wirtanen|Birks|2016|pp=38–41}}