Editing Operation Barbarossa (section)

===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}}