Barbarossa

Summary

Podcast Summary: World War II with Tom Hanks

Episode 3: Barbarossa
Released: May 26, 2026
Produced by: The HISTORY Channel | Back Pocket Studios | Audacy

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Episode Overview

Episode 3, Barbarossa, explores the ambitious but ultimately catastrophic German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II—Operation Barbarossa. Guided by Tom Hanks and enriched by expert voices, the episode unpacks how Hitler’s arrogance, Stalin’s miscalculations, and the sheer scale of the Eastern Front created one of history’s defining military clashes. It details the lead-up to the operation, the unfolding invasion, critical blunders and turning points, and the eventual Soviet resurgence that would forever alter the war’s course.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Stakes of Barbarossa

• The Nazi-Soviet Pact & Its Illusion

  • Stalin, following Lenin’s death, consolidates absolute power and signs a Non-Aggression Pact with Nazi Germany in 1939, buying both nations time.
  • Stalin believes he has neutralized any threat from Hitler and can focus elsewhere.
  • “Stalin's ideal plan was that the British and French would fight off the Germans as much as they liked, while Stalin watched from the sidelines as they exhausted themselves.” – Historian/Expert [02:12]

• Stalin’s Paranoia and the Great Terror

  • Stalin’s purges, especially of the military elite, render the Red Army’s leadership dangerously inexperienced:
    “Stalin supervised through the NKVD secret police the killing of millions of people... He turned the country into a totalitarian police state.” – Historian/Expert [03:25]

• Supplying the Nazi War Machine

  • Despite mutual distrust, the Soviet Union provides Hitler massive natural resources, bolstering Germany’s military might ([04:27]).

2. Diplomatic Maneuvering and Betrayal

• Tentative Axis Diplomacy

  • Stalin, intrigued by the Tripartite Pact, dispatches Foreign Minister Molotov (“Iron Arse”) to Berlin; discussions with Hitler are uneasy and fruitless ([05:35]).

• On-the-Ground Tension

  • A British air raid interrupts Molotov’s visit to Berlin:
    “If the war is over, then why are we in this bomb shelter and whose bombs are falling on us?” – Molotov to Ribbentrop, recounted by Historian/Expert [07:51]

• Hitler's Duplicity

  • While negotiating with the Soviets, Hitler secretly issues orders for the invasion (“Fuhrer directive number 21”), planning history’s largest military offensive ([08:41]).

3. Stalin’s Intelligence Blindness

• Warnings Ignored
  • Despite receiving detailed warnings (from Berlin, the British, Americans, and his own spies), Stalin refuses to believe Hitler will invade:
    “You can get all the intelligence in the world, but if you are predisposed not to believe it, it doesn’t really make that much difference.” – Military Analyst [10:19]
  • Stalin considers Hitler a rational actor and underestimates his ambitions.

4. The Launch of Operation Barbarossa

• Invasion Unfolds (June 22, 1941)

  • Over three million German troops, with thousands of tanks and aircraft, sweep into Soviet territory at dawn, catching the Red Army unprepared ([13:49]).
  • “It's the biggest invasion force in the history of human warfare. It's just so vast, it's difficult to get one's mind around it.” – Historian/Expert [14:45]

• Devastating Soviet Losses

  • Luftwaffe destroys 2,000 Soviet aircraft on day one; entire Soviet armies are swiftly encircled and destroyed.
  • The German advance is so fast, it’s described as “a hot knife cutting through butter” ([19:16]).
  • Soviet military purges leave the Red Army leaderless and ineffective:
    “Stalin had decapitated his own army… They were little more than Stalin loyalists or party hacks. This is an army that has suddenly been reduced to kind of the Turkey achieving level.” – Military Analyst [20:31]

• Chaos and Collapse

  • Stalin suffers a crisis, retreating to his dacha in paralysis after realizing the scale of defeat:
    “Everything’s lost. So many lands have been lost… All this, he says, has been flushed down the toilet.” – Stalin, quoted by Historian/Expert [21:49]

5. Soviet Resilience and Rally

• Stalin’s Patriotic Pivot

  • Persuaded by aides, Stalin returns to Moscow and addresses the nation. He appeals to Russian patriotism and invokes the defense of “Motherland,” shifting rhetoric from Communist ideology to national survival:
    “Our people must join our patriotic war of liberation against the fascist enslavers.” – Stalin/Voice, read by Tom Hanks [24:03]

• Turning the Tide

  • Stalin becomes supreme commander; Western aid is promised from Britain (Churchill) and the US (Roosevelt), although it will take time to arrive ([24:47]).

6. The Ruthless Reality of War

• Barbarism on the Eastern Front

  • The German invasion is intentionally brutal. Troops are ordered to show no restraint:
    “They give the army carte blanche to do exactly what they want to the populations as they swarm over the borderlands… We are now going to literally target civilians on purpose.” – Historian/Expert [26:38; 26:49]

• Soviet Scorched Earth

  • Facing the invaders, Stalin orders a scorched earth policy—everything useful to the enemy is to be destroyed ([27:00]).

• Logistical Strains and German Overreach

  • The vastness of Russia defeats German logistics; as the advance continues, supply lines are overextended:
    “Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics. Tank repair, replenishment of ammunition, food, uniforms… Eventually, every force will reach what’s called a culminating point, where you’ve simply exhausted the men, outrun the supplies, hit something you can’t overcome.” – Military Analyst [28:07]

7. Stalled Blitzkrieg: Kyiv, Moscow, and “General Winter”

• Kyiv Encirclement

  • Hitler opts to focus on Ukraine, resulting in a massive encirclement at Kyiv—600,000 Soviet troops captured ([30:55]).

• March on Moscow and Desperation

  • The Wehrmacht advances so close to Moscow that its towers are visible; Soviet resolve stiffens, and the city prepares for a last stand ([31:56]).
  • Stalin contemplates evacuation, but ultimately decides to remain in Moscow, aware of the symbolic importance ([32:46]).

• Winter Strikes

  • As autumn turns to winter, weather destroys German momentum:
    “Russia’s greatest general was General Winter… The Russians were much better prepared for winter than the Germans.” – Historian/Expert [35:08]
  • Rasputitsa (“the roadless time”) and then lethal subzero cold cripple German armor and men ([35:18]).

8. Soviet Counteroffensive and Turning Point

• Siberian Reinforcements

  • With new intelligence assuring that Japan won’t attack Siberia, Stalin moves 400,000 fresh, winter-ready Siberian troops to the West ([37:42]).
  • Parade in Red Square, November:
    “The whole world is looking to you as the force capable of destroying the plundering hordes of German invaders.” – Stalin/Voice, read by Tom Hanks [38:48]

• Counteroffensive Launches

  • December 5: Stalin orders his first counteroffensive; Germans, exhausted and freezing, are pushed back over 100 miles ([40:32]).

• Impact and Aftermath

  • The German defeat at Moscow is both practical and symbolic, marking a turning point for the Eastern Front: “The defeat of the German drive on Moscow and the near destruction of the Germans is a sea change for both Hitler and Stalin.” – Military Analyst [41:03]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Molotov’s Wit, Amid Bombs:
  “If the war is over, then why are we in this bomb shelter and whose bombs are falling on us?” – Molotov [07:51]
• On Stalin’s Paranoia:
  “You can get all the intelligence in the world, but if you are predisposed not to believe it, it doesn’t really make that much difference.” – Military Analyst [10:19]
• Scale of Invasion:
  “If you just take the eastern front, it’s like trying to invade the United States. From San Diego to Seattle…” – Historian/Expert [14:54]
• Collapse and Realization:
  “Everything’s lost. So many lands have been lost. All this… has been flushed down the toilet, he says.” – Stalin, via Historian/Expert [21:49–22:03]
• Patriotic Rallying Cry:
  “Our people must join our patriotic war of liberation against the fascist enslavers.” – Stalin/Voice, Tom Hanks [24:03]
• German Overreach:
  “Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics.” – Military Analyst [28:07]
• General Winter:
  “It was always said that Russia’s greatest general was General Winter…” – Historian/Expert [35:08]
• Sea Change:
  “The defeat of the German drive on Moscow and the near destruction of the Germans is a sea change for both Hitler and Stalin.” – Military Analyst [41:03]

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Key Segment Timestamps

• Origins of the Nazi-Soviet Pact & Stalin’s Plans: [01:07–05:15]
• Molotov’s Visit, Air Raid, and Hitler’s Duplicity: [05:35–08:41]
• Stalin’s Intelligence Dismissal: [10:01–11:33]
• German Invasion Begins: [13:49–16:00]
• Early Soviet Collapse & Panic: [19:16–24:25]
• Soviet Turn Toward Patriotism: [24:25–25:00]
• Nazi Atrocities & Total War: [26:14–27:00]
• German Supply and Strategy Problems: [27:24–29:41]
• Kyiv, Push to Moscow, and Soviet Desperation: [30:20–32:46]
• General Winter and Siberian Reinforcements: [35:00–39:48]
• Soviet Counteroffensive & German Retreat: [40:32–41:31]

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Conclusion

In this cinematic retelling of Operation Barbarossa, Tom Hanks and a panel of historians expose the breathtaking scale, brutality, and psychological drama of the Eastern Front. Through expertly structured narrative and firsthand commentary, listeners grasp how Hitler’s overreach and Stalin’s transformation from fearful leader to unifying war commander turned the tide—not just for the Soviet Union, but for the world. The episode closes with Germans stalled at Moscow’s gates, and the specter of global war growing as the U.S. comes into focus for the next act.

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For listeners new to the history or seeking a dramatic and insightful exploration of WWII’s Eastern Front, this episode is deep, vivid, and vital.

Transcript

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[Narrator]

Since the death of Lenin in 1924, Joseph Stalin has maintained an iron grip on all aspects of life in the Soviet Union. As a Soviet Premier, Stalin agrees to the 1939 Non Aggression Pact with the Nazis, extending his western border and precluding any chance of going to war with Hitler's Germany. Stalin could not have been more mistaken.

[Tom Hanks]

This is world war ii with tom hanks episode 3 barbarossa.

[Narrator]

As war between Great Britain and Germany continues from his offices deep within the Kremlin, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is confident the non aggression pact he made with the Germans will hold and that he will soon have even more influence around the world.

[Historian/Expert]

Stalin's ideal plan was that the British and French would fight off the Germans and that those two sides could fight it out as much as they liked, while Stalin watched from the sidelines as they exhausted themselves.

[Narrator]

Since he was a young revolutionary, Stalin hoped that conflict in the west would ultimately provide an opportunity for Communism to spread throughout Europe.

[Historian/Expert]

Visarianovich Dzhugashvili, the man that we know as Stalin, is Georgian by birth and origin. He comes from a particular milieu marked by, among other things, feuding and banditry and a certain code of honor, a code of vengeance and vendetta.

[Narrator]

In the 1920s, Stalin became the leader of the Soviet Union and quickly suppressed any opposition to his rule. In 1936 he launched a purge that became known as the Great Terrorist. Targeting political opponents, then expanding it to

[Historian/Expert]

high level army officers, Stalin supervised through the NKVD secret police the killing of millions of people the destroying of families. Millions were deported and sent to concentration camps known as the Gulags. He turned the country into a totalitarian police state.

[Narrator]

A few Years later, in 1939, Stalin makes a deal with Adolf Hitler. Even though Germany and the Soviet Union are hostile, Stalin signs an agreement known as the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact with the Nazis. As a result of the pact, Hitler and Stalin not only carve up Eastern Europe, but and together invade Poland. Stalin also commits to supplying vast quantities of raw materials to the German Reich.

[Historian/Expert]

The Soviet Union is providing Adolf Hitler massive amounts of natural resources, which is funding the economic engine to build the military machine that Adolf Hitler is using around the rest of the world.

By 1940, it looks as if the impact has paid off. Certainly for Stalin, he's got this agreement with the Nazis that he doesn't have to worry about a war on their western front.

[Narrator]

Then in late September, Germany, Italy and Japan signed a military alliance called the Tripartite Pact.

[News Reporter]

In Berlin, Hitler welcomed Japan to his gang. The Three Power Treaty. Germany, Italy, Japan, dictator nations falling in step for world domination.

[Historian/Expert]

It was not clear what the role of the Soviet Union might be in this new pact. Would it become a quadruple pact instead of simply a Tripartite pact? Would the Soviet Union become a full partner? These were all still open questions in the fall of 1940.

[Narrator]

In November, Stalin sends one of the few people he trusts to Berlin. His foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov. Molotov means hammer in Russian.

[Historian/Expert]

His nickname was Iron Arse because he could sit for so long doing work. He was intelligent, he was ruthless and Stalin trusted him. Hitler receives Molotov. In the chance story, there's an amazing scene as he enters. Huge blonde giant SS men in their gleaming black death heads, uniform salute. In walks this little Russian diplomat and Hitler greets him warmly and they have two big sessions of chats.

[Military Analyst]

Hitler's at an impasse in this war conquered everything within reach. He's trying to talk to the Soviets about some tighter level of cooperation. Hitler wants to get the Soviets on board for some kind of global war against the British Empire.

[Narrator]

The Germans propose that the Soviets join the Tripartite Pact and offer India as a prize for when the British are defeated. Molotov doesn't take this seriously.

[Historian/Expert]

Iron Arse is not impressed with Hitler and the conversations become increasingly awkward.

[Narrator]

German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop is hosting a reception for Molotov when the Royal Air Force begins a raid on Berlin.

[Historian/Expert]

In the middle of the banquet, the air raid sirens start to sound and they have to go down into Ribbentrop's air raid shelter. And during the air raid, Ribbentrop starts to boast that Britain is defeated and it's only a matter of time before Britain surrenders and the war is won.

Ribbentrop, trying to make the best of an obviously embarrassing situation. Jokes at the British are complaining that they have not been invited to the party. Molotov, however, is not charmed by the Germans attempted humor. He says, well, if the war is over, then why are we in this bomb shelter and whose bombs are falling on us?

[Narrator]

The next morning, Foreign minister Molotov returns to Moscow, unaware that Hitler and his military leaders are planning a secret operation.

[Military Analyst]

Hitler is capable of shaking your hand and looking you in the eye and saying everything's okay while planning to stab you in the back. And that is clearly what's going on between Molotov and Hitler.

[Narrator]

One month after Molotov's Berlin visit, on December 18, Hitler signs off on Fuhrer directive number 21, a plan for a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. The following year, the invasion is given a code name after a red bearded medieval German emperor. The stage is now set for the biggest military invasion in history, Operation Barbarossa. In the last weeks of 1940, Adolf Hitler tours German weapons factories as preparations progress for operation Barbarossa. His plan is to attack and conquer the Soviet Union to establish more lebenstraum living space for the new German empire in the east.

[Tom Hanks]

The munitions workers gather in a huge assembly hall where a huge steel podium has been erected.

[Narrator]

The operation is top secret, but within days, sources have fed the information to the Soviet intelligence services.

[Historian/Expert]

Stalin is receiving information from nearly every quarter, right from the belly of the beast in Berlin, from the American military attache, from the British, and from his spy in Tokyo.

[Narrator]

But Stalin doesn't believe what he's hearing.

[Military Analyst]

Stalin is paranoid that what is happening here is a very high level game on the part of the western powers. They're trying to maneuver him into a one on one war with the previously undefeated Wehrmacht that he does not believe he's ready for at the moment. And he is bound and determined to avoid being maneuvered. You can get all the intelligence in the world, but if you are predisposed not to believe it, it doesn't really make that much difference.

[Historian/Expert]

And when he receives a report from his master agent in the German air force that Hitler is planning an imminent invasion of Russia, he says Hitler would not be so stupid because he doesn't even realize what he's dealing with the scale of the Soviet Union.

[Narrator]

Both Stalin and Hitler have read deeply into history.

[Historian/Expert]

Stalin has studied the great German Prussian statesman Bismarck. Bismarck thought that a war on two fronts was an extremely bad idea.

[Narrator]

Germany remains at war with Great Britain. And Stalin doesn't believe Hitler would open a second front.

[Historian/Expert]

Stalin thinks it very unlikely that Hitler will invade because he thinks Hitler is a sort of rational Bismarckian player. And in that sense he misread Hitler.

[Narrator]

But Hitler believes that he is destined to lead Germany to greatness.

[Historian/Expert]

Hitler is nothing if not arrogant. He believes he's better than Bismarck, better than just about anybody else who's ever lived before him.

[Narrator]

Hitler finalizes the details of Operation Barbarossa. Proposed date of invasion May 1941. The plan is to overwhelm the Red army and topple the regime within two months, well before the Russian winter sets in.

[Military Analyst]

A lightning blow against the Russians that will prove once and for all that he, Hitler and Germany are unconquerable.

[Narrator]

The offensive is divided into three giant army groups, each with a specific objective

[Military Analyst]

going from north to south. The 1st Army Group is Army Group north, which moves along the Baltic. And its final operational goal is Leningrad. The center of the invasion is Army Group Center. It's the largest force by far and it is going toward Moscow. Out Army Group south is moving through what we would now call Ukraine to secure resources and eventually the historic Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

[Narrator]

But in the spring of 1941, the Nazis face a challenge in the Balkans. In southeastern Europe, Hitler is forced to send an army into Yugoslavia to crush an anti Nazi coup. His infantry then marches into neighboring Greece to help his Italian ally, Benito Mussolini.

[Military Analyst]

Hitler has been cleaning up this mess in the Balkans. And so it's now five week delay in the start of Operation Barbarossa.

[Narrator]

The Kremlin receives more intelligence that the Germans are preparing an invasion. Stalin dismisses it all and he doesn't stop sending Soviet grain, oil and steel into Germany. June 22, 1941. As dawn breaks, over 3 million German soldiers poured across the border into Soviet territory. Operation Barbarossa is launched.

[Historian/Expert]

It's the biggest invasion force in the history of human warfare. It's just so vast, it's difficult to get one's mind around it.

If you just take the eastern front, it's like trying to invade the United States. From San Diego to Seattle, it is by itself the largest war that's ever happened. That's crazy.

It's 3,000 tanks, 2,700 aircraft, another 7,000 artillery pieces, 600,000 vehicles. It is massive, on a scale no one else has ever seen before.

[Military Analyst]

This is the largest army that's ever been organized in modern European terms. This is 3 million men spread across a couple of thousand miles up front. 300 divisions, including 19 panzer divisions. This is a big force. This is German manpower moving east. This is the culmination of all the dreams, the hopes that Hitler has put into his leadership. This is going to be the future future of Germany in the east.

[Historian/Expert]

Hitler thinks that the Soviet system is so rotten that he just has to kick in the barn door and the whole structure is going to collapse.

[Narrator]

The Wehrmacht moves fast. In just a few hours, miles of Soviet territory is overrun. The invasion seems to be going according to plan.

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[Narrator]

On the morning of the invasion, Stalin is awoken by his chief of staff.

[Historian/Expert]

The phone rings in Stalin's bedroom and Stalin answers it and it just says the war has started. And there's silence. And you can just hear Stalin breathing as he kind of wakes up and absorbs this information. The German advance is fast. It's furious, it's efficient, it's brutal.

[News Reporter]

Adolf Hitler today launched his fast mobile panzer divisions against what may be the largest mass army of the world, the Red army of communist Russia.

[Narrator]

The Red army and the Soviet air force are caught unprepared. On the very first day. The German Luftwaffe report that They've destroyed nearly 2,000 Soviet aircraft, both in the air and on the ground.

[Historian/Expert]

Russian airfields were bombed. Russian cities were bombed. All hell was let loose. The Soviets do resist bravely, but they are constantly outmaneuvered. Captured almost immediately, the vast Soviet army is already in free fall.

The opening days of Barbarossa are Hitler's dream. It goes incredibly well. The forces are racing through former Poland. They go across Belo Russia. They get through the Baltic states. It's just amazing. It's like a hot knife cutting through butter.

[Narrator]

In just the first week, The Wehrmacht pushed 300 miles into Soviet territory, capturing over 400,000 troops.

[Military Analyst]

The Russians are simply being stampeded by a much more savvy German force.

[Narrator]

During the Great Terror, Stalin dismantled the leadership of the army, executing thousands of experienced military officers.

[Historian/Expert]

It is on a colossal scale. 3 of 5 field marshals, 13 of 15 army commanders, 50 of 57 corps commanders, 45% of all brigadier generals, 50% of all colonels have been executed. The leadership of the Soviet armed forces is not in place.

[Military Analyst]

Stalin had decapitated his own army. He put younger men in their place, but they weren't experienced. And sometimes they were little more than Stalin loyalists or party hacks. They're rookies. This is an army that has suddenly been reduced to kind of the Turkey achieving level.

[Narrator]

Some Soviets initially welcome the Germans. They even tear down communist statues raised in Stalin's honor. On June 28, Hitler's army group center reaches Minsk, the capital of belarussia, just over 400 miles from Moscow.

[Historian/Expert]

The Germans keep coming. Those 3 million Nazi troops keep advancing ruthlessly, and Stalin is ordering counterattacks that never happen. It's just chaos out there.

There was now a very palpable sense of paranoia and fear that the Germans now might be able to advance as far as Moscow.

[Narrator]

At the Kremlin, the news reaches Stalin.

[Historian/Expert]

Stalin suddenly realizes that he's lost control of the Soviet Union. He's lost control of the invasion. He turns to Molotov and he just says, everything's lost. So many lands have been lost.

He's not simply talking about the army. He's talking about the revolution. He's talking about the first proletarian dictatorship, the birthplace of communism. All this, he says, has been flushed down the toilet, he says.

[Narrator]

Stalin retreats to his dacha, his country home outside Moscow, and shuts himself off completely. At this crucial moment, the Soviet Union has no leader. As the Wehrmacht tears through Soviet territory, Stalin has not left his country house. Some of his closest aides fear he's suffering a nervous Breakdown.

[Historian/Expert]

Back in the Kremlin, there's total panic. So finally Molotov says, we've all got to go out to see Stalin and to tell him to come back. So they drive out and Stalin is sitting in a chair, pale, thinner, exhausted. He says, what have you come for? They say, come back, lead us. We can't do this without you.

[Narrator]

Molotov persuades Stalin to return to the Kremlin, where he speaks directly to the Soviet people. But instead of talking about communism, he evokes their sense of history, honor and national pride.

[Tom Hanks]

The attack by Hitlerite Germany on our Motherland, begun on June 22, is continuing.

[Historian/Expert]

Stalin appeals to Mother Russia. He appeals to the sorts of attitudes and spirit of the people. He could have been the Tsar in the way that the Tsar might have appealed to the people.

[Tom Hanks]

Our people must join our patriotic war of liberation against the fascist enslavers.

[Historian/Expert]

This is a really smart, canny move. This is a wonderful way to unite society in a way that brings people together. We have the same enemy and Mother Russia is at stake here. So rally to the cause.

[Narrator]

Tens of millions of Soviet peoples are moved by Stalin's words.

[Historian/Expert]

He appoints himself supreme Commander in chief and he takes complete control of the war effort.

[Narrator]

The Soviets also begin to receive unexpected support from the West.

[Historian/Expert]

The Soviet Union is now acquiring sympathy from Winston Churchill in London, from President Roosevelt in Washington. These countries will offer Stalin aid.

[Narrator]

Roosevelt sends to Moscow his closest advisor, Harry Hopkins, to find out how America can support the Soviet Union.

[News Reporter]

At the airport, our camera filmed the arrival of Mr. Harry Hopkins, who conferred with Stalin on Russia's immediate need.

[Narrator]

But it will be some time before Western aid will arrive.

[Tom Hanks]

All resistance is pointless. All resistance is pointless.

[Narrator]

By mid July, the Red army has lost nearly 4,000 tanks and over 6,000 aircraft. Two million soldiers have been captured or killed. Troops taken prisoner are sent to German work camps or left to starve.

[Historian/Expert]

It becomes the most pitiless campaign ever launched, I think, in modern history. They were rounded up in their thousands and hardly given any food. In fact, they would just throw loaves over the barbed wire and laugh when the prisoners fought amongst themselves because they were starving.

[Narrator]

The Nazis also target civilians. Both the army and the SS are ordered to eradicate all resistance. Hitler's guidelines for the conduct of his troops, issued ahead of Barbarossa, demand ruthless and energetic measures against political agitators, saboteurs and Jews.

[Historian/Expert]

They give the army carte blanche to do exactly what they want to the populations as they swarm over the borderlands.

This is where we start to Talk about the idea of total war. We are now going to literally target civilians on purpose.

[Narrator]

But the Soviets begin to fight back. Partisans raid German outposts, and Stalin demands a scorched earth policy. People are told to burn everything as they flee, depriving the Nazis of food and shelter. As the German army marches into the immensity of the Soviet Union.

[Historian/Expert]

The terrain in this part of Russia is like the great plains of the United States. I mean, it's like being in Nebraska or Iowa. Flat seas of grass. When you start with a front of a thousand miles long and as they advance it gets to 2,000 miles, they don't know how to deal with an area where the armies are operating like ships at sea. There is no running out of territory when you're fighting the Soviets. There's always more territory to retreat to.

[Narrator]

By the end of July, the German army has progressed over 400 miles. But their advance is slowing and supply lines are being stretched.

[Military Analyst]

Every army has to understand that if it advances rapidly, it can outrun its supply. They always say, you know, amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics. Tank repair, replenishment of ammunition, food, uniforms. It just consumed the German armed forces. Eventually, every force will reach what's called a culminating point, where you've simply exhausted the men, outrun the supplies, hit something you can't overcome, you're to going. Combat power has been expended.

[Narrator]

As German commanders and their men confront

the magnitude of their task, Hitler faces perhaps the greatest test of his leadership. It's been six weeks since German troops stormed into Soviet territory. Hitler visits his men on the front. He meets with his commanders to discuss strategy. The army groups are no longer moving at the same pace. Army Group center has pushed too far ahead. It is only about 200 miles outside Moscow, but its supply lines are perilous thin.

[Military Analyst]

That's a real problem. If you're an operational planner, you have one thrust that's hanging out there on a limb.

[Narrator]

The German high command is divided about what to do next. Some of Hitler's generals want to continue pushing towards Moscow and capture the capital before winter sets in.

[Military Analyst]

Hitler believes if he, he and the German armies can overrun Ukraine, it'll undercut the economic basis of Stalin's dictatorship and undercut the economic basis of the Soviets continuing the war. And so the decision is made to hold the tanks from their thrust against Moscow, then send a vast force into the Ukraine.

[Narrator]

Onto September 18, the City of Kyiv is encircled by the Nazis.

[Historian/Expert]

Kyiv is enormously important because Kyiv, in and of itself is the control of Ukraine. And what's Ukraine. Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe. So there's a huge encirclement battle at Kyiv, one of the biggest battles thus far in the war,

With the panzer groups coming from the north, from the central axis, and also in the south. They capture 600,000 troops. It's staggering. One's never imagined a battle like that in the past. Hitler keeps on saying they can't go on providing more troops for us to surround in this particular way. They're going to collapse at any moment.

[Narrator]

With over half his forces resupplied, Hitler turns to Moscow.

[Historian/Expert]

The Wehrmacht forces progress very, very rapidly. They get so close to the city of Moscow, you can actually see the towers of the city center.

People were obviously scared at the prospect of what was likely to happen. But at the same time, by now there was a determination to fight back.

They are preparing the defenses of the city. Men and women are out digging ditches. Everything is ready for a last dig defense of Moscow, that is. Moscow will be defended to the last drop of blood.

[Narrator]

Stalin considers evacuating the Soviet government to a city on the river Volga over 500 miles away.

[Historian/Expert]

Stalin's staff begin to prepare his own library, his own houses to be evacuated and to abandon Moscow. But Stalin is very aware of appearance. He's always thinking about history. He knows if Stalin leaves Moscow, Moscow will fall.

Many people think that the regime is about to collapse. For the first time, it looks like the Communist Party is actually about to be toppled. At the last moment, Stalin decides to stay.

[Narrator]

The German army is poised to capture Moscow. But Stalin has an ally. General Winter.

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[Narrator]

Four months into the invasion of the Soviet Union, the German army faces a new enemy.

[Historian/Expert]

It was always said that Russia's greatest general was General Winter. So the Russians were much better prepared for winter than the Germans.

[Military Analyst]

So what happens in the Soviet Union if you're on the path toward Moscow, as invaders have found over the centuries? The weather turns bad, it rains, and a very inadequate road network now gets turned into mud. The Russians call it Rasputitsa, the roadless time.

[Historian/Expert]

This is not like normal mud. You can't move and you can't bring supplies forward. General Mudd slows the German advance at a time when they're trying to beat the clock here. Then when it gets really cold, you see an entirely different situation. The soldiers start freezing.

[Narrator]

By November, temperatures are plummeting to as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit, devastating the Wehrmacht's men and supply lines.

[Military Analyst]

These German soldiers fighting with frozen steel with their bare hands, unable to service their weapons. So the weapons jam, the lubricants freeze on the tanks. They have to build fires under the tanks at night to keep the oil loose enough. Everything degrades their combat performance.

Hitler told them they were going to be the all conquering master race of Europe. They're cold and they're tired and they probably haven't had had a square meal in two weeks.

[Narrator]

An invading army has been here before. Napoleon Bonaparte had tried to seize Russia.

[Historian/Expert]

In 1812, Napoleon invades Russia, takes Moscow, but as winter comes, is defeated by the unconquerable vastness of Russia and the cold. And in the end, the retreat from Moscow really destroys Napoleon empire.

[Narrator]

But Hitler ignores the lessons of history. He orders his troops forward to take Moscow.

[Military Analyst]

Stalin still has A fear that there'll be some breakthrough into the heart of Moscow itself. But, you know, something happens in this period. A piece of intelligence comes across his desk that for once, he's willing to listen to, and it comes from his agent in Japan.

[Narrator]

The intelligence from Stalin's agent in Tokyo suggests that Japan will not attack the Soviet's eastern border. Instead, Japan is planning to move south against British, French, and Dutch colonies in Asia and perhaps against the the United States in the Philippines. So Stalin transfers 400,000 troops that were stationed in the Soviet Far east to Moscow.

[Historian/Expert]

A whole new army, fresh, untouched, fully manned. Tanks, howitzers, planes.

[Military Analyst]

This is the Siberian reserve. These are troops dressed in heavy white parkas. Ski troops. They're used to operating in the cold.

[Narrator]

In November, with some German units just 21 miles from Moscow, Stalin celebrates the anniversary of the Russian revolution in Red Square.

[Tom Hanks]

Comrades, men of the Red army, commanders and political instructors, men, women and guerrillas, the whole world is looking to you as the force capable of destroying the plundering hordes of German invaders.

[Narrator]

Marching in the parade are Stalin's Siberian divisions.

[Historian/Expert]

They were not raw recruits being sent to the front. They were trained and experienced hardline soldiers.

[Narrator]

The defense of Moscow is largely in their hands

[Tom Hanks]

for the complete destruction of the German invaders. Long live our glorious motherland, her glory and her independence. Forward to victory.

[Military Analyst]

On December 5, Stalin launches his counteroffensive. It catches the Germans at their worst possible moment. They're tired, they're hungry, they're sick, they're freezing to death, they're out of supplies. And the Soviet offensive sweeps all before it.

[Historian/Expert]

The Germans are completely stunned, and they are thrown back over 100 miles. It's an astonishingly successful counteroffensive, and Moscow is safe.

[Narrator]

Over the next weeks, Soviet troops halt the Wehrmacht and begin to push the Germans back. Stalin has stemmed the tide.

[Military Analyst]

The defeat of the German drive on Moscow and the near destruction of the Germans is a sea change for both Hitler and Stalin. Hitler now has to look at a scene of desperation and trying to rebuild his army in the Soviet Union. Stalin now not only knows that he's going to survive, he also knows that he's going to be able to launch one hammer blow after the other against the Germans.

[Narrator]

Designed to be another victorious Blitzkrieg, Operation Barbarossa descends into a deadly stalemate for the Germans in the Free West, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill provide support to the Red army to wear down the Nazi invaders. Across the Pacific, a new power has been building its own empire, one that will attempt to destroy American forces in a single day of infamy.

[Tom Hanks]

World War 2 with Tom Hanks is produced by Nootopia Ltd. AE Factual Studios, Playtone Productions and Back Pocket Studios in association with Motion Entertainment for the History Channel. This episode was narrated by Tom Hanks and mixed by John Lloyd. Additional voicing provided by me, Jeremy Reagan from the History Channel. Our executive producers are Eli Lehrer and Liv Fiddler. For Playtone, executive producers are Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. For Back Pocket Studios, our executive producer is Ben Dickstein.