🪖 1941 | Operation Barbarossa: German Infantry Advance What you’re seeing: A small column of German infantry moves up a grassy hillside toward a burning farmhouse. Smoke drifts across the valley in a quiet moment during World War II. Where is this?: This kind of scene appeared across the Eastern Front in 1941, from the Baltics and Belarus to Ukraine, as German forces pushed through Soviet borderlands. What was Operation Barbarossa?: Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 Jun 1941. Over 3 million Axis troops crossed the frontier, aiming to destroy the Red Army and seize major cities like Leningrad, Moscow, and Kiev. How did the advance actually look on the ground?: Infantry often followed behind armored spearheads, moving through fields, villages, and forests as front lines shifted fast. What happened next?: After huge early gains, the advance slowed as supply lines stretched, Soviet resistance hardened, and winter hit. The failure to take Moscow in 1941 helped turn the war into a...