This sobering study traces the beginnings of the campaign, describing rapid panzer advances alongside the unyielding Soviet defences at locations including the Brest fortress.Simultaneously, it exposes the calculated racial and  ideological brutality that made the invasion such a horrifying chapter of modern warfare. The systematic executions of political officers and Jews, coupled with state-sanctioned
massacres on both sides, are laid bare, revealing a landscape where mass murder was entwined with battlefield victories.

Letters, diaries and military records give insight into the conflicting emotions of soldiers and civilians alike – some clinging to heroism, others succumbing to primal hatred.

This masterful new history stands as both a testament to the resilience of those swept up in Barbarossa and a grim reminder of the capacity for human cruelty in pursuit of power and ideology.