On the snowy roads of the Soviet Union, German soldiers struggled to push a cannon.

On June 30, 1941, Hitler's powerful, ferocious and tame German troops invaded the Soviet Union in a massive manner, stretching 2000 miles from the Arctic region to the Black Sea Front. Now Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia are officially at war. This was Hitler's attempt to compete for "living space" for the German people.

In a speech to the German people, Hitler declared that the military offensive was the largest in the history of the world. He also said that Russian-British cooperation threatened European security. This action tore up the non-aggression pact signed by the Nazis and the Soviet Union in August 1939.

The Nazis called on Finnish and Romania troops to join this horrific aggression. It is very clear from the number of troops invested that how much damage this may cause. British intelligence estimated at the beginning of the war that the Soviet Red Army had 4.11 million active-duty soldiers and 3.04 million trained reserve troops, totaling 7.15 million soldiers, making it the largest army in the world.

Germany had 3.5 million active soldiers and 3.35 million reserve troops at the beginning of the war; Romania had approximately 1.8 million troops; and Finland's total troops were 401,000.

In the countless initial battles of attack and counter-attack on both sides, each country announced its own record. Soviet telegrams announced that the Soviet Union's ready forces (the Soviet Union had anticipated an invasion of the Soviet Union at a certain location in this European disaster) had repelled the attacking Germans, shot down 65 Nazi planes, and severely wounded the enemy. Hitler cursed Moscow. He said that as Germany "threw itself into a struggle for survival, Russia stabbed its soldiers." Meanwhile, Winston Churchill talked about the demise of the Nazis. The British Prime Minister said: Britain will do its best to help the Soviet Union destroy this "bloodthirsty devil". The prime minister avoided using the word "alliance" and did not want to moderate his anti-communist stance, but he agreed to fight side by side with the Soviet Union, declaring: "I have only one unalterable purpose - to destroy Hitler and all the soldiers of the Nazi regime."

Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov predicted: "The Red Army will deal a mortal blow to the Germans." He also sharply criticized the predatory war. He said that the German attack began with "outright lies and provocation." He did not admit that the Soviet Union was provocative and violated the 1939 non-aggression pact. No matter how plausible the two sides may be, a protracted war between the two military powers will surely bring great suffering to the people of both sides.

German soldiers in the Soviet Union

German troops advance south of the Soviet Union