World War II’s Eastern Front was unique in its massive scale and terrible purpose. Spread across 2,000 miles of land exposed to paralyzing winters, the combatants were led by two of modern history’s most vicious dictators. And, as German historian Christian Hartmann adds, Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union was spurred by Hitler’s racial theories and vision for the future: all Jews would die and the Slavic survivors would be slave labor for German settlers. Compact, well researched and guided by moral vision, Operation Barbarossa summarizes the military actions while focusing on the ideologies, warped utopianism and fear that drove a conflict that killed millions and laid waste to Europe’s hinterlands.
