Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the German military campaign to invade the Soviet Union during World War II. Launched on June 22, 1941, it a massive Blitzkrieg attack which involved about 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers along an 1800-mile front. Adolf Hittler named this military operation "Barbarossa", which was the nickname of Federick I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and leader of the Third Crusade; a German historical character whom Hitler admired.

Operation Barbarossa was planned in December 1940 and its military preparations was kept secret, since in August, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact; the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which had a secret clause that parceled out Poland and Eastern Europe as German and Soviet "sphere of influence." The invasion of the Soviet Union was in Hitler’s mind since 1925. He wrote it in Mein Kampf. Hitler’s assertion was that the German people needed living space, or "Lebensraum," and for that, Germany had to turn to the East. By invading the Soviet Union Hitler also planned to put an end to communism; an ideology the Nazis abhorred so much.

The invasion of Russia was carried out by three German army groups. 1) Army Group North, commanded by Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, was composed of 26 divisions organized into the 16th Army of Ernst Busch, the 4th Panzer Group of Erich Hoepner, the 18th Army of Georg von Küchler, and the Air Fleet I of Alfred Keller; 2) Army Group Center, led by Fedor von Bock, consisted of 49 divisions arranged into 4th Army of Günther von Kluge, the 2nd Panzer Group of Heinz Guderian, 3rd Panzer Group of Hermann Hoth, the 9th Army of Strauss, and Air Fleet II of Alber Kesselring; 3) Army Group South, commanded by Gerd von Rundstedt, was made up of 41 divisions lined up into the 6th Army of Walther von Reichenau, the 17th Army of Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, the 1rst Panzer Group of Paul Ludwig von Kleist, the 11th Army of Eugen Ritter von Schobert. The Army Group South was augmented with Hungarian, Romanian, and Italian army divisions; and the 250th Spanish "Blue" Infantry Division, which was a formation of Spanish Falangists and Nazi sympathizers.

The invasion began at 03:00 hours, on Sunday, June 22, 1941, using 3 million soldiers, 3,600 tanks, 7,180 artillery guns, and 1,830 planes. After having destroyed more than 3,100 Soviet planes, the Luftwaffe achieved air superiority in the first couple of days. On the first day, the 4th Panzer Group of Army Group North, with a strength of 600 tanks, crossed the River Neman and advanced 50 miles.

Four Soviet armies opposed the German Army Group Center: the 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th Armies. These Soviet armies occupied a salient which jutted into German occupied Polish territory with the Soviet salient’s center at Bialystok. Beyond Bialystok was Minsk, which was a key railway junction. The goals of two Panzer Groups of Army Group Center was to meet at Minsk, denying an escape route to the Red Army from the salient. The 3rd Panzer Group pierced a breach through the junction of two Soviet Fronts in the North of the salient, crossing the River Neman while the 2nd Panzer Group crossed the Western Bug river in the South. While the Panzer Groups attacked, the Wehrmacht Army Group Center infantry armies struck at the salient. This action eventually encircled Soviet troops at Bialystok.

After 17 days of campaign, 300,000 Russian soldiers had been captured, and 2,500 tanks, and 1,400 artillery guns destroyed in the center of territory attacked by Army Group Center. The German advance had been so fast that it had strained dangerously thin the whole army’s supply and communication lines. The Army Group Center stopped on the Desna for the supply units to catch up. Moscow seemed destined to fall as the Red Army was on the brink of total collapse. However, Hitler ordered 2nd Panzer Group led by Guderian to move south-east on to Kiev, while 1rst Panzer Group was ordered north, depriving the Army Group Center of two of its most potent fighting forces. Guderian was very angered by this order.

Although the quick mechanized sweeps north and south were as successful as the initial assault on June 22, with thousands of Russian soldiers taken prisoners and large quantities of Russian equipment destroyed, the orders given by Hitler had one direct effect; loss of time. The Russian Winter arose before the Germans had reached the objectives set by Hitler. The German Army was not equipped to cope with the cold winter conditions which greatly hindered the German fighting capability.

The Sturmgewehr (StG44) was a World War II German assault rifle, which was produced from 1943 until early 1945. It was the first assault rifle in history. The Russian AK47 was based on the German model. The Sturmgewehr was a gas-operated, tilting bolt, 7.92mm assault rifle, which had an effective range of 300 m; It weighed 5.22 kg and had a barrel length of 419mm. The StG44 used the the 7.92 x 30 mm Kurz cartridge. Its  receiver was made of stamped and welded steel fed by a 30-round detachable box magazine. It fired 500 rpm. The Stg.44 also could be fitted with a 30-degree “Krummlauf Vorsatz J," which was a a special curved barrel attachment that enabled an infantry soldier to fire from around a corner in urban fighting situation.

The Sturmgewehr was designed in 1942 by Hugo Schmeisser from Haenel as carbine submachine gun. A small number of these weapons were produced and tested on the Eastern Front. They were called in German Maschinkarabiner 42 H. The first tests were successful as troops embraced these first ever assault guns. But Hitler decided to stop these development programs. However, Haenel did not abide by the Führer’s order and secretly continued to  develop this new weapon. Thus, the Haenel weapon was renamed to hide its true identity, now the carbine designation changed to a sub-machine gun, the submachine gun 43, or in German Maschinenpistole 43, MP43.

In 1944, they made further modification to this weapon as the first production version was the Maschinenpistole 44 or MP44. Limited numbers reached the troops. His generals were completely satisfied with its capabilities and boldly demanded more. Finally, Hitler decided to support the weapon and christened it "the Sturmgewehr 44" (StG44) or Storm Assault Rifle 44. At the beginning the Sturmgewehr was distributed almost exclusively to the German elite forces such as the Waffen SS formations Leibstandarte, SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich, 3rd Totenkopf, 5th  "Wiking", the  12th  "Hitler Jugend" and Grossdeutschland.

The German tanks and armored vehicles in World War II were an effective and superior armored force. They were lethally used in the Blitzkrieg tactics and outclassed allied tanks in armor protection and fire power.

Below, there is a list of German tanks and armored vehicles of World War II.

Leichter Panzerspähwagen

Panzer I

Panzer II

Panzer III

Panzer IV

Panzer V Panther

Tiger I

King Tiger

Elefant Tank

Jagdtiger

Jagdpanther

Sturmtiger

Sturmtiger was a World War II German assault gun, which was built on the Tiger I chassis. It was designed to provide heavy fire support for infantry units fighting in urban areas. Only 18 units were manufactured by Alkett from February until December 1944.

The Sturmtiger, or Sturmpanzer VI, was 21 ft long, 12 ft wide, and 9.35 ft tall. It weighed 65 tonnes and was manned by a crew of 5. This armored self-propelled gun was powered by V-12, 700 hp, water-cooled Maybach HL230P45 engine, which could reach a speed of 25 mph and had an operational range of 75 miles. The Sturmpanzer VI had 150mm-thick sloped armor on the front, 80mm on the sides and rear.

The Sturmtiger was fitted out with a short-barreled, 380 mm RW61 L/5.4, breech-loading rocket launcher/mortar, which fired short-range projectiles that either contained a high explosive charge of 125 kilograms or a shaped charge for use against fortifications. These shaped charge projectiles could penetrate up to 2.5 metres of reinforced concrete. The Sturmtiger was also armed with a 90 mm NbK 39 antipersonnel weapon and a 7.92 mm MG34 machine gun.

The Sturmtigers produced fought in the Warsaw Uprising, the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Reichswald. 

The Jagdpanther was a World War II German tank destroyer whose production was based on the chassis of the Panther tank. The Jagdpanther was considered to be one of the most successful tank destroyers of the war. It was produced from February 1944 until March 1945, with 395 units built. The official designation was Sd Kfz 173.

The Jagdpanther V weighed 45.5 tonnes, measured 32 ft in length, 12 ft in width, 9 ft in height, and had a crew of 5. The armor was 100mm-thick on the gun mantlet, 80mm-thick on the frontal superstructure, 50mm-thick on the sides, 40mm-thick on the rear, and 25mm on top and bottom. This tank hunter was powered by a V-12, 690 hp, Maybach HL230P30 engine, which could reach a top speed of 29 mph and had an operational range of 100 miles.

The Jagdpanther was armed with an 88mm PaK43/3 L/71 anti-tank gun, which could destroy an enemy tank at 2,000 m away, and a 7.92mm MG34 machine gun. It first saw action in the Battle of Normandy and later on the Eastern Front, knocking out many Soviet T-34 tanks.