At 3:15 AM on Sunday morning June 22, 1941 the Axis forces lead by the German Army began the invasion of the Soviet Union. The enormity of this invasion can be measured in one stat, eighty percent of the all the Axis Military forces were committed to battle in one fell swoop. The numbers are staggering. The Axis forces committed 166 Divisions, 3.8 Million men, 3,400 armored fighting vehicles, and 2,700 aircraft. The Soviet Union countered with 220 Divisions, 2.8 million men, 11,000 armored fighting vehicles, and 7,100 aircraft.
Over the five months of combat during Operation Barbarossa (June 22 - December 5) the Axis forces suffered over 1 million casualties, including 186,000 Killed in Action, 660,000 wounded, 40,000 Missing in Action. 2,735 Armored fighting vehicles destroyed, 2,870 aircraft lost.
The numbers for the Soviet Union were even higher. 567,000 Killed in Action, 1.3 million wounded or injured, 2.8 million Missing in Action, 21,000 Armored Fighting Vehicles destroyed, and 11,000 aircraft lost.
This summer marks the 80th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa. I was reminded of this late last week. After some discussion and some personal reflection it was decided to pivot our project to Operation Barbarossa.
This change is not without issues. Currently I have 0 German armored fighting vehicles for this era of WWII. No Panzer II and Panzer III's that I own are from later in the war. On the Soviet side I do own 3 T-26 Light Tanks 6 KV-1 Heavy Tanks.
That changed with an order to Old Glory Miniatures over the weekend.
On the Soviet side I have 3 platoons of painted infantry (2 SMG, 1 Rifle) plus 2 companies worth of assets (Anti-Tank, Anti-Tank Rifle, Mortar and Heavy Machine Gun) ready. I have 3 platoons of infantry on the painting table (1 SMG and 2 Rifle), 1 company of T-26 Light Tanks and 1 company of KV-1 Heavy tanks.
On the Axis Side I have 1 squadron of German Cavalry, 2 platoons of German Infantry and 1 company worth of German Tanks, once my order from Old Glory is received.
