| In this photo captured by the Soviet Red Army, Nazi German soldaten wait in a railroad embankment for the start of Operation Barbarossa. The Wehrmacht mobilized 3 1/2 1,000,000 men in 138 divisions, with 16 Finnish, 15 Romanian, 3 Italian, and 2 Slovakian allied divisions. 8 Hungarian brigades probably raised the total to 180 divisions. Of the 340 divisions in the Soviet Red Army, 228 were in the path of the Wehrmacht and its allies. By December 1941, the Soviets suffered 4,000,000 casualties, but eventually called up 14,000,000 men and women. 80 percent of the Wehrmacht died on the Eastern Front, 4,000,000 killed in action. The Western Allies sustained the Soviet Union with 400,000 jeeps and trucks, 7,000 tanks, 11,400 aircraft, and almost 2,000,000 tons of food. 94 percent came from the United States and 6 percent from the other Western Allies. German troops were taught to use natural cover effectively as part of their war of maneuver. Railroad embankments formed natural high ground, serving as a rudimentary trench line when needed. It provided visual cover and also some protection from small caliber weapons and direct fire artillery. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2104.jpg |
| Image Size | 2.52 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4068 x 5772 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Kreigsberichter |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 22, 1941 |
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| Country | Soviet Union |
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| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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