The Operation Barbarossa German Order of Battle was impressive. It was a mighty array of forces that had never been seen until then in history, and they were armed with every type of weapons necessary to conduct a Blitzkrieg warfare. The Wehrmacht organized the Axis military units around three Army Groups, with each one of them having a Panzer Group and a Luftwaffe's Air Fleet. These Army Groups totaled 119 divisions, or 4 million men. These units carried out the largest military campaign of World War II.
A few months before the German Invasion of the Soviet Union, Adolf Hitler and Franz Halder, Chief of General Staff of the Wehrmacht, decided to deploy three German Army Groups for German attack on Russia, whose code name was Operation Barbarossa. It would begin on June 22, 1941. Each of these large military units was supported by one Luftwaffe’s Air Fleet. They were very successful until December 1941, when the Germans were at the gates of Moscow. After the ensuing Battle of Moscow, the tide of war began to change.
Barbarossa German Order of Battle
– Army Group North. Under the command of Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, it was made up of the 16th and 18th Armies, the 4th Panzer Group, and Air Fleet 1. Its 29 divisions had been massed in East Prussia before the beginning of the operation and they would attack eastward, across Luthania and Latvia, with their final objective being Leningrad.
– Army Group Center. Led by Fedor von Bock, this large concentration of forces consisted of the 4th and 9th Armies, the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups, and Air Fleet 2. They totaled 49 divisions, which had been stationed in eastern Poland before the strike out into the Soviet-held Polish territory. They would push in deep, moving across the center of the Russian plain, towards Minsk, and then heading towards Moscow. They had the mission of capturing the capital of the Soviet Union.
– Army Group South. Commanded by Gerd von Rundstedt, it was composed of 6th, 11th and 17th Armies, and the 1st Panzer Group under Ewald von Kleist, with the air support of Air Fleet 4. They were reinforced by the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies. The objectives of this Army Group’s 41 divisions was Kiev, invading the Ukraine.
Defending Soviet Forces
Meanwhile, the Soviet territory was defended by the following Russian forces: the Northern Front; the North-Western Front; the South-Western Front; and the Southern Front. Each of these Fronts were composed of three Soviet armies approximately. Thus, a Russian Front was the equivalent of a German Army Group.
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| The map of Eastern Europe shows the advance directions of the three German Army Groups. |
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