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Operation Barbarossa In December 1940 Hitler had decided upon a military plan that he believed would deliver all of Russia’s industries and farm lands into his hands. He called it Barbarossa (Redbeard) from the nickname of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. Operation Barbarossa was to begin in May, 1941. It consisted of three German army groups: Army Group North, Army Group South, and Army Group Center. Army Group North would take the Baltic, Army Group Center would drive toward Moscow, and Army Group South would take the Ukraine and Caucasus. The invading force consisted of over 3 million soldiers, 3,350 tanks, and 600,000 vehicles. Unforeseen military developments in the Balkans delayed the onset of Operation Barbarossa for five weeks. Hitler was unconcerned about this since he believed the Russian Red Army would be overran long before winter. An over-confident Hitler proclaimed, “When Operation Barbarossa is launched, the world will hold its breath.” The largest military campaign in history finally began on June 21, 1941 at 3:15 A.M. Russia was caught unprepared even though the Red Army was the numerically strongest army in the world. It was composed of 230 divisions of 14,000 soldiers each. Though st