Part 3/14:
In mid-1942, the Soviet Union was in an intensely perilous situation. After Germany’s Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the Soviets faced a brutal territorial onslaught, with vast swaths of land and resources falling into German hands. The Red Army was unprepared, both logistically and strategically, and suffered devastating defeats—including the encirclement of large forces near Kiev and the loss of the northern city of Rostov-on-Don in July 1942.