At the beginning of World War II, the Eastern Front was a 3,000km line of demarcation, from Romania on the Black Sea to Finland on the Barents Sea. The conflict here was between Adolf Hitler, intent on claiming Russian industry and Russian farming land for Nazi Germany, and Russian communist leader Joseph Stalin, intent on thwarting his plans. The Eastern Front was Hitler's Eastern Front; he set it with troops on the Romanian eastern and Finnish western points, waiting to invade Russia.

But Hitler and Stalin faced far more than military power in conflict. They faced the extreme challenge of a heat wave summer in 1941 followed by an "ice age" winter- from the closing months of 1941 till early 1942.

Hitler felt "safe" with his military might. After all, on June 22, 1941, he had crossed the Russian border with about 3 million Germans, 6,600 vehicles and 3,300 tanks. Hitler dared to challenge the world's largest army (230 divisions each with 14,000 men plus 20,000 mainly obsolete tanks). Admittedly, Hitler did not know the full extent of Russian military power at the time. Within 48 hours, he had wiped out the Red Air Force, claiming to be the strongest in the world.
"By Day 17 of the attack, 300,000 Russians had been captured, 2,500 tanks, 1,400 artillery guns and 250 aircraft captured or destroyed." www.worldhistory.informbank.com
This Operation Barbarossa, the code name for Hitler's invasion, was looking overwhelmingly successful.

But the season was summer, an extreme summer, broken only by torrential rainfall. Behind Hitler's apparent victories, (securing large tracts of the Ukraine and Baltic States with alluring coal and oil resources), were secret losses. Whirling dust, churned up by convoys of heavy machinery, caused German tanks to malfunction. And the troops could scarcely breathe or see. Heavy rain meant dust turned to deep mud. Many vehicles had to be abandoned, horses were trapped and many an army boot was claimed by sucking mud.

Within 5 months, victory seemed not so sweet for the Germans. It came at a price. Further, Moscow, the heart of Russia, had still not been claimed. And apparent defeat seemed even more devastating for the native Russians. Molotov cocktails hurled at German tanks and camouflaged, surprise attacks from foxholes or in thick forests had not deterred the German advance. Like the Germans, they were crippled by the relentless summer.

But the weather had more on its agenda. Unforgiving summer became unforgiving

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