Operation Barbarossa, the name given to the German assault on the Soviet Union which began on the 22nd June 1941. The invasion was to culminate in 30 million deaths, including vast numbers of civilians, and be declared the bloodiest and costliest battle in history.

A major contributory factor to the outcome of this conflict was the harsh winter conditions that would be experienced along the Eastern front. The battle lasted between 1941 - 1945 and would be referred to as the 'Winter War.'

The contributing effects of the Eastern Front weather:

* June 1941 - The advancing German Army began the assault along the entire Eastern Front between the Baltic and Blacks Seas. The German Forces continued on a seemingly unstoppable march towards Moscow, before they had advanced too far ahead of their supply columns resulting in a halt on 5th December 1941. They had conquered a vast volume of Russian territory, but their plans for Russia to collapse before the winter set in proved to be incorrect and the opposing forces faced the first of four winters locked in battle.

A stark reminder that the German Army was expecting to complete the surrender of Russia within eight weeks was the fact that they attacked in their 'summer' military uniforms, which cost many unnecessary lives. They took to taking clothes off of dead comrades in order to stave off the cold. However, during November 1941 twice as many soldiers were lost to frostbite than to armed combat.

The Red Army took more attention to winter clothing and altered their tactics according to the weather conditions, whilst the exposed German troops suffered more due to their lack of using the intelligence that was learned from previous winter campaigns.

The ensuing winter was to be one of the most severe on record. It combined the cold, deep snow, frostbite and short days. It affected the mobility of troops, blocked roads and airstrips, exhausted troops and lowered moral. Machinery froze, limiting transport both forward and for moving casualties back behind lines.

The German Army would suffer hundreds of thousands of casualties as a direct result of the bitter cold experienced during the ongoing winter months. The winter of 1941/42 saw frostbite claim 100,000 German casualties and would lead to approximately 14,000 amputations of limbs. This number would exceed 250,000 by the end of the winter months. You then add this to the thousands of related conditions of influenza, trench-foot and pneumonia that

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