James Holland

I mean, it would have happened anyway, I think.

But yes, as you say, Hitler blinks and he declares that Leningrad in the north and Ukraine in the south are the main priority targets instead of the central thrust towards Moscow.

Because basically, you've got these panzer armies.

The panzer armies is where you've got the most of your panzer units, which is your mobile units, these all-arms units.

Motorized infantry, motorized artillery, motorized anti-aircraft infantry, anti-tank artillery, but most of them aren't Panzer divisions.

So there's only 20 out of 199 or whatever it is for Barbarossa.

And it just ain't enough because the further you go in, the wheels start to come off, literally and metaphorically, because you can't sustain...

That level of wear and tear, let alone attrition.

And you are still losing men and material.

And, of course, you're losing them from your best units because they're the ones in the spearhead.

Yeah.

That's paranoia for you.

Well, 5 million men are called up in the three months of Barbarossa.

5 million.

They create 80 new divisions between June 1941 and December 1941.

80.

Shit.

You know, it's more than Britain has in the entire war.

It's incredible, isn't it?

No.