James Holland

But those are a really, really small proportion of, you know, you're talking less than 20% of your attacking force are those spearhead forces.

And inevitably, they are going to be attrited as they go.

You know, you are going to take casualties.

And not only that, you're not going to just take battlefield casualties.

You're also going to have mechanical casualties because of the huge spaces involved. You just simply can't function. So what you see is in the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa, they surge forward. Red Army's got absolutely no answers to anything. Stalin weirdly hasn't heeded all the warnings that this attack is brewing. And there have been plenty, incidentally.

You're also going to have mechanical casualties because of the huge spaces involved. You just simply can't function. So what you see is in the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa, they surge forward. Red Army's got absolutely no answers to anything. Stalin weirdly hasn't heeded all the warnings that this attack is brewing. And there have been plenty, incidentally.

You're also going to have mechanical casualties because of the huge spaces involved. You just simply can't function. So what you see is in the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa, they surge forward. Red Army's got absolutely no answers to anything. Stalin weirdly hasn't heeded all the warnings that this attack is brewing. And there have been plenty, incidentally.

You're also going to have mechanical casualties because of the huge spaces involved.

You just simply can't function.

So what you see is in the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa, they surge forward.

Red Army's got absolutely no answers to anything.

Stalin weirdly hasn't heeded all the warnings that this attack is brewing.

And there have been plenty, incidentally.

At Smolensk Falls on the 15th of July, in less than four weeks, it's just incredible.

At Smolensk Falls on the 15th of July, in less than four weeks, it's just incredible. Three and a half weeks, Smolensk has gone. They've overwhelmed the rest of what had been Poland. They've surged into what is now Belarus, taken Smolensk. This is Army Group Center. Army Group North is thrust up into the Baltic. It's all going swimmingly well.

At Smolensk Falls on the 15th of July, in less than four weeks, it's just incredible. Three and a half weeks, Smolensk has gone. They've overwhelmed the rest of what had been Poland. They've surged into what is now Belarus, taken Smolensk. This is Army Group Center. Army Group North is thrust up into the Baltic. It's all going swimmingly well.

At Smolensk Falls on the 15th of July, in less than four weeks, it's just incredible. Three and a half weeks, Smolensk has gone. They've overwhelmed the rest of what had been Poland. They've surged into what is now Belarus, taken Smolensk. This is Army Group Center. Army Group North is thrust up into the Baltic. It's all going swimmingly well.

Three and a half weeks, Smolensk has gone.

They've overwhelmed the rest of what had been Poland.

They've surged into what is now Belarus, taken Smolensk.