3-022-897 - British Pathe Ltd/Heritage Images

German Soldiers Riding Tanks, 1941. Second World War. Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany. '...over a hundred divisions waited along the frontier of divided Poland, ready to pounce at the Fuhrer's bidding...the twenty-four divisions diverted to conquer Greece and Yugoslavia were moving back to take up their proper stations for the attack on Russia...in all its history, the world had never known such an onslaught...In a few hours, Stalin had lost the better part of his frontline air power. Then, from the Gulf of Finland to Romania, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, began the great forward sweep. Thus was the greatest war machine in history set rolling along the road that once Napoleon had trod'. From "Time To Remember - Operation Barbarossa", 1941 (Reel 2); documentary film about events of 1941, on the Eastern Front and at Pearl Harbour.