War of Annihilation Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941

On June 22, 1941, Hitler began what would be the most important campaign of the European theater. The war against the Soviet Union would leave tens of millions of Soviet citizens dead and large parts of the country in ruins. The death and destruction would result not just from military operations but also from the systematic killing and abuse that the German army, police and SS directed against Jews, Communists and ordinary citizens. In iWar of Annihilationi, noted military historian Geoffrey P. Megargee provides a concise history of the Germans' opening campaign of conquest and genocide in 1941.

Geoffrey P. Megargee is an applied research scholar at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum