On June 22, 1941, German tanks rolled into the Soviet Union and Operation Barbarossa, the offensive which was to end the lives of nearly 48,000,000 people, began. In this text, contributors from Germany, Russia and Britain, including German historian Klaus Muller and President Yeltsin's adviser Colonel-General Volkogonev, throw new light on the mysteries surrounding Barbarossa. Using recently released material from Russia, from secret Japanese archives and British intelligence and Cabinet papers, this work challenges official Soviet historiography. It describes: Nazi-Soviet relations at the start of the war; the Soviet Union's response to the German attack; and the invasion's aftermath. Offering new evidence on Hitler's objectives, Stalin's strategy and readiness for war, the Battle of Moscow and Japan's wartime policy towards the Soviet Union, this book also deals with the previously taboo subject of the personalities and politics of collaboration and the massive human toll of the invasion. The book is illustrated with contemporary photographs from unpublished Russian archives.