Germany's surprise assault on the Soviet Union in 1941, Operation Barbarossa, aimed at nothing less than complete destruction. Hitler saw this as the answer to establishing 'Lebensraum' for the German people in the East. The Soviets believed that a German attack would take place in the Ukraine. As such, Germany faced the Soviet Southwestern and Southern Fronts, containing many of the best equipped, trained and commanded units in the Soviet order. Nevertheless German superiority began to tell and the Soviet Army was encircled and destroyed at Uman. By the beginning of October 1941 it appeared that the Red Army was in the final stages of collapse and nothing could stop the German juggernaut.