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Hitler addressed Wehrmacht commanders and declared that the impending war would not be fought according to customary military principles but rather as a war of extermination
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A meeting of various state secretaries on May 2 agreed that, as a consequence of prioritizing food supply for the army, “umpteen million people” in the occupied territories would necessarily starve to death
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Meanwhile, lower levels of the Nazi command structure, particularly those mid-level planners who would be conducting the economic policies of the soon-to-be occupied territories, were also deliberating unprecedented levels of brutality.
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The High Command of the Wehrmacht issued its Barbarossa Directive, which preemptively granted immunity to German soldiers for participating in these genocidal operations.
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Two weeks before the invasion, the High Command issued its Commissar Order, demanding that political officers in the Red Army be identified, segregated, and ultimately executed.
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5,700,000 Soviet Soliders prisoners of war. 2,000,000 in the first 9 months on eastern front.
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The winter was a unexpected outcome for the nazi invaders. They expected to easily take out the Red Army, but was met with a harsh winter.
The spring of 1942 failed Germany blitz resulting in a failed victory. Because of the failed victory, Nazi seized Soviet POWs as forced slave labors.
