Hitler's surprise attack on the USSR was the most devastating victory of the whole war; as a battle it covered the largest area. The Wehrmacht's first objective was achieved: the rapid destruction the Red Army in western Russia.

'Barbarossa' did not achieve the larger goal of overthrowing the Soviet system and occupying all European Russia. Nevertheless, the catastrophe eventually forced the defenders to fall back 600 miles, to the outskirts of Leningrad and Moscow. The Red Army had to be rebuilt; it would not drive the occupiers out of the USSR until the autumn of 1944.