Operation Typhoon: The History of the Fight for Moscow between the Nazis and Soviets

After the Fall of France and the unsatisfactory Battle of Britain came to a close, Hitler turned to the east and issued Führer Directive 21, his secret order for the invasion of the Soviet Union, on 18 December 1940. Prior to this the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression agreement, had enabled the two countries to divide the spoils after the invasion of Poland that had triggered the Second World War. Hitler, however, had always regarded this agreement as nothing more than a temporary t...