Operation-Barbarossa

Examining the initial combat performance of the T-34 and its impact on German tank doctrine during Operation Barbarossa.

Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union foundered not on Soviet resistance alone, but on an 85mm gap between German and Russian railroad gauges. The logistics of Barbarossa reveal how infrastructure determines strategy.

The largest military operation in history was crippled not by Soviet heroism alone, but by a 89mm difference in railroad gauge width that made German supply lines progressively useless as the advance continued.