prelude to barbarossa
... Germany had been at war for almost one year when the first pre-conceptions of operation Barbarossa came into being. ... “Operation Barbarossa” required the wehrmachet to subjugate the largest military force in the world and ultimately advance to a depth 1750 km along a front 1800 km in an underdeveloped theatre of military operations whose size approximated all of Western Europe Soon after issuing his “Sea Lion” directive Hitler had learned that the British government had rejected his peace offer.