The Unknown War: June 22, 1941

The Unknown War is an American 20-part series that documents the World War II conflict between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The show was produced and syndicated for international distribution by Air Time International, and the executive producer was Fred Weiner.

The footage was edited from over 3.5 million feet of film taken by Soviet camera crews from the first day of the war, 22 June 1941, to the Soviet entry into Berlin in May 1945. Most of these films have never been seen outside this documentary series.

The series is hosted by Academy Award Winner Burt Lancaster, who spent three weeks in eight cities in the Soviet Union for location filming.

Film footage from Soviet archives comprises a major portion of the series, with other parts supplemented by film from both the United States and British archives.

The series also features exclusive interviews with Russian Commanders like Georgi Zhukov and Vasily Chuikov. Other interviews shot for the series included Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev and Averell Harriman, who was U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union during the war.

SouthFront will be publishing the entire series, part by part, on its website and official channel on Telegram.

Click to see the full-size image

The first part, titled “June 22, 1941,” discusses the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany, the key events leading to the outbreak of the war and the international reaction. It especially highlights the U.S. sympathetic stance towards the Soviet Union from the get go.

Germany had some five million troops at the start of the invasion, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. The ultimate goal of the invasion was to repopulate the European part of Russia with Germans.

Hitler was impressed with the initial results of the invasion, which saw rapid advance by Nazi forces in its first days. But signs of staunch Soviet resistance emerged early, like in the Brest Fortress, where the defenders fought for a month.

This part of the series also covers Stalin’s historic address to the Soviet nation on July 3, 1941, in which he called for stopping the aggressor and starting a guerrilla war. In addition, it explores early Soviet success against the Germans in Yelnya and the efforts made to organize and arm the Red Army in the initial stage of what was later become known as “The Great Patriotic War.”

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Is This Germany’s Way To Repeat Hitler’s ‘Operation Barbarossa’?
• Ukraine Will Launch Its Offensive By April 30, Anniversary Of Hitler’s Death – Newsweek
• From Colluding With Hitler Against the USSR to an Anti-Hitler Coalition