A couple of weeks ago someone made an excellent animation about the eastern front during operation Barbarossa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu3p7dxrhl8
Of course we have all seen the (almost incredible) rapid progress of German troops during the first months of the war, but this animation makes the Russian failure even more clear. What is most striking to me is the huge amount of Russian POW's and the failure to relieve them. (Opposed to the German successes at Demyansk and Kholm later in the war.)
In more than 20 pockets 3 million Soviet prisoners were taken.
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Pocket Prisoners taken Tanks Destroyed/Captured Guns Destroyed/Captured
1 Rossizny Unknown 200 tanks Unknown
2 Bialystok-Minsk 290,000 3,332 tanks 1,809 guns
3 Smolensk 310,000 3,205 tanks 3,120 guns
4 Roslavl 38,000 250 tanks 359 guns
5 Gomel 84,000 144 tanks 848 guns
6 Dvina 35,000 355 tanks 655 guns
7 Staraya Russa 53,000 320 tanks 695 guns
8 Luga 250,000 1,170 tanks 3,075 guns
9 Reval 12,000 91 tanks 293 guns
10 Galacia 150,000 1,970 tanks 2,190 guns
11 Uman 103,000 317 tanks 1,100 guns
12 Zhitomir 18,000 142 tanks 123 guns
13 Valdai Hills 30,000 400 guns
14 Kiev 667,000 884 tanks 3,718 guns
15 Vyazma-Bryansk 663,000 1,242 tanks 5,412 guns
16 Nikolav 60,000 84 tanks 1,100 guns
17 Dnieper Bend 84,000 199 tanks 465 guns
18 Mariupol 106,000 212 tanks 672 guns
19 Crimea 100,000 160 tanks 700 guns
20 Donetz 14,000 45 tanks 69 guns
Total 3,067,000 14,322 tanks 26,803 guns
And what are the main causes (from a Russian point of view) for this unbelievable catastrophe?