A-A line

[nb 3][2] It was first mentioned on 18 December 1940 in Führer Directive 21 (Fall Barbarossa) which enunciated the set goals and conditions of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, describing the attainment of the "general line Volga–Archangelsk" as its overall military objective.

[3] The line had its origins in an earlier military study carried out in the summer of 1940 by General Erich Marcks called the Operation Draft East.

[4] This report advocated the occupation of the Soviet Union up to the line "Arkhangelsk-Gorky-Rostov" in order to prevent it from being a threat to Germany in the future and "protect it against enemy bombers".

The plan was for the Red Army to the west of the line to be defeated in a quick military campaign in 1941 before the onset of winter.

The remaining Soviet industrial centers further eastward were planned to be destroyed by aerial bombardment, for which an entire Luftflotte ("air fleet"; equivalent in status to an army group) was to be assigned.