Operation Barbarossa order of battle

This is the order of battle for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II.

Commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb (Chief of Staff - Lt. Gen. Kurt Brennecke) Colonel General Ernst Busch

Colonel General Georg von Küchler (Chief of Staff - Maj. Gen. Kurt Waeger)

The "Main Command of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (Stavka Glavnogo Komandovaniya) was formed on 23 June, largely from the existing People's Commissariat for Defence.

General Colonel Markian Popov The front was the Leningrad Military District until 24 June.

General Colonel Fyodor Isodorovich Kuznetsov Source:[8] Baltic Special Military District until 22 June.

General Colonel Dmitry Grigorevich Pavlov Western Special Military District until 22 June.

General Colonel Mikhail Kirponos Kiev Special Military District until 22 June.

The directive issued to the Luftwaffe for Barbarossa ordered that Luftflotte 2, under the command of Albert Kesselring was to be the strongest Air Fleet.

Kesselring was assigned to supporting Army Group Centre, which was to capture Minsk, Smolensk and Moscow.

The Air Fleet and Army Group were responsible for capturing Kiev, the Crimea and the Caucasus oilfields.

[11] The Romanian Air Force was considered weak by the OKL, and therefore unlikely to play a great role in the ground fighting.

With the right support, organisation and modern equipment, it was able to grow in number and match its enemies in quality.

[14] The modern combat aircraft were focused into one unified Air Combat Command, or GAL (Gruparea Aeriana Lupta), while the obsolete types were given the Romanian Fourth Army, operating under the German Army Group South.

The VVS KA had been split into four different organisations owing to faulty conclusions drawn from the Winter War.

The existence of too many different branches under separate commands in Soviet air power caused coordination problems (made worse by Axis bombing during Barbarossa).