Hitler’s decision to renege on his alliance with Stalin and invade Russia in June 1941 was to have the most far reaching consequences for the world. Indeed, if there was one critical turning point in the Second World War, it would have to be this.

The latest book in the Images of War series uses over 300 rare contemporary photographs to capture the scale, intensity and brutality of the fighting that was unleashed on June 22, 1941. No less than 4.5 million men of the Axis Power advanced on a 2,900 kilometer front.

We see how the apparently unstoppable German-led assaults crushed the Soviet resistance. But Russian determination, aided by the terrible winter conditions and over extended lines of communication, checked the Nazi onslaught.

In the annals of warfare there has never arguably been such a bitter and costly campaign.