Sunday, June 22, 1941, was arguably the most significant day of the 20th century. On that day Adolf Hitler's armies stormed into the Soviet Union, launching a surprise attack that, despite ending in Germany's defeat and the eradication of the Hitler's Third Reich, changed our world forever. By any measure, the war between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia was the largest and costliest the world has ever seen, and its catastrophic effects linger with us to this day. Craig Luther's lecture, based on his exhaustive new studyBarbarossa Unleashed, recreates the advance of the German Army Group Center along the bloody road to Moscow in the summer and fall of 1941--an advance that pushed 1000 kilometers from eastern Poland to the very gates of Moscow, only to falter in the mud and snow outside the Soviet capital. His lecture provides a graphic and insightful account of this remarkable military campaign through the eyes of the German soldiers who experienced it. After the talk, attendees will have an opportunity to purchase, and Dr. Luther will sign, copies of his recent book, Barbarossa Unleashed.

Dr. Craig Luther is a retired U.S. Air Force Historian and former Fulbright Scholar. He completed his B.A. in modern European history and music at Claremont McKenna College, his M.A. in modern European history at San Jose State University, and his Ph.D. in modern European history at UCSB. He has written several books and articles on German military operations in the Second World War. His latest book--Barbarossa Unleashed: The German Blitzkrieg through Central Russia to the Gates of Moscow, June-December 1941--appeared in 2014.