Generation War — Germany
Five friends say farewell at a Berlin apartment in summer 1941 — believing the war in the East will be over by Christmas.
In summer 1941, most Germans believed Operation Barbarossa would be finished in weeks. German propaganda portrayed the Soviet Union as a paper tiger. The Wehrmacht had conquered France in six weeks; few imagined the Soviet Union would survive. Barbarossa's initial success seemed to confirm it — until the advance stalled outside Moscow in December.