Real time Discusion thread

At about 0100 hours, the Red Army was ordered to assume defensive posture, but it was too late to improve defenses significantly as Germany tore up the non-aggression pact and launched Operation Barbarossa. At 0325 hours, Georgy Zhukov woke Joseph Stalin by phone to inform him of the news of the invasion; initially, Stalin refused to give Zhukov the permission to strike back at the Germans, believing it to be a German provocation. At 0130 hours Stalin is convinced of a German invasion and orders an alert and dispersal of Red Air Force units in the western border areas of the U.S.S.R, stating, “Before dawn on June 22nd all aircraft are to be dispersed on their airfields and carefully camouflaged. All units will come to immediate readiness.” But the orders are delayed and don’t reach the airfields until later in the morning. General Dmitry Pavlov ordered, belatedly as the German invasion had already begun, his troops to man the fortified regions in his sector in Byelorussia at 0300 hrs. At 0630 hours, Stalin finally realized it was a full scale invasion and gave his authorization for the Red Army to fire back.

The Vichy French forces that evacuated Damascus on the 21st make their way west to Beirut. Habforce continues advancing and takes the Vichy French airfield at Palmyra. However, the French counterattack and retake the airfield, forcing Habforce back into Iraq.