Germany's surprise assault on the Soviet Union in 1941, Operation Barbarossa, aimed at nothing less than complete destruction. Hitler saw this as the answer to establishing ' Lebensraum' for the German people in the East. The Soviets believed that a German attack would take place in the Ukraine. As such, Germany faced the Soviet Southwestern & Southern Fronts, containing many of the best equipped, trained & commanded units in the Soviet order. Nevertheless German superiority began to tell & the Soviet Army was encircled & destroyed at Uman. By the beginning of October 1941 it appeared that the Red Army was in the final stages of collapse & nothing could stop the German juggernaut.