re: The largest land invasion in military history commenced on this day 85 years ago...

As a rule I hate discussing "what ifs" and alternative scenarios. But the timing of Barbarossa always fascinated me. It was incredibly mistimed. It only gives the Germans maybe 4 months of decent weather to go 800 miles to Moscow because by November you start getting some rough weather .

Germans don't get to rhe outskirts of Moscow until the first week of December. Why they don't launch the first week of April is one of history's big headscratchers .

As to Stalingrad. They needed Stalingrad if they were ever going to get their hands on the oil at Baku
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If you have one, what is your favorite podcast on that?

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Not a podcast, but the YouTube channel Kings and Generals is currently doing a week-by-week chronology of the Eastern Front and are now in June 1942. You have to subscribe to the channel to watch all of the episodes but it's a very small fee (we're talking like $2.00 a month).

Linked below is Week #1 of Operation Barbarossa, but there are a number of prelude episodes the channel did prior to releasing this one:

The timing of the invasion would not have mattered. The German strategy for Barbarossa relied on a quick victory with pincer movements that gobbled up the bulk of the Red Army. Taking Moscow would not have ended the business. Hitler was actually correct - you needed to destroy their armies in the field and not just take their cities.

By mid-July, Operation Barbarossa had met almost all of its initial objectives. The hope was that by that point the Red Army would have all but disintegrated. While the Soviets had suffered hundreds of thousands and perhaps even millions of casualties by that point, the Germans had already lost the war. The Red Army, though battered, was far from beaten and was growing stronger every day. While the gigantic pincer movements the Wehrmacht was performing looked overwhelming on paper, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were escaping from the pockets that were being created by the German blitzkrieg and were living to fight another day.

Russian resistance in Ukraine was heavier than expected, forcing the Germans to divert panzer divisions from Army Group Center to Army Group South to assist in the capture of Kiev. The armies of Army Group Center could not hope to move on Moscow until Army Group South secured its right flank by capturing the capital of Ukraine.

The ironic thing is that General Friedrich Paulus, who would eventually surrender to the Russians in Stalingrad, war gamed this exact scenario before Operation Barbarossa even began. His analysis foresaw the ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union because it was all but impossible to achieve a quick and decisive victory over the Red Army due to the size of its army, its territory, and the impossible logistics involved in such a campaign.

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The timing of the invasion would not have mattered.

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We talk about this particular "What If" very often here on TD. Why didn't Hitler launch Barbarossa five weeks more early? He would then have had time to crush Russia before Winter.

There are good reasons why Hitler could not launch the offensive much more early than 22 June 41. What are a couple of reasons?

1) Muddy Spring weather and ground conditions. On 22 June, the ground was dry, but, that was a recent development because it was muddy not long before that. Mech units depend on Speed. They can't go fast on muddy dirt roads. They burn a lot more fuel going slow on muddy roads. So, Hitler had to wait until the ground was dry - ALL of the ground, not just the ground in Army Group South.

2) The build-up of the entire force package was not totally completed even on 22 June 41. Even on 22 June, there were still some German combat units that did not have their full basic issue of equipment, ammo and such. In the weeks leading up to 22 June, this problem would have been consequential and diminished the combat readiness of the force.

The German Luftwaffe needed the extra time to build up. The Luftwaffe lost a lot in the Battle of Britain, and was actually WEAKER on 22 June 41 then it was a year earlier. Even though a year passed, the Luftwaffe was not able to totally re-build its strength.

So, there's really not a lot of weeks Hitler could have gained by launching early. Maybe one week? Two? Who knows, but, most probably not enough to make a big difference, given the spring mud.