This book is a raw account of the opening months of Operation Barbarossa full of the most horrific eye-witness accounts of the savagery of man not only on man but on women and children. This is not only about Russia but the Soviet states such as Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Bylorussia etc where hundreds of thousands of non-combatants (particularly Jews) were first slain by the Soviets themselves and then upon their withdrawal, by the invading Germans. The extremely graphic horrors make this a far from easy read but it is a MUST read to remind us that we should never forget.
The depth and breadth of research by the author is in itself breathtaking and is much to be admired.
Highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Publication date: June 3, 2025

OPENING THE GATES OF HELL: OPERATION BARBAROSSA, JUNE-JULY 1941 by Richard Hargreaves is a riveting account of the first days of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The significance of the invasion can't be overestimated: the minute the Wehrmacht stepped over the new Soviet border, it sealed its doom. For ordinary Russians, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War came as a surprise. Firstly, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact provided fragile hope of peace - and trains with raw materials headed west till the last minute. Secondly, the Soviet propaganda machine convinced the population as well as Soviet leaders, including Stalin, that the Red Army was invincible, its armor the best in the world, its Red Air Force equipped with the latest planes. The Red Army trained its soldiers for offensive rather than defensive war. Despite the reports about the mounting number of German divisions on the western border, few leaders of border districts alerted their subordinates. Decisions to put men on alert came from local garrison commanders who sensed war in the air.

OPENING THE GATES OF HELL tells history through the eyes of its witnesses on the ground. Not much is said about Hitler and Stalin, though some inside accounts tell us about their actions in the first weeks. Hitler tired his subordinates out with long speeches about Jews, the origins of mankind, and the Soviet Union; Stalin waited to be dismissed by his closest entourage. It was Molotov who told the Soviet citizens about the start of the war.

Ordinary Wehrmacht soldiers fuelled by Nazi propaganda viewed the invasion as a holy war and restoration of the just order, distorted for a while by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Junior officer Walter Melchinger writes to his wife (quote may be subject to changes upon the release): "Don't believe that war makes someone brutal and insensitive. There will always be good and evil. We are grateful that we are fighting for good to eliminate the bad. The new era marches with us." The overall topic of this letter was atrocities committed by Ukrainians toward Jews.

Even if one struggles to embrace the invasion's whole picture out of hundreds of individual accounts, the depiction of atrocities in Ukraine makes OPERATION BARBAROSSA worth reading. The retreating NKVD executed prisoners, 'counter-revolutionary elements,' many of whom were women and children, in an inhumane manner. Richard Hargreaves describes awful scenes in re-conquered towns in precise detail. One has to have stamina - and some lack of imagination - to read about tortures inflicted on prisoners. There was indeed an order to get rid of suspicious elements, yet, nobody forced the NKVD personnel to rape, mutilate, immure in cells, or crucify. They did it on their own volition, and the book offers no examples of remonstrations amidst the ranks. After the Soviet police and army left, the locals started to look for their loved ones - and also found scapegoats. Jews were the ever-present target. In their turn, they were humiliated, put to work long hours, mutilated, tortured, raped, and beaten to death with clubs and iron bars. Germans didn't stop the locals until they thought the order should have been restored. Germans killed Jews in an organized manner in the nearby forests.

Hate and death were two deities who wanted the blood to flow day in and day out.

OPENING THE GATES OF HELL is a meticulous, rich-in-detail description. It's not a popular history but comprehensive scholarly research, so the general audience may find it a tad difficult to get through. Still, history buffs will be delighted (if that word could be used about such horrendous events) to read it.

I received an advance review copy through Netgalley, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for this review.

When it comes to colossal military campaigns, none in history can compare to the size of Operation Barbarossa, the German (and its Axis partners) invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. Nearly 10 million combatants participated in this massive undertaking as both sides slugged it out across a battlefront nearly 1800 miles (2900 KM) long. It's a campaign which is known for more than just its size: bravery, sacrifice, terror, murder and horrible savagery were common threads in all areas and on all sides.

Author Hargreaves has written an excellent book on the opening month of the campaign with extensive amounts of recollections by those involved: soldiers, airmen, tankers, politicians and civilians all have their voices heard in this book. What started as a very promising campaign for the Germans ended up turning into a horrible nightmare, signs of which were evident during this opening month. Many German soldiers went into the campaign with lofty expectations of being in Moscow in just a few months, especially after scoring huge advances in the early part of the fighting. However, determined resistance by Soviet forces soon caused many to reassess their earlier feelings of optimism.

For the residents of the countries bordering on Axis territory, life was about to take a very savage turn. While some residents of the Ukraine, Byelorussia (Belarus) and the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were happy to see German soldiers force out the Soviets, there were many who would have their lives destroyed. These areas were home to many of the Jewish faith and when the Germans moved in they quickly became hunted enemies, and not just of the Germans. Civilians in some areas quickly turned on their Jewish neighbors and helped to unleash a gruesome campaign of murder and butchery across all the territories now under German control.

Since this book contains so much personal narrative, it contains quite a bit of VERY graphic depictions of combat, murder, torture and savagery as both sides engaged in a campaign of brutality which would continue for several more years...with millions of civilians caught in between.

I highly recommend this book if you're interested in the opening month of Operation Barbarossa and how it was viewed by many of those who were there.

Having just read and reviewed an excellent account of the operation that finally put paid to Hitler’s ambition on the eastern front - Operation Bagration - this accounts of the opening of Hitler’s plans for securing Lebensraum in the east is particularly timely. The symmetry of the horrors visited upon the invaded in Operation Barbarossa and, later in Operation Bagration, on the invaders is brought into stark relief. Given the current situation in Eastern Europe (2025) the two operations do much to explain the deep and irreconcilable feelings held by the inhabitants of these lands that have been fought over so many times.

The author tends to focus upon the narrative accounts that have survived, so that small scale operations feature - possibly at the expense of a more strategic overview. However, there is no shortage of broad brush strategic accounts that highlight the encirclements of vast numbers of Soviet troops and thrusts into the Russian interior by this or that Panzer army. This account fills the gaps that can only come from examining just what these advances and battles meant to soldiers and airmen on both sides and, most especially, on the inhabitants of these conquered lands.

The author spares no details of what Hitler’s orders meant for Soviet citizens, particularly the Commisars charged with maintaining the adherence to Soviet political priorities, who were kills in large numbers. But what may come as a surprise to many is the fate of many Jews once Soviet troops had left or been defeated. Many Jews were killed in these hours and days following the departure of the Soviet forces not by German soldiers but by the citizens in the countries concerned. The book makes clear that the German forces soon set up their own systems to oppress and to round up the Jews with fatal consequences for many but some of the more horrific actions were taken by fellow citizens in the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine and Byelorussia.

This book is not an easy read, but it provides an account that needs to be part of our collective conscience, for the penalty of failing to heed the lessons of history is to repeat the failures, as we see playing out today in Ukraine.

Richard Hargreaves is not new to the Second World War or the Eastern Front as this is his fourth monograph on this period of history. As someone with an intimate understanding of this particular period of the Second World War and the Easter Front - specifically, Operation Barbarossa and the war's initial period - I did not think there would be much value to another text covering territory that numerous other historians, journalists, and hobbyists have already published many volumes on. Yet, I stand corrected.

The biggest value to 'Opening the Gates of Hell' is the vast amount of eye-witness accounts the author has unearthed. From German, Soviet, and Romanian soldiers, officers, and commanding generals to Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Jewish, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian men, women, and children, the reader is offered a montage of experiences from the unfolding invasion. An essential aspect that often gets lost in operational histories or those devoted to the Holocaust by Bullets or the Holocaust in general is the significant level of interconnectedness between the unfolding massacres of civilians and the German advance during the first few days and weeks of Operation Barbarossa, which often military personnel either witnessed, encouraged, or directly participated in themselves.

Readers should be warned that this is not an easy read. It is easily one of the most difficult, raw, and emotionally draining texts written about Operation Barbarossa and the title of this book accurately reflects the events that readers will be exposed to. Hargreaves follows all three army groups and traces their advances, clashes with Red Army forces, and their experiences in unearthing atrocities perpetrated by the NKVD as they massacred prisoners who either could not be evacuated or were simply slated for execution, and the ensuing retribution by locals against Jews as the face of the 'Judeo-Bolshevik' regime.

German and Red Army actions are described in minute detail at times and frontline accounts help give color to the chaotic conditions Red Army forces experiences on the ground and in the air as the Germans enjoyed initial surprise and numerical advantage against peacetime forces who were more often than not scrambling to figure out what they needed to do and then further scrambled to gather up the forces to make a worthwhile stand or counteroffensive on the ground while in the air desperate attacks by bombers without fighter escort resulted in ever-increasing German kill counts.

The one weakness that I would point out is some additional information could have been provided about the operational experiences of these three army groups as often the attention is more so on the tactical and immediate actions on the ground taking place in a wide variety of places along a rather long frontline. But there are other volumes that could provide that information; the value of this volume rests in its readability and the wealth of primary source eye-witness accounts the author was able to unearth and bring together into a coherent narrative. This is a highly recommended work for those interested in the Second World War and, more specifically, Operation Barbarossa.

Almost a minute by minute account of the start of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of Soviet Russia - Hargreaves vividly evokes the confusion, mismanagement and speed of events as the bewilded Soviet forces are over run, while Stalin refuses to accept the reports from his frontline commanders.
Covering an enormous geographical distance, the depth of research is astounding.
This should become a required text for those interested both in the past and the future of conflicts between east and west.
Highly recommended.