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Operation Barbarossa took place in 1941, three months after Hitler signed the Nazi-Soviet ally pact. On June 22, 1941, three million German troops invaded the USSR. Hitler's success in Operation Barbarossa was not due to a lack of information to the Soviets. Stalin had much warning and had recieved many intellignece reports and signals from spies in the German army. However, during the Great Purge, Stalin had managed to kill most of the high-ranked officials in the Red Army, leaving the Soviets with no strategical moves.
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As well as Soviet spies, German spies were used in large numbers before Operation Barbarossa. Initially, Hitler had used aerial spy campaign. However, two weeks before the beginning of the Operation, deep penetration missions began. On April 22, 1941, the Germans had been charged with having no fewer than 80 spy-flights between March27 and April 18. Before the end of May, around another 180 spy-flights took place, completing Germany's survey of every air field and military base in the western Soviet Union. The Germans were also spying on the ground, probing Soviet border defences and trying to figure out the state of affairs inside the country. In April to June, 1941, the number of German spies detected rose 25 to 35 times the number it had been from April to June in 1940.
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