The war on the eastern front was the most brutal in ww2. Stalin never expected hitler to actually invade the soviet union. Hitler never expected to have such a difficult time conquering russia. At first the germans gained alot of ground rather quickly and millions of russians were killed. Stalin was equally as brutal, he even ordered his own soldiers to be shot if they retreated and called them traitors if they were captured. Russian woman even fought on the front lines and were tough as fuckin nails. What ultimately prevented the germans from victory was the brutal russian winter.