On 22 June 1941 Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the Soviet Union – and a mass of German troops, planes and tanks surged east. Both Moscow – the Soviet capital – and Leningrad – the birthplace of the Bolshevik Revolution – were key targets for Hitler’s forces.

Michael Jones looks at the very different fates of Moscow and Leningrad in the first year of the German invasion, drawing on eye-witness accounts of soldiers from both sides of this terrible conflict and the civilians caught in its midst.

He tells of the Nazi cruel-race doctrine, which callously disregarded the plight of both cities’ inhabitants, the cynicism of Stalin – who was prepared to safeguard Moscow at Leningrad’s expense – and the extraordinary courage of ordinary Russian soldiers and civilians, a courage that ultimately triumphed over the might of the Nazi invader.