Although entire libraries have been written about the disaster of 1941, the mystery of the greatest tragedy of the 20th century has not yet been solved. Why was the Red Army never put on combat readiness, although all the intelligence data literally screamed that an attack should be expected from the day before? Why did the USSR leadership ignore all warnings about the impending war? Whose fault was it that control of the troops was lost in the very first hours of hostilities, and the Western Front was destroyed in a matter of days? Some glaring facts simply cannot be comprehended. So, on the evening of June 21, when the leadership of the Western Special Military District was at a concert in Minsk, the head of the intelligence department approached the commander and reported that the border was very restless. “This cannot be, some kind of nonsense, intelligence reports that German troops are on full combat readiness and have even begun shelling certain sections of our border,” the general told his neighbors. Pavlov and, putting his finger to his lips, pointed to the stage; no one even thought about leaving the performance! Moreover, on the eve of the war there was a direct ban on the dispersal of the district’s aviation, and on June 21 there was an order to dry out fuel tanks; troops were forbidden to open fire even on large groups of German aircraft crossing the border; automatic weapons were confiscated from border outposts (supposedly “for inspection”), and ammunition for pillboxes, tanks, and aircraft was ordered to be put into storage! What is this - criminal incompetence, lack of management, outright idiocy? Or something more?.. A NEW BOOK by a leading military historian not only gives answers to the most bitter questions, but also in detail, day after day, restores the course of the first battles of the Great Patriotic War.