The decision taken by Hitler to conduct operations by the German armed forces was not irreversible, but the mechanism for preparing the Wehrmacht for combat operations was “launched” as soon as “the Fuhrer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces decided.” A paradoxical situation arose when the Wehrmacht command began to deploy troops in accordance with the adopted directives, but the very conduct of these operations, as well as the timing of their implementation (which did not always end in their implementation), were determined solely by Hitler. Inadequate perception by the Wehrmacht command of the start date of the operation “ Barbarossa" - at a time when such a date had not yet been designated by Hitler - the postponement of the start of the operation, or rather the readiness for its implementation, all this led to discrepancies in the dates reported by intelligence. The timing of the aggression against the Soviet Union - the beginning, mid-May, “from May 15 to the beginning of June” - was reflected in intelligence reports and were, on the one hand, reliable, since they came from the environment of direct sources of information, and on the other, did not correspond to the real situation things, since Hitler had not yet made a final decision. The publishing layout of the book was saved in PDF A4 format.