TWO BESTSELLERS IN ONE VOLUME! Refutation of key Soviet myths about World War II. A sensational study of the initial period of the war - from the “liberation campaign” of the Red Army to Europe to the “TANK POWER” of 1941. Although blitzkrieg is deservedly considered the invention of the “gloomy German genius,” at the beginning of World War II the Red Army proved that, under favorable conditions, it was also quite capable of waging a “lightning war” in the best traditions of the Wehrmacht, staging the “RED BLITZKRIEG” in Poland, the Baltic states and Bessarabia. It was after this that Soviet propaganda went into “shaming”: they say, we will “beat the enemy on his territory!”, “with little blood, with a mighty blow!”, “so that my Motherland shines from Japan to England!” However, in fact, even with insignificant enemy resistance, not everything went as smoothly as we would like - only during the Polish campaign, the Red Army lost up to 500 tanks from breakdowns and malfunctions... But the real “tank death” happened two years later, in the terrible summer of 1941 -th, when, despite the absolute superiority in the quantity and quality of armored vehicles, our tank forces were defeated in a matter of weeks, clearly demonstrating that numerical and technical advantage does not yet guarantee victory - it is much more important to be able to use this equipment competently. The author proves that it was the incompetence of the senior command staff of the Red Army that led to the terrible defeats of the initial period of the war and colossal casualties on our part.