To the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory! A radical rethinking of the 1941 disaster. A new look at the Border Battle, which became the prologue to the worst defeat in Soviet history. Convincing answers to the most pressing, controversial and painful questions: On whose side was quantitative and qualitative superiority in June 1941? How did the Luftwaffe manage to gain air supremacy so quickly? Who is to blame for the tragedy of the Western Front? Why were large masses of tanks from the Kyiv Special Military District unable to stop the German tank wedges in the Brody-Dubno area? What exactly was the main factor in the defeat of the Red Army - loss of communications, insufficient training of troops or fatal errors of command? And was it even possible to avoid a catastrophe in the current situation? The treachery of German saboteurs and the crushing attacks of the KV giants near Raseiniai, the fierce struggle for crossings and the death-causing waves of bombers, stubborn defense and desperate counterattacks, deafening defeats and tactical victories of the Red Army - the book of a leading military historian restores the full picture of the June tragedy of 1941, relying on recently declassified materials from domestic archives and German operational documents, most of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.