When the Soviet invasion began on 22 June 1941, the Soviet embassy closed and due to the radio transmitters that had become defective, intelligence from the group failed to reach the Soviet Union. However, they still gathered information and collated it. The couple had read about the Franz Six murders in the Soviet Union and the group was aware of the capture of millions of Russian soldiers. Schulze-Boysens position in the Luftwaffe gave them a more detailed perspective than most Berliners and by September 1941, they realised that the fate of Russians and Jews had begun to converge. At the same time, the combined group started to collect military intelligence in a careful, systematic manner that could be used to overthrow the Nazis. Members of both groups were convinced that only by the military defeat of the Nazis could Germany be liberated and that by shortening the war, perhaps millions of people could be saved. Only in that way would Germany be able to be saved as an independent state at the centre of Europe.