The War Becomes Global On June 22 1941 Germany along with other European Axis members and Finland invaded the Soviet Union The primary objectives of this surprise offensiveAmnon Sella Barbarossa Surprise Attack and Communication Journal of Contemporary History Vol 13 No 3 Jul 1978 pp 555 583 were the Baltic region Moscow and Ukraine with an ultimate goal to end campaign of 1941 near the line connecting Caspian and White Seas Although before the war the Red Army was preparing for a strategic offensive Barbarossa forced Stavka to adopt a strategic defence During the summer Axis made significant gains into Soviet territory inflicting immense losses in personnel and mat riel however by the middle of August German OKH decided to suspend the offensive of a considerably depleted Army Group Center and to divert a part of its armored force to reinforce troops advancing toward central Ukraine Alan F Wilt Hitler s Late Summer Pause in 1941 Military Affairs Vol 45 No 4 Dec 1981 pp 187 191 The Kiev offensive was overwhelmingly successful resulting in encirclement and elimination of four Soviet armies and made further advance into Crimea and industrially developed Eastern Ukraine possible By October Axis operational objectives in the Baltic region and Ukraine were achieved with only Leningrad and Sevastopol resisting in siegesShukman Harold Stalin s Generals p 113 a major offensive against Moscow had been renewed After two months of fierce battles the German army almost reached Moscow suburbs where the exhausted German army was forced to go on the defensive Despite impressive territorial gains no strategic goals of the war had been accomplished two major Soviet cities hadn t been captured Red Army s capability to resist was not broken and the Soviet Union retained a considerable part of its military potential The blitzkrieg phase of WWII in Europe had ended A S Milward The End of the Blitzkrieg The Economic History Review New Series Vol 16 No 3 1964 pp 499 518 In mid December when freshly mobilized reserves Louis Rotundo The Creation of Soviet Reserves and the 1941 Campaign Military Affairs Vol 50 No 1 Jan 1986 pp 21 28 allowed the Soviets to achieve numerical parity they launched a massive counter offensive along 1000 km front although success was temporary and in January was halted Paragraph B4 With majority Axis troops tied down on Eastern Front the United Kingdom got an opportunity to regroup In the Mediterranean The New York Times Jul 13 1941 5 In July the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union formed a military alliance against GermanyPravda Alex Duncan Peter J S Soviet British Relations Since the 1970s pg 29 and shortly after jointly invaded Iran to secure the Persian Corridor and Iran s oilfields Heptulla Najma The Logic of Political Survival pg 131 6 In August the United Kingdom and United States jointly issued the Atlantic Charter Louis William Roger More Adventures with Britannia Personalities Politics and Culture in Britain pg 223 7 In November Commonwealth forces launched a counter offensive in the desert reclaiming all gains the Germans and Italians had made Gannon James Stealing Secrets Telling Lies How Spies and Codebreakers Helped Shape the Twentieth Century pg 76Paragraph C8 Japan hoping to utilize Germany s control over the Netherlands made several demands including a steady supply of oil from the Dutch East Indies these talks however broke down in June AFLMA Year in Review pg 32 9 In July Japan seized military control of southern Indochina since it would not only put them in a better position to coerce the Dutch East Indies into yielding but it would also be a blow against China should war be necessary it also improved their strategic position against the America