Two German soldiers on the Eastern Front don local fur coats in the absence of standard issue polar clothing for the German army. Undated. During the first Russian winter of the German campaign on the Eastern Front, hundreds of thousands of German soldiers were incapacitated or died because of lack of proper winter clothing. Hitler thought erroneously that he could destroy the Red Army before the snows set in--and he lost the war. He attacked the USSR in June 1941 because he was diverted from his plans by the Balkan campaign. It wans't Stalingrad that broke the Nazis' back, it was losing the Battle of Moscow in September-December 1941 because of lack of proper cold weather preparation.