 Luftwaffe reconnaissance units worked frantically to plot Soviet troop concentration , supply dumps , and airfields , and mark them down for destruction . In contrast , Soviet artillery observers based at the border area had been under the strictest instructions not to open fire on German aircraft prior to the invasion . The Luftwaffe reported to have destroyed 1 @,@ 489 aircraft on the first day of the invasion and over 3 @,@ 100 over the first three days . Hermann Göring , Minister of Aviation and Commander @-@ in @-@ Chief of the Luftwaffe , distrusted the reports and ordered the figure checked . Luftwaffe staffs surveyed the wreckage on Soviet airfields , and their original figure proved conservative , as over 2 @,@ 000 Soviet aircraft were estimated to have been destroyed on the first day of the invasion . In reality , Soviet losses were likely higher ; a Soviet archival document recorded the loss of 3 @,@ 922 Soviet aircraft in the first three days against an estimated loss of 78 German aircraft . The Luftwaffe reported the loss of only 35 aircraft on the first day of combat . A document from the German Federal Archives puts the Luftwaffe 's loss at 63 aircraft for the first day . 
