 Operationally , the Germans won resounding victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the Soviet Union , mainly in Ukraine , both inflicting and sustaining heavy casualties . Despite their successes , the German offensive stalled on the outskirts of Moscow and was subsequently pushed back by a Soviet counteroffensive . The Red Army repelled the Wehrmacht 's strongest blows and forced Germany into a war of attrition for which it was unprepared . The Germans would never again mount a simultaneous offensive along the entire strategic Soviet @-@ Axis front . The failure of the operation drove Hitler to demand further operations inside the USSR of increasingly limited scope , all of which eventually failed , such as Case Blue and Operation Citadel . 
