Last episode, we left the German soldiers freezing off ihr Gesäß in the the early, harsh Russian winter of 1941.  But there was more going on in the winter of 1941 than just frozen Germans.  I mentioned back in episode 113, which was about the rise of Hitler and fascism, that the Germans had made a pact with Italy and with Japan.  Both the Germans and the Empire of Japan regarded the Soviet Union as their most dangerous potential enemy, which is why they signed a treaty.  This is actually going to work against them here in just a minute.