Chapter 2 accounts for how people experienced and responded to the German invasion in the first days, weeks, and months of the war. Hopes and fears surfaced as the institutions of Soviet power crumbled before the advancing German forces. Patriotic sentiment was widespread but ambiguous: Some volunteered for military service and declared their loyalty to the Soviet motherland, while others hoped the Germans would defeat the Bolsheviks, dismantle the collective farms, and pave the way for the establishment of a new and better political order in Russia. In many places, German forces were greeted warmly and even hailed as liberators. Yet most people were reserved and waited to see what would come next. The ambiguity that marked popular responses to the invasion reflected the instability of the bonds between Stalin’s government and the Russians.