Not until December 1941, after the first German defeats in the Soviet Union, were Army officers again to show interest in becoming involved in Goerdeler's anti-Nazi plots. In June 1941, Goerdeler experienced a brief surge of hope that he learned that Hitler had issued a set of orders to the Army for the upcoming Operation Barbarossa that violated international law and made it clear that he wanted the war against the Soviet Union to be waged in the most inhumane, brutal way possible. Goerdeler argued that the Army would now overthrow Hitler because no self-respecting German officer would wage war in such an inhumane fashion and become a war criminal. The sequel was recorded in Hassell's diary on 16 June 1941: "Brauchitsch and Halder have already agreed to Hitler's tactics the Soviet Union. Thus the Army must assume the onus of the murders and burnings which up to now have been confided to the SS.