LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Eastern Front: Soviet Union
built 225 days ago
The war on the Eastern Front was unparalleled for its ferocity, intensity, and brutality. By most estimates some 4 million Axis troops and 11 million Soviet troops fell in battle or died as POWs. Another 15–17 million Soviet civilians fell victim to massacres, disease, and starvation during the war.
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The pace of development on the Eastern Front was such that by the end of 1943, the Soviets were producing tanks like the impressive Josef Stalin II with a massive 122 mm gun. More important was the sheer volume of Soviet tank production which overwhelmed the Germans despite the efficiency of German weapons like the high velocity 8.8 cm anti-aircraft gun, 'the dreaded eighty eight' which became equally renowned and feared as an anti-tank gun.
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The second of two volumes, this is a chronological account of the campaigns on the Eastern Front, following the Soviet counter-offensive around Stalingrad to the final destruction of the Ostheer. Having carefully mustered their forces for a counter-offensive around Stalingrad, the commanders of the Red Army began the long process of besting the German Army and pushing it out of the Soviet Union. The last large-scale German offensive in the east, Kursk, broke the back of the revitalized Panzerwaffe and placed the Ostheer on the defensive for the remainder of the conflict. Unrelenting pressure pushed the Ostheer back to the Dniepr and beyond and paved the way for the overwhelming Soviet victories of 1944 and 1945. In the last 18 months of the war the Red Army demonstrated a complete mastery of the application of force and the crushing victories in Belorussia, the Balkans and Poland destroyed the cohesion of the Ostheer and proved beyond any doubt that Germany was destined for total defeat. This day-by-day account allows the reader to obtain an understanding of the scale of the conflict and assess the impact of distance and time upon operations or alternatively, to concentrate upon a specific battle as it unfolded.
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While the Western Allies struggled up the spine of Italy, the war was being won and lost on the Eastern Front after Hitler's ill-judged invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Hitler believed the German Army would smash the disorganised an poorly-equipped Soviet Army in a matter of months. The Germans received a rude shock when they met tanks like the T-34.
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More than a quarter of this gallery is dedicated to the war on the Eastern Front between Soviet and German forces. A variety of German tracked vehicles including 3 RSOs give a glimpse into this major part of the WWII experience.
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Soviet Union