An illustrated account of the battle of Bagration, 1944.
Bagration was the code word that the Soviet Army gave for their summer
offensive in 1944. This massive offensive led to the destruction of the
German Army Group Center and was the greatest military defeat ever
experienced by the German Army during World War Two. This book provides
an absorbing insight into the German defeat and the Russian offensive
using a wide variety of rare and previously unpublished photographs.
With detailed captions and text together with 20 artist profiles and
maps, the book shows the compelling story of how German Army Group
Center tried to counter the overwhelming might of the Soviet Army as it
poured thousands of men, weapons, and armor across the German lines,
smashing its way through.
What ensued was a swift and bloody battle of attrition as the German
Army tried to contain the might of its unstoppable enemy. In the days
and weeks that followed, German units fought and gradually retreated
under the constant hammer blows of Russian ground and aerial
bombardments, and endless armored and infantry attacks. Many German
units fighting to the grim death were duty-bound not to withdraw, and
what followed was a disaster of a colossal magnitude. As the Soviet
might punched a massive hole in the German lines it sent huge shock
waves through Army Group Center forcing them to retreat or face total
annihilation.
However, the Russian offensive was so quick that many of the German
units with their precious panzer and infantry divisions quickly became
encircled and destroyed - its remnants retreating west in order to save
itself. By the end of the battle this cataclysm was bigger than that
experienced at Stalingrad. It saw the German Army being pushed out of
Russia towards Poland with the loss of over 300,000 men and most of its
weaponry lost.
The story of the destruction of Army Group Center during the summer of
1944 has been completely overshadowed by the D-Day campaign in Normandy
three weeks earlier. Yet, the battle in which the German forces endured
on the Eastern Front that fateful summer was more catastrophic than that
experienced by the Allies on the Western Front, but little is known of
the operation. This book reveals the lesser-known battle in the East and
shows how the German forces fought and lost against overwhelming odds.
