When 1944 began, the Third Reich’s position on the Eastern Front still seemed promising. Despite a series of major defeats at Kursk, Smolensk and on the Dnieper, the Germans still held vast swathes of Russian territory. They still occupied positions near Leningrad and in the Crimea. Hitler declared that the conquered space would allow him to keep the Red Army away from the borders of Germany and its allies for a long time. However, such optimism was soon to be swept away.

In January, the Soviets launched a powerful offensive in the northern sector, and then they repeatedly attacked the Germans in Ukraine, Crimea, Belarus, and the Baltic States. Hitler’s answer was to prohibit his generals from any retreat, delaying the adoption of ‘unpleasant’ decisions. This made operations easier for the Russians and led to the German divisions being encircled and trapped in pockets, most of which had to be supplied by air.

Endless crisis situations forced the Wehrmacht to transfer its divisions from one sector of the front to another, in desperate efforts to plug alarming gaps. Then the weakened sections of the defence collapsed, provoking more and more catastrophic defeats. The disaster that the German army experienced was on a scale never seen before in warfare. More than 70 percent of the divisions engaged were defeated, destroyed or captured. In nine months, the front had stretched from 500 miles to over 1,000 and military operations moved from the depths of Russia into the very heart of Eastern Europe. Of the eleven German armies (not counting Norway), eight survived the fighting in pockets, and some of them even found themselves trapped in pockets a second time. At least half of the armies were completely defeated.

But all these victories came at a price. The Red Army was still suffered its own problems. Often poorly trained and weakened divisions were rushed into battle, and were given unrealistic and unachievable objectives. This led to large losses and an irrational waste of resources. But from this book it becomes clear how Stalin differed from Hitler and why Stalin eventually won this war. This period also witnessed national uprisings in Warsaw and Slovakia. These events, and the participation of Soviet troops in them, are analysed in detail in this truly ground-breaking book.