Degtev, Dmitry Hitler's Collapse in the East

A New Analysis of the Catastrophic Campaigns of 1944

An analysis of the Eastern Front in 1944, where Soviet triumphs and German disasters reshaped the war. At the beginning of 1944, the Third Reich's situation on the Eastern Front still seemed promising. Despite a series of heavy defeats at Kursk, Smolensk and on the Dnieper, the Germans still occupied large parts of Russian territory. Hitler declared that, thanks to the conquered territories, he could keep the Red Army away from Germany's borders for a long time. However, this optimism was soon to evaporate. In January, the Soviets launched a powerful offensive in the northern sector and then repeatedly attacked the Germans in Ukraine, Crimea, Belarus and the Baltic states. On 22 June 1944, Stalin launched Operation Bagration, a massive offensive from which the German forces would never recover. Hitler's response was to forbid his generals from retreating. This made the Russians' operations easier and led to German divisions being encircled and trapped in pockets, most of which had to be supplied by air. Endless crisis situations forced the Wehrmacht to move its divisions from one section of the front to another. Then the weakened parts of the defence collapsed, leading to more and more catastrophic defeats. The scale of the disaster experienced by the German army was unprecedented in the history of warfare. More than 70 per cent of the divisions deployed were defeated, destroyed or captured. Within nine months, the front had expanded from 500 miles to over 1,000 miles. But all these victories came at a price. The Red Army itself experienced several serious crises and suffered heavy losses. The Soviet command also made strategic mistakes. It overestimated its forces and reduced their effectiveness by spreading its resources too thinly. In addition, it suffered from Stalin's constant interference, which often led to the actual objectives of the campaign being lost sight of and the Red Army becoming embroiled in pointless, costly battles. These events and the involvement of Soviet troops in them are analysed in detail in this book.