Free Download Charles River Editors, Steve Knupp (Narrator), "Georgy Zhukov: The Life and Legacy of the Soviet Union’s Greatest General during World War II"
English | ISBN: 9798868707858 | 2024 | MP3@64 kbps | ~01:57:00 | 54 MB
The Soviets were so caught by surprise at the start of the attack that the Germans were able to push several hundred miles into Russia across a front that stretched dozens of miles long, reaching the major cities of Leningrad and Sevastopol in just three months. The first major Russian city in their path was Minsk, which fell in only six days. In order to make clear his determination to win at all costs, Stalin had the three men in charge of the troops defending Minsk executed for their failure to hold their position. This move, along with unspeakable atrocities by the German soldiers against the people of Minsk, solidified the Soviet will.
For the next several years, the vast expanses of southern Russia and the Ukraine comprised most of the Eastern Front, where the two sides wrestled lethally for supremacy. Endless rolling plains, vast forests, sprawling cities, and enormous tracts of agricultural land formed the environment over which millions of men and thousands of the era’s most formidable military vehicles fought for their respective overlords and ideologies. If Hitler’s Wehrmacht smashed the Red Army, he might not be able to hope for a lightning conquest, but the Fuhrer could expect the Soviet strongman to sue for peace on terms advantageous to Germany. If, conversely, the Red Army triumphed, Stalin could continue rallying the Soviet Union and move closer to expelling the loathed "Nemets" invaders from Russian soil – and perhaps carve out an empire in Central and Eastern Europe.