Word: kursk
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...West of Kursk, where the snow was still deep, the Russians still pushed ahead. One column drove to within 25 miles of the Bryansk-Kiev railway, which links the German armies in the Ukraine with those on the northern front. If this drive between the fronts succeeds in cutting that line, the Russians will have made it less easy for the Germans to shift forces laterally from south to north. That would hamper the Germans in their effort to counterattack eventually in the north as they did last week in the south...
...little ahead of time, the weather of spring had come, and it was lovely. Perhaps it had come too soon for the Russians. In three months the Red Army had performed near miracles by driving the Wehrmacht back into the Ukraine and smashing the Kursk-Kharkov line-achievements which in themselves may prevent the Germans from again striking deep into Russia's southern heart. Nevertheless the Russians had still not reached the objectives-stated only last week-of their present offensive: 1) to complete the Dnieper drive; 2) to prevent the Wehrmacht from consolidating new lines; 3) to clear...
...Russians advanced. They staggered forward, blinded by snow and bending over their green-lit compasses. In the forests they felt for tree trunks for guidance and support. Their frozen greatcoats crackled like splitting boards. When the Russians reached the napping defenders far east of Kursk, they charged and quickly captured batteries that fired not a shell...
Having won the first round by surprise, the Russians pressed their advantages. Sticking to the roads, they pushed through to the northwest of Kursk, and moved into positions to the northeast and southeast. Planes dropped pamphlets showing pictures of the captured Field Marshal von Paulus at Stalingrad and describing the slow strangulation there. The three groups attacked concentrically. Kursk fell so fast that even the Russians must have been surprised...
...unbreakable line. On both Colonel General Golikov's front and that to the south under Nikolai Vatutin, who was last week promoted from Colonel General to Army General, the Reds exploited their advantage. Belgorod fell. So did Lozovaya, Voroshilovsk, Voroshilovgrad, Likhaya. The attackers rolled around Kharkov, which like Kursk had been one of the main fortresses on Germany's great wall of last winter. Russians crept early this week to within seven miles of Kharkov, and the city's fall seemed imminent. It was all surprisingly easy. The hedgehogs seemed to be walking away in the snow...