Word: rzhev
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...torment Russia lashed out on the Moscow front like a wounded giant beating a beast that gnaws his vitals. Stalingrad's peril was so great that distraction was necessary. For the desperate offensive, handsome, hard-eyed General Georgy Zhukov chose the Rzhev region, where the German lines bent within 130 miles of Moscow. One morning, early in August, deep-throated Soviet artillery opened up in the birchwood and meadow land around Rzhev. It concentrated first on Nazi battery positions, then on German division headquarters, finally on communications and transport centers. Ground-strafing Stormoviks joined the fray, followed by waves...
...center, they were untouched in Smolensk. The Russians were straining to blast the German concentrations from Rzhev and Vyazma, about 100 miles away...
London military circles discussed how the Germans had done it. They gave chief credit to the enduring efficiency of the German supply organization and to what they called a "porcupine" defensive system. This consisted in the fortification of certain sizable towns, such as Rzhev and Vyazma, as strong points. These "porcupines" were prepared against attack in any direction, building after building being turned into a small fort, with fortified "quills," such as farm buildings, scattered around all the approaches to the towns. The Germans concentrated on holding these porcupines rather than solid lines...