Operation Bagration

The summer of 1944 had come. On the Eastern Front the air hung heavy, the ground dusty and soaked with blood. The Soviet high command had made its decision: the time had come to break the German line with a single, overwhelming blow. The name of the operation: Operation Bagration.

The aim was plain — shatter the German front, encircle the defenders, and open the road to Berlin. Red arrows appear on the maps, but behind those arrows stand people, tanks, guns and decisions that could go either way.

In our campaign we will not be directing this offensive from behind a table. (We will, of course. But the drama deserves better.) We are going to fight it in our soldiers' boots.

In the articles to come we move from despatch to despatch, front by front.
The dice are about to roll, the artillery is ranging in, and the commanders are giving their orders.