Eastern Front

The Eastern Front during World War II includes the area of military confrontation involving the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The Soviet Red Army and the Nazi Wehrmacht clashed along the extended Eastern Front, which stretched thousands of miles from the Black Sea in the south to Finland and the approaches to the Arctic Circle in the north.

Eastern Front

The Freckleton Air Disaster: The Story Behind the Tragedy in Lancashire

By James R. Hedtke

Wednesday, August 23, 1944, was a day of triumph for the Allies in their struggle against the Axis powers. Read more

Eastern Front

Lilya Litvak: The Red Air Force’s Female Fighter Ace

By Michael D. Hull

When German panzer and infantry columns rumbled across the frontier into Russia on June 22, 1941, the Soviet Air Force was woefully unready for war. Read more

Every inch the essence of a Roman general, Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was the man to whom emperors turned.

Eastern Front

Roman Generals: Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

by Harold E. Raugh, Jr.

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was probably born between 4 bc and ad 1. His younger half-sister was first the mistress and then the consort of Gaius Caesar Germanicus, better known as the Emperor Caligula. Read more

Eastern Front

WWII Vehicles: The T-34 Russian Tank

By Arnold Blumberg

Early in World War II, German panzer forces trampled all foes. Confidence suffused the Germans, and their tank designs stagnated. Read more

Eastern Front

Einsatzgruppen in Germany: The Nazi Killing Squad

By Blaine Taylor

The wide-scale murder of Jews by Nazi Germany’s Einsatzgruppen began in Poland in September 1939, protested only by German Army Generals Johannes Blaskowitz and Georg Kuchler. Read more

On orders from Premier Josef Stalin, Red Army Marshals Georgi Zhukov and Ivan Konev raced to capture the Nazi capital of Berlin.

Eastern Front

Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev: The Race to Berlin

by Michael Haskew

On orders from Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, the offensive that resulted in the capture of the Nazi capital of Berlin in April 1945, developed into a race between the army groups of two Soviet commanders, Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Marshal Ivan Konev. Read more

Eastern Front

The WWII Bombers Of Operation Frantic Had Impact On Eastern Front

by Wil Deac

Operation Frantic was a seven-shuttle bombing series conducted by American bomb squadrons operating out of Southern Italy and Great Britain. Read more

Eastern Front

Operation Silver Fox: An Opportunity Lost at Murmansk

By Pat McTaggart

As Adolf Hitler began to formulate his grandiose plans for the conquest of the Soviet Union, he considered the far northern operation area little more than a sideshow. Read more

For Ferdinand Porsche's "Elefant" tank destroyer, politics got in the way and ensured its ultimate failure in combat situations.

Eastern Front

Ferdinand Porsche’s ‘Elefant’ Tank Destroyer Could Have Excelled

By Jonathan F. Keiler

World War II tanks usually had aggressive- or ferocious-sounding names, such as Hellcat, Panther, or Tiger. Yet the tendency was not universal, as with British Cruisers or the American M-3 Honey. Read more

Eastern Front

The Eastern Front: Germany’s Futile Battle For Crimea

By Pat McTaggart

On July 4, 1942, the men of newly promoted Field Marshal Erich von Manstein’s Eleventh Army celebrated the capture of the last Soviet bastion in the Crimea. Read more

The assassination of Admiral Jean Darlan during Operation Torch in North Africa unraveled a web of intrigue and deception.

Eastern Front

Operation Torch and The Assassination of Admiral Jean Darlan

by Peter Kross

Less than a year after the sudden and devastating Japanese attack against the United States at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the American military was about to embark on a large-scale offensive operation against German and Italian forces in North Africa. Read more

In the early years of World War II, Allied leadership was in a desperate struggle to match Nazi Germany's political and military command.

Eastern Front

May 1940: Allied Leadership Was On the Brink

By Blaine Taylor

In May and June of 1940 the attacking Germans had a supreme authority, Hitler, and an army that—if skeptical, even in places traitorous—was subdued and followed orders with astonishing competence. Read more

With armor support, Red Army soldiers advance toward a burning farmhouse in the rugged Carpathian Mountain region. Hitler thought that the Soviet counteroffensive had run out of steam—but he was wrong.

Eastern Front

The Battle of Targul Frumos: A Defensive Stand on the Eastern Front

By Pat McTaggart

May 1, 1944. Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovich Konev had a right to be pleased with himself and his men as he gazed at the maps spread before him. Read more

Richard Sorge gained valuable Soviet military ntelligence for the Soviet Union, but in the end he paid with his life.

Eastern Front

Soviet Military Intelligence: Richard Sorge

by Pat McTaggart

The Siberians are coming!” It was a cry that spread terror through the ranks of the German Wehrmacht in the winter of 1941. Read more

Military book reviews from Warfare History Network.

Eastern Front

Military Book Reviews: March 2015

by Chris Miskimon Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914

World War I was only days old when German General of the Infantry Hermann von François went forward to view his soldiers engaged in combat south of Stalluponen in East Prussia. Read more

Eastern Front

Wehrmacht Pioneer Mathias Hansen Laid to Rest 70 Years After Operation Barbarossa

By Wilhelm R. Gehlen & Don A. Gregory

Letters home provide us with a glimpse into the daily lives of soldiers during the best and worst times. Read more

Eastern Front

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