The gains of summer were now nearly consumed by the losses of winter. Berlin's communiqués intoned a refrain: "In order to shorten the front . . . the German troops, obeying orders, are withdrawing to a new, shortened line. . . . Movements of our troops continued without interruption by the enemy. . . ."
For Germans at home, bombarded by official pessimism in order to screw them up to maximum effort, the most fearful fact of all was that their propaganda was true. The Axis armies in Russia were indeed shortening...
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