To the Red Army in its twelfth month of war, the spring offensive had become more than a big push. It was the big test. The democratic world waited apprehensively for the big result.
Never before had the Red Army attempted a major offensive. Its winter gains before Moscow and adjoining fronts had breasted the Nazi flood tide by short, stiff jabs, sector-by-sector punches. Now, after meticulous preparation, at a moment and place carefully chosen, the Russians had struck in force along a 100-mile front arcing around Kharkov.
Possession of that southern industrial center is of vast importance, but far more vital were...
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