World Battlefronts: Axle War

BATTLE FOR RUSSIA

The Red Army's capture of Rzhev last week freed the 160-mile railway between Velikie Luki and Moscow. Soviet engineers immediately began to broaden the gauge to the Russian size. For the Germans this "axle war" had involved moving the wheels of captured rolling stock slightly toward the center of the axle. The Russians are now having to return the wheels to the ends of the axle.

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