For the Russians this was a day of hope and rejoicing. For the Germans it was cruel. After their 850-mile advance from the Prut to the Volga, they were back at the end of 1,009 days at the river where they started.
The road back had been very grueling. The last long lap in the Ukraine had not been a successful retirement but a major defeat, like Stalingrad.
The Germans had had every reason to think that they could take their time in retiring. They probably expected to hold the Russians on the...
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