The parching heat of the Ukrainian summer neared its end, and the air was laden with the promise of rain. Soon downpours would convert the fat, black soil into paste.
To the Red Army, the dropping barometer screamed for haste. By a prodigious and bloody effort, the Russians took Kharkov. But this skeleton of a once great city was no longer as important as it had been a month earlier. The Red Army sought space, not cities. Space was armor to protect the recaptured strongholds from counterattacks. Space gained was also momentum maintained—a crucial factor in a great offensive.
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