Some stupid people at the front calm themselves with talk that we can retreat further to the east,

as we have a lot of territory, a lot of ground, a lot of population,

and that there will always be much bread for us.

They want to justify the infamous behavior at the front.

But such talk is a falsehood, helpful only to

our enemies. Joseph Stalin, order number 227, issued July 28, 1942. Welcome to the history of the 20th century. Episode 370, not one step back.

Back in episode 364, I told you about the preliminary steps the Vermacht had taken

to prepare for Germany's 1942 offensive in the Soviet Union,

codenamed Plan Blue. The Germans spent the spring of 1942 before the offensive proper would

begin, attacking some advanced Soviet positions that would otherwise interfere. Two of them

were on the Crimean Peninsula,

the city of Sevastopol and the Kerch Peninsula. Both were soon taken, and some 250,000 Red Army

soldiers taken prisoner. The other was the Soviet salient near the city of Isium. The Red Army began an offensive there in

May, and the situation got a bit dicey for the Germans, but again, German pansers were able to

encircle two Soviet armies, capturing 300,000 prisoners. These victories booded well for the coming offensive.

After a harsh winter that had almost destroyed the German army,

the arrival of spring allowed the Vermacht to pick up where it had left off in late

1941 and make a second attempt to defeat the Soviet Union.

These early victories in 1942 demonstrated that the German army was still a force to be reckoned with,

and the enemy was still vulnerable to the German style of warfare, based on rapid movement and encirclement.

To all appearances, the Wehrermacht had its mojo back.

I've said before that the Second World War is best understood as five separate conflicts

...