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Romanian soldiers in the souther end of the Russian Front. The Romanian Expeditionary Force took part in the siege of Sevastopol.
A Panzerkampfwagen III advancing through snowy fields. The advance is still fast but a premature winter
bringing very low temperatures will soon block it. In the winter of 1941-42, the Wehrmacht had to stop its fast advance at the
gates of Moscow.
A Soviet tank T34/76 burns after being hit. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union, this was the best tank serving with the Red
Army. The T34 was superior to any German tank in service in those days, having more effective armament and protection. Still, the
Germans were able to counter them by using powerful anti-tank cannons, such as the famous 88-millimeter FlaK 18/36 or the
75-millimeter Pak-40.
German tanks advance towards Moscow in the crudity of the Russian winter. The low temperatures were a major problem for the
advance and operations of the Wehrmacht, to the point that it could be said that it was the winter what saved the Soviet Union
from the invasion.
A group of German soldiers advancing in the snowy winter in Russia. Confident on the idea of a fast advance towards the Soviet
capital, the German armies would face the hardness of winter and the eventual disappointment just at the gates of their objective.
A Sturmgeschutz III, German assault cannon based on the chassis of the medium tank Panzerkampfwagen III, enters a captured village.
The area of operations is approaching Moscow.
A German 150-millimeter howitzer fires towards the Soviet lines. The German attempt of a massive offensive towards the oilfields
on the Caucasus would be stopped at Stalingrad.
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Finnish soldiers of an assault unit shortly before entering into action. The skull painted on their helmets was not an official
unit insignia, but a group ensign. The poor performance of the Soviet Army during the Russo-Finnish War was one of the factors
that encouraged Hitler to invade the Soviet Union.
Militarized workers of the German Organization Todt during the construction of a road in Russia. This organization, under leadership by
the Minister of Armament Albert Speer, greatly enhanced the war industry and allowed Germany to prolonge the war during at least
two years.
The hard reality of Russian winter took the Italians unprepared.
On the winter of 1941, a never-ending column of Russian prisoners marches towards the concentration camps.
A German 210-millimeter howitzer firing towards Moscow. At first, the Germans believed that they would be able to crush the
resistance of the Russian capital. But Stalin, assuming as improbable a Japanese attack coming from Manchuria, moved three
divisions from Siberia to Moscow, which was decisive for the outcome of the battle for Moscow.
German troops moving on the Moscow front in January 1942. A Panzerkampfwagen III retakes its position at the lead of the
formation after the conquest of a village.
During the maneuvers of approximation into a Russian village, a German section advances cautiously protected by a tank.
A projectile exploded when leaving the barrel of this Soviet anti-aircraft cannon, rendering useless the weapon which was
therefore abandoned by its operators.
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