The Eastern Front: History's Deadliest Conflict

If you want to understand the true horror of World War II, look east. The war between Germany and the Soviet Union was unlike anything else in human history. The numbers are almost impossible to comprehend. Over 30 million people died. Not soldiers, people. Civilians. The fighting was vicious from the first day. Hitler saw it as a war of annihilation. The goal wasn't just to defeat the Soviet Union, it was to destroy it, to kill or enslave its people, and to colonize its land. The Soviets responded with equal ferocity. Stalingrad became the symbol of this struggle. The battle lasted five months. House by house, room by room. Soldiers on both sides fought with knives and shovels when ammunition ran out. The German Sixth Army was surrounded and destroyed. When it was over, the city was a pile of rubble. More than a million people died in that one battle alone. The Eastern Front broke the German army. It destroyed their best divisions and bled them dry. But the cost was unimaginable.