Posters from Nazi Germany

Here are some propaganda posters from the Third Reich. I have only included those which show the real essence. Other posters are in another article.

The young, virile Anglo-Saxon Germans.

The story of the Nazi rise to power in the Germany of the 1930s is often seen as a classic example of how to achieve political ends through propaganda. The Nazis themselves were certainly convinced of its effectiveness, and Adolf Hitler devoted two chapters in his book Mein Kampf ('My Struggle', 1925), to an analysis of its use. He saw propaganda as a vehicle of political salesmanship in a mass market, and argued that it was a way of conveying a message to the bulk of the German people, not to intellectuals.

FROM BBC, By Professor David Welch

The struggle must go on as one comrade falls.

QUOTES
"All propaganda has to be popular and has to adapt its spiritual level to the perception of the least intelligent of those towards whom it intends to direct itself."

-Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), Vol. I

Hitler as a knight.

German wartime propaganda utilized a variety of forms in its delivery. Much of the propaganda was implemented through the recently invented radio, as well as through speeches from the main Nazi leaders. Posters and other visual material were also widely circulated and vital to the persuasion. Much other visual and printed material, such as books and leaflets, was only circulated to specific groups, such as Nazi party members or soldiers. However, almost all the propaganda was spread though a variety of media.

The virginal blonde German girl.

As Minister of Enlightenment, Goebbels had two main tasks:

1. to ensure nobody in Germany could read or see anything that was hostile or damaging to the Nazi Party.
2. to ensure that the views of the Nazis were put across in the most persuasive manner possible.

To ensure success, Goebbels had to work with the SS and Gestapo and Albert Speer. The former hunted out those who might produce articles defamatory to the Nazis and Hitler while Speer helped Goebbels with public displays of propaganda.

To ensure that everybody thought in the correct manner, Goebbels set up the Reich Chamber of Commerce in 1933. This organisation dealt with literature, art, music, radio, film, newspapers etc. To produce anything that was in these groups, you had to be a member of the Reich Chamber. The Nazi Party decided if you had the right credentials to be a member. Any person who was not admitted was not allowed to have any work published or performed. Disobedience brought with it severe punishments. As a result of this policy, Nazi Germany introduced a system of censorship. You could only read, see and hear what the Nazis wanted you to read, see and hear. In this way, if you believed what you were told, the Nazi leaders logically assumed that opposition to their rule would be very small and practiced only by those on the very extreme who would be easy to catch.
historylearningsite

The factory workers work hand-in-hand with the soldiers.

"Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If the means achieves the end then the means is good.........the new Ministry has no other aim than to unite the nation behind the ideal of the national revolution."
-- Goebbels

"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it."
-- Goebbels

German soldiers in occupied Russia (Soviet Union) during the Second World War

The soldiers of the German army which occupied the Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, Georgia) were not blood-sucking monsters. They were human too. The pictures below bring out their human side. Some of the photos may have been posed for, courtesy Goebbels, but many of them are spontaneous.

The German soldiers smile at seeing the vagabond. In Ukraine.

LETTERS FROM GERMAN SOLDIERS IN RUSSIA (Source: Calvin.edu)

Backgound:
In January 1942, the Nazis published a 60-page booklet titled German Soldiers in the Soviet Union: Letters from the East. It consisted mostly of excerpts from letters from soldiers reporting on conditions they encountered. The letters, of course, were carefully selected, but soldiers had credibility, and the booklet surely had an impact.

Staff Sergeant Kurt Hummel, Military Post Number L 31 605 Lg Pa. Paris, to his local group

Northern Russia, 12 August 1941

Bolshevist conditions are indescribable. I had never imagined that such misery was possible. People here know nothing about electric lights, radio, newspapers and the like. One can't call what they live in houses. There are only shanties with rotten straw roofs. Huge neglected fields lay around. We haven't yet found even a small shop. This is what people call the Soviet paradise. I wish the few outsiders who still remain in Germany could be shipped here. There is misery wherever one looks. One has to see it to realize how beautiful Germany is.
SOURCE

Posing with the elderly. Definitely propaganda.

LETTERS FROM THE RUSSIAN FRONT

The Main Roads are like Paths

Soldier Heinrich Stähr tells his work mates at the Hamburg Hochbahn A. G. about conditions frequently mentioned in other letters as well:

The roads. We in the infantry are probably the best judge of good and bad roads, since we have to march for kilometer after kilometer on them. Here too the Soviets haven't lifted a finger. The main roads are no better than field paths. Believe me, my dear comrades, the soldiers have had many a justifiable curse after marching 40 or 50 kilometers on such a road. Besides, it is 30-35 degrees C. in the shade, and huge clouds of dust make it almost impossible to breathe. Swamps, forests, and bad roads make military action unpleasant, but we keep moving forward.

The Wehrmacht officer is all concern for the little girl. Reminded of his daughter perhaps?

LETTERS FROM SOLDIERS IN RUSSIA

The Jew was a Bloodsucker

Medical corporal Paul Lenz, Military Post Number 7 14 628 Posen, to the local group of the NSDAP, Arneburg:

Only a Jew can be a Bolshevist; for these bloodsuckers there is nothing better to be, for there is then nothing to stop them. Wherever one spits there is a Jew, whether in a city or a village. As far as I know (we asked the people, wanting to know the truth) not a single Jew every worked in the workers' paradise. Even the littlest bloodsucker had a post with big privileges. He lived in the best buildings, if one can call them buildings. The real workers lived in small buildings, or better, in animal stalls, just like day laborers in old Russia. It makes no difference whether one is in a village or in a city like Minsk with over 300,000 inhabitants, the stalls are everywhere. Even before the war, most workers knew nothing but hunger, misery and slavery. Some may be interested to know that there were theaters, operas, etc., even big buildings for them, but only those with money got in, and they were the blood suckers and their lackeys.

Fixing a date for the night, perhaps?

LETTERS FROM SOLDIERS IN RUSSIA

Every Critic of our Efforts should be Sent Here

Soldier Walter Sperath writes to the [NSDAP] county office Hamburg 6

Everything I have seen of the so-called workers' paradise is everything but lovely. One should send every citizen who even slightly criticizes our efforts here. He would thank the Führer and the movement that these conditions are not found in our Fatherland. Animals by us live in better conditions than the people here. Our successes so far have been great, and we will not stop until we have rooted out this evil root and branch, which will be a blessing for European culture and humanity.

With such a beautiful lady any Wehrmacht officer would gladly pose with.

LETTERS....

The Soviet Union is Absolutely Miserable

Flyer W. M., Res.-Lazarett Salzlwedel to his Cell Leader Schroeder

I have seen the "wonderful workers' paradise" in the Soviet Union with all its terrible misery, and wish that those who thought differently could spend a few weeks here to see and experience what we have. The misery and horror of Bolshevism is terrible.

I hope that volunteering for our proud army may atone for my earlier sins, and that when I am back home, you, dear party member, will accept me as an honest person. In that hope, I send you my warmest greetings.

Heil Hitler!

signed W. M.

This soldier is playing with the little girl as the mother frowns in the background. I hope he was not a pervert.

LETTERS....

Earlier Fans of the Soviet Union are Quickly Cured

Corporal Otto Kien, Military Post Number 18, 756, to the Factory Leadership t the Conrad Scholtz Factory. Barmbeck

Russia, 8 August 1941

Anyone who earlier had different opinions of the Soviet Union is quickly cured of them here. The poverty is terrible. Not even the farmers have anything to eat. They beg from us. There are lice and filth everywhere. One has to be careful one doesn't get them from the inhabitants.

These people don't know anything else. They sit in their huts and remove lice from each other. They don't mind if anyone watches. I've had my fill of this workers' paradise. We'll be glad to be out of here. In the past we saw pictures of malnourished children. They were not exaggerated. One can't believe it if one hasn't been here.

The warriors listen gravely as the local women tell them their problem.

LETTERS....

Worse than we Imagined

Corporal J. F., Military Post Number 26,280 to his Local Group

In the Field, 3.8.41

What we have seen of the so-called Soviet paradise is worse than we ever imagined. Anyone back home who still has any doubts should come here. All his doubts will disappear. Everywhere we go, the people are happy to be freed from Bolshevism, and looks to the future with confidence. We soldiers can say to those back home that he [Hitler] saved Germany and all of Europe from the Red Army. The battle is hard, but we know what we are fighting for, and, confident of the Führer, we will win. In the hopes of a victorious return,

Heil Hitler
Corporal J. F.

This man would make Goebbels proud.

The Nazification of the Church in Russia

GERMAN SOLDIERS IN RIGA, LATVIA



This soldier is all friendly with the locals. Hardly seems like that there is a war going on.

He likes the old man. Reminded him of his old man?

Funny photos: German soldiers - human side: Russian front

The formidable German soldiers during the Second World War were human too. The photos below shows that. I guess these pictures were taken when things were going well during Barbarossa. It was only after that things started going horribly wrong for the Germans. I wonder how many of them returned home.

Funny how these hardened ideological driven men play with a kitten.

Puppies in the famous German helmets, the Stahlhelm.

There were over-weight guys in the Wehrmacht too! Guess he must be the cook.

This is where one sleeps when away from home.

Some kind of comic act?

These men are enjoying their drink.

How did he manage to get hold of this one?

Everyone does that.

The soldiers watch the amorous swine.

The officer petting a baby pig

This one adores the dog

This officer likes squirrels

The Germans make fun of a captured Russian prisoner.

He is enjoying his drink on Stalin's head.


Racing!

Are they gay?

German soldiers on the eastern front. 1941. Hardly the lovely picture of a superior Aryan. (Image by Franz Krieger)

Rare funny photos of German soldiers during Second World War: Part 1

The invincible German soldiers of the Wehrmacht were human too. Given below are some photos of these brave men during lighter moments of the Second World war. I won't call these images as humorous. I would say it shows the human side of the German army.


All the images are from the Russian front. One wonders how many of them returned alive to Germany after the war. After Paulus surrendered at Stalingrad, more than 1,00,000 German soldiers had surrendered. Only a few thousand returned home to Germany.

He hates the food!


Some kind of ancient 'Nordic warriors' show?

I like the bomb!


Nice body!

The two enjoy a quiet smoke.



Seem to have hunted the poor bear.

How did they get into the army?


Seems like a stuffed bear. The real Russian grizzly (Russian army) were not so friendly.

Battle for Stalingrad: Some RARE pictures

"The troops of the Don Front at 4 pm on the 2nd February 1943 completed the rout and destruction of the encircled group of enemy forces in Stalingrad. Twenty two division have been destroyed or taken prisoner."

- Lieutenant General Rokossovski - February 1943

A Russian gun booms on the streets of Stalingrad.

-----------

The disaster of Stalingrad profoundly shocked the German people and armed forces alike...Never before in Germany's history had so large a body of troops come to so dreadful an end. 
- General Siegfried von Westphal - 1943

-------------

Early on the morning of 23 August 1942, the 16th Panzer Division raced eastwards over the steppe from the river Don. That same evening, it halted on the bank of the Volga. The tank crews gazed across towards Asia. They had reached the designated boundary of the Third Reich's eastern territories. Messerschmitt fighters performed victory rolls above their heads. Many soldiers thought that the war was won. To their right, the city of Stalingrad blazed from the first of General von Richthofen's air raids, which killed 40,000 civilians. The only resistance the panzer crews faced came from anti-aircraft guns operated by young women barely out of high school. 'We had to fight shot for shot', the division reported, 'against thirty-seven flak positions manned by tenacious fighting women until they were all destroyed.' Thus began the most pitiless, and perhaps the most important, battle in history.

FROM anthonybeevor.com

No this is not Hiroshima or Nagasaki. This is Stalingrad.

Hitler had told General Friedrich Paulus that with his Sixth Army, the most powerful in the Wehrmacht, he could 'storm the heavens'. But then, in a bold encirclement by Soviet armoured forces, over a quarter of a million Germans were trapped far from home, and increasingly far from help. Stalingrad marked not just the psychological turning-point of the war, it was the first major modern battle fought in a city, with thousands of helpless civilians caught up in its horrors. In this titanic struggle between Stalin and Hitler, men were driven beyond the limits of physical and mental endurance. National loyalties were also dislocated. Paulus's Sixth Army depended on 50,000 Soviet citizens in German uniform, while the NKVD used German Communist writers in its tactics to wear down the besieged.

The Germans spring into action.

RUMORS

In November 1942, after failing to defeat the besieged city of Stalingrad and as the Russian winter approached, tens of thousands of German soldiers found themselves isolated, surrounded by Soviet troops, without food or any prospect of reinforcements. Against this background, various rumors developed. In the German camp, soldiers spread the story that, one night, covertly and disguised as a corporal, Hitler himself visited his despairing troops and promised them that he would quickly send them food and reinforcements and that victory was close at hand.

During this very same period, on the other side of the battlefield, rumors spread that Stalin had visited the city named after him, covertly, of course, to encourage his troops and raise their morale. He too promised them a sweeping victory.
Source

The destruction of Stalingrad as seen from the skies.

BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD



This photo perhaps symbolises the fortunes of Nazi Germany henceforth.

PERSONAL STORIES FROM STALINGRAD




By the shore were people, including many children. Using small spades, as well
as their hands, they dug holes to hide from bullets and artillery shells. Atdawn
German planes appeared over the Volga. On a hedge-hopping flight they flew
over a ferry and bombed and opened fire from machine guns. From above, it was very well visible to the pilots, that on the shore civilians were waiting. Many
times we saw enemy pilots acting as professional assassins. They opened fire on
the unarmed women and children and selected targets so as to maximize the
number of people killed. The pilots dropped bombs in a crowd at the moment
they were beginning to board a boat, fired at the decks of the boats, and
bombed islands on which hundreds of wounded had accumulated. The people
crossed the river not only on boats and barges. They sailed on overcrowded
boats, even on logs, barrels, and boards bound with wire. And on each floating
point the fascists opened fire from the air. It was hunting of the people.


K.S. Bogdanova.

Russian soldiers have a bite to eat.

THE DEATH THROES OF THE GERMAN SIXTH ARMY IN STALINGRAD

Soviet Armies 62, 65, 66 were mobilised with full artillery support on the

last day of January and into the first day of February. The Soviet

artillery had moved their guns into firing positions in close proximity to

the German lines. All available Soviet bombers had been made ready,

confident of success because an effective air blockade and anti-aircraft

effort was in place. German fighter aircraft would be unable to get through

this blockade. The soviet guns were shooting in a tiered position, one being

higher than the other. First the lower gun would fire and then the higher.

Eight artillery regiments supported the 214th infantry division and this was

in excess of what had originally been planned. At daybreak the tremendous

artillery bombardment began. After three to five minutes, German soldiers

were seen creeping out of their trenches, fleeing their tanks and abandoning

cellars. Soldiers dropped to their knees -- lifting their arms in surrender.

Others dashed back into their trenches and shelters and disappeared into the

smoke and fire. The areas around the factory had turned into flame and

destruction. The artillery barrage continued all day while the Russian

bombers flew sortie after sortie unopposed. Of the German troops, both north

and south, that continued to fight on against overwhelming odds, by nine o'

clock on the morning of the thirty-first of January, the southern group was

no longer an effective force.

Early in the morning on February 1st, the German Generals, Rosske and

Schmidt reluctantly accepted the surrender terms offered to them and gave

the order to immediately stop fighting to the southern section of the German

army. The soldiers were to surrender as a group.

Despite the order to surrender, one German company held out and this was

600-700 meters south of the school building. Major I. M. Ryjob of the

64th Soviet Intelligence Agency went with three Germans to persuade this

hold-out company to surrender. As the major's automobile approached the

school, with the German translators, he was able to transmit the order of

General Rosske to cease fighting immediately due to the fact that formal

talks about general capitulation were about to begin.

On February 2nd, more than 40,000 soldiers and officers of the northern

group of German troops surrendered to the overwhelming pressure. Field

Marshal Paulus was said to have given an order that the northern army stops

fighting. At a later date he stated that he had never given such an order.

General Strekker, who was the commander of the northern army, also stated

that he had never ordered them to stop fighting. During the period of

January 10 to February 2, 1943, Soviet troops under the command of General

K. K. Rokossovsky smashed through 22 enemy divisions with more than 160

different attached units of the German 6th Army. 91,000 Germans, including

2,500 officers and 24 generals were captured. In these battles, the enemy

had lost nearly 140,000 soldiers and officers. The Soviet Air Force and

anti-aircraft guns had damaged or destroyed more than 800 German aircraft.

STALINGRAD NOV 1942 German Wartime Newsreel

A STORY FROM STALINGRAD

Divisional commander Sokolov reported an interesting incident to me on 23 January. While entering the western reaches of the Red October settlement, his troops encountered and surrounded a heavily reinforced German position. The prevent the loss of any more lives, the German garrison was offered capitulation terms. After lengthy negotiations, the Germans asked our troops for some bread. Our troops pitied the enemy and sent over several loaves. After recieving the bread and consuming it, the Germans resumed firing.After seeing such "diplomatic relations" our troops contacted the artillerymen. They brought forward several guns and completely annihilated the German stronghold at point blank range.

..........

 V.I. Chuikov's book - "The battle of Stalingrad" .

BEST WAR FILMS: "STALINGRAD"

BUY THE DVD>>>>

When Nazi Germany lost the last chance to win the war: Battle for Kursk

-------------------

Soldiers of the Reich! This day you are to take part in an offensive of such importance that the whole future of the war may depend on its outcome. 
- Adolf Hitler - 5th July 1943

The battle of Kursk... the forcing of the Dnieper... and the liberation of Kiev, left Hitlerite Germany facing catastrophe.
- General Vasili I. Chuikov - Commander of the 8th Guards Army

--------------------------

What was the Battle for Kursk?

In July 1943, the biggest battle of the WWII started in the vast area between Orel and Kursk. This strategic offensive of the Russian High Command started with a major disinformation campaign. During the battle, the Soviet Command managed to create a felling of the coming victory among the Nazi commanders but instead, ensnared the bigger part of the German army into a trap and gradually eliminated them. The battle of Kursk is also known for its biggest ever clash of armor during the WWII

The Russians without a doubt knew of the impending German offensive with the massive build up of German armor and troops around the salient and through their "Lucy" spy network in Germany and also from ULTRA codes intercepted by the British and passed on to Stalin.

Night tank war at Kursk. July 1943. One could use the word "beautiful" if the whole thing was not so horrible.

QUOTES

"The battle of Kursk... the forcing of the Dnieper... and the liberation of Kiev, left Hitlerite Germany facing catastrophe."
General Vasili I. Chuikov - Commander of the 8th Guards Army - (Speaking after the war)

The Soviet 76.2 mm guns ready to take on the German onslaught.

VIDEO: BATTLE OF KURSK: GERMAN NEWSREEL

BATTLE OF KURSK

Recently appointed Inspector General of Armored Forces, assigned the enormous task of rebuilding the Panzer divisions, Heinz Guderian made his case to Hitler. Looking forward to the inevitable English and American initiatives, he urged withdrawal to a shorter, more defensible line; limited operations during 1943; rebuilding of mobile reserves; with no return to the offensive until 1944. Along similar lines, Manstein recommended strategic withdrawals to create the kind of fluid conditions that had worked so well when he retook Kharkov. By going to the strategic defensive, setting up mobile reserves, he was certain he could ‘strike the Russians on the backhand' and bleed them white. Given the vast buffer spaces Germany still occupied an elastic defense was the rational military policy to adopt.

Unfortunately for the army and the nation, after Stalingrad Hitler was a changed man. Back bent, left hand trembling, eyes protruding, he was more excitable and more apt to lose composure. Prone to ill-considered decisions and angry outbursts when presented with contradictory facts or opinions, he was less inclined to listen to his advisors, yet more indecisive. Such was his state of mind and state of health when he responded to Guderian, among others, that for political reasons, Germany could not sit idle in 1943. Nor would there be any withdrawal. For economic reasons, Germany must hold the Donets Basin. Doubled over his increasingly detailed map tables, Hitler's gaze fixed upon Kursk.
From: militaryhistoryonline

A Russian tank T-34 races past a burning village.

IF ONLY HITLER HAD LISTENED...

General Mainstein had advised the attack on Kursk to take place in March, 1943. Hitler decided to wait for four months. He believed his new Mark 4 tanks with their technical superiority would overwhelm the numbers the Russians had. It was a mistake. The Soviets used the time to make their own formidable T-34 tanks in large numbers.

Most historians say that if only Hitler had listened to his generals... The fact is that though Hitler was no military man, but the Germans got so far in Russia was because of the sheer guts and determination of the man. It needed courage to attack Russia. Only Hitler had that. A Wehrmacht general would not have dared.

VIDEO: KURSK: GERMAN NEWSREEL: PART 1

PART 2/2

The rolling landscape at Kursk was ideal for tank warfare.

With the German defeat at Kursk, the Soviets gained the strategic initiative for good. The subsequent Soviet offensive during the summer of 1943 proved devastating for the Wehrmacht . During the retreat, the SS formations became the "fire brigades" in the East. As motorized divisions, they were routinely rushed to the critical points on the front to seal a breach in the German lines or slow down the Soviet onslaught long enough for other formations to escape. They had in the words of General Wohler, commander of the 8th Army, "stood like a rock in the Army, while the enemy broke through in neighboring sectors."

Battered German tanks. The new tanks had turned out a very disappointing show with most of the Mk V Panthers breaking down on the first day due to problems with the complex electrical cooling systems (from a total of 200 only forty were in running order at the end of the first day). TheElefant tanks although a formidable machine with their 88mm gun had also proved a disappointment with Russian infantry simply attacking the 73 ton monsters with satchel charges and Molotov cocktails when they were separated from the infantry with relative ease due to the absence of a hull machine gun as a secondary defenses.

The brilliant armor strategist Heinz Guderian once asked Hitler "Was it really necessary to attack Kursk and indeed in the East that year at all. Do you think anyone even knows where Kursk is?" to which Hitler agreed with him saying, "I know. The thought of it turns my stomach."

A dead Russian soldier: Aftermath of the Battle for Kursk.


The Russians had mobilised themselves well. Russian soldiers walk past brand new T-34 tanks.

The Battle of Kursk was the first battle in which a blitzkrieg offensive had been defeated before it could break through enemy defences and into its strategic depths.

Artillery, Stalin's 'god of war'. A Soviet 152 mm gun fires.
The Societs achieved a massive concentration of artillery at Kursk, employing an estimated 20 000 guns and heavy mortars.

For months, the Soviets had been receiving detailed information on the planning of the offensive from their Red Orchestra (German: Rote Kapelle, and the "Lucy Group") organization, whose sources included officers in Hermann Goring’s aviation ministry and other parts of the Nazi administration.

Armor and troop concentrations were also built up by both sides with the Russians amassing 1,300,000 men, 3,600 tanks, 20,000 artillery pieces and 2,400 aircraft. The Germans also assembled a formidable fighting force which was slightly smaller with 900,000 men 2,700 tanks 2,000 aircraft. As well as the three premierWaffen SS divisions taking part.

Russian women soldiers march to battle.

The Soviets knew the Germans were coming and built a huge defensive network 150-200 miles (241-321 km) deep. There were five to six defensive ‘belts, ’ each 2-3 miles (3.2-4.8 km) deep. Most of the engineering effort went into the first 20 miles (32 km) —the ‘tactical zone’, with field defences, mines, and anti-tank guns.

The Russians without a doubt knew of the impending German offensive with the massive build up of German armor and troops around the salient and through their "Lucy" spy network in Germany and also from ULTRA codes intercepted by the British and passed on to Stalin. It was obvious anyway that this would be the next German point of attack as the "bulge" presented too tempting a target for the Germans to ignore and the Russians saw this as a catalyst to start their own summer offensive.

This is how the Battle for Kursk went.

Hitler needed a victory that would regain the initiative in the east and declared that Operation Zitadelle (Citadel) as it was known" would shine like a beacon to the world" and would avenge the crushing defeat at Stalingrad earlier in the year, but even he had misgivings about the whole affair.

Soviet Katyusha rockets fire in Kursk. They were popularly known amongst Russian soldiers as "Stalin's organ"

The Germans lost 400 tanks and 10, 000 men. The Soviets lost more, but they could afford them more. In the entire battle, which equated to the armoured actions on both Israeli fronts in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the Red Army claimed to have killed or captured 500, 000 Germans and destroyed 1, 500 tanks. The Germans claimed to have destroyed 1, 800 tanks on the south face alone. Through an inferno of blazing armoured vehicles and scorched and shattered bodies surrounded by shell-cases and stale bread, the Soviet counter-attack—the BELGOROD-KHARKOV operation—began. In the air, and on the ground, the fundamental balance of forces had shifted in favour of the USSR. It had been Germany's last chance to win the war.