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The Eastern Front Week by Week

The Eastern Front Week by Week

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 Join us as we delve into the gripping events of the Eastern Front during World War II, week by week. Each episode uncovers battles, strategies, and personal stories, providing a detailed narrative of this pivotal theater in history. Tune in for insightful analysis and captivating tales from the frontlines.Copyright 2025 All rights reserved. World
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  • Eastern Front #34 Model’s Model Counterattack

    Eastern Front #34 Model’s Model Counterattack
    Jan 22 2026
    Last time we spoke about the retreat to Königsberg. Stalin's bold general offensive pushed the Red Army to hammer away at German Army Groups North and Center, with the goal of encircling and exhausting enemy forces before the spring thaw. Building on earlier victories at Moscow and Rostov, the Soviets launched scattered assaults across frozen landscapes, but they struggled with coordination issues, supply shortages, and overextended lines. Intense fighting erupted around Lake Ilmen, the Volkhov River, Staraya Russa, and Rzhev, where General Meretskov's Volkhov Front made gains like capturing Pogostye thanks to stronger artillery, yet couldn't fully break through German defenses. Up north, Field Marshal von Leeb's Army Group North was on the brink, prompting his replacement by Küchler as Hitler stubbornly refused retreats. The Germans held firm at Staraya Russa through air drops and counterstrikes. To the south, Zhukov and Konev's forces pressured Vyazma and Rzhev, forcing Hitler to allow a pullback to the shorter Königsberg line, which trimmed fronts by about 100 kilometers. This episode is Model’s Model Counterattack Well hello there, welcome to the Eastern Front week by week podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800’s until the end of the Pacific War in 1945. Disaster continues to loom over Army Group Center. Even more Soviet forces are pouring through the gaps in its lines, posing a real threat of encirclement. And the German response? Launch an attack! This week, we're diving into the events from January 18th to January 24th, 1942, where Timoshenko catches Bock off guard in Ukraine, and Army Group North keeps getting hammered from every direction. Following yet another brief lull, Klykov launches a fresh assault on January 21st, targeting the strongpoints near Mostki. But this push advances at an agonizingly slow pace. The 4th and 59th Armies have massed 12 divisions and 400 guns across a 12-kilometer sector, yet the attack crumbles against the four reinforced German divisions holding the line. This setback prompts Meretskov to request permission to scrap the assault altogether, redirecting resources to bolster the more effective 2nd Shock Army instead. Under this plan, the 4th Army would stick to carrying out pinning attacks, while the 59th Army gets reinforced and shifts to strike from the right flank of the 2nd Shock Army. Stalin gives his approval, but he insists that the 2nd Shock and 52nd Armies keep up their offensives throughout the regrouping period, and that all redeployments remain strictly under wraps. On the night of the 23rd, Meretskov issued a demand for the 13th Cavalry Corps to be deployed, aiming to capitalize on the breakthroughs achieved by the 2nd Shock Army. But right as the Soviet troops surged forward through the gap, a fierce German counterattack struck from the flanks, launched by the 39th Panzer and 38th Army Corps. The Germans managed to reclaim some territory and quickly dug in with strong entrenchments. Kuchler had tasked the 16th Army’s 38th Corps with defending the southern side of Klykov’s penetration, while the 18th Army’s 1st Corps handled the northern flank. This situation forced the Soviet 59th and 52nd Armies into desperate efforts to expand the narrow foundation of the Shock Army’s advance. Their inability to succeed in this ultimately brought the entire offensive to a grinding halt. Meanwhile, elements of Soviet cavalry broke through to the German rear lines, unleashing significant chaos in their logistical operations. Meretskov held the conviction that if he could safeguard the 2nd Shock Army’s supply line and broaden the foundation of their breakthrough, this unit was perfectly placed to push northward and trap a substantial array of German divisions in an encirclement. Yet, from the German viewpoint, that very same slender supply corridor presented an enticing chance for a decisive counterstrike, one that could lead to a massive encirclement of their own. At most, just 10 kilometers divided the two German Corps at the narrow neck of the penetration. Cutting right through this gap, a lone small-gauge railway line was being rapidly built to provision Klukov’s Army. At the same time, as the Volkhov Front grappled with severe supply shortages, the stream of resources moving across the Road of ...
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    31 mins
  • Eastern Front #33 Back to Königsberg

    Eastern Front #33 Back to Königsberg
    Jan 15 2026
    Last time we spoke about Stalin’s General Offensive. Stalin, buoyed by early Moscow-area and Rostov successes, ordered a broad encirclement strategy across multiple fronts; Center, North, Leningrad, and Ukraine, aiming to drain German reserves before spring. Zhukov warned that concentrated reserves and heavy tank support were essential, but Stalin and Stavka pushed a wide-front offensive, overestimating Red Army strength while underestimating logistics and fuel shortages. The result was a cascade of rushed operations, poor coordination, and insufficient artillery support, tempered by pockets of resilience at lower levels. On the German side, logistical strain, winter conditions, the Luftwaffe’s varied effectiveness, and stiff Soviet pressure forced ad hoc German withdrawals and rearguard acts. Brutal fighting broke out around Lake Ilmen, Volkhov, and the Bryansk corridor, with dramatic German political-military frictions and punitive measures for commanders who disobeyed or failed. This episode is Back to Königsberg Well hello there, welcome to the Eastern Front week by week podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800’s until the end of the Pacific War in 1945. The Soviet Army had launched relentless attacks across the USSR against Army Group North and Army Group Center. Both groups had been driven into crisis, with breaches opening up at multiple points along their lines. Soviet formations continued to press deep behind German lines. Army Group Center faced a serious threat of encirclement, while Manstein conducted attacks in Crimea. After their three-day rest, the Volkhov Front had restarted their offensive on the 13th. This time, they fought with better organization and artillery support, although ammunition remained in short supply. Despite these improvements, the offensive still faced the challenge of being directed through roadless, snow-covered frozen swampland. This further strained the already stretched logistics, causing extreme shortages of all supplies. Moreover, Meretskov once again failed to concentrate strength against single points, instead dispersing his efforts over a wide area. With the offensive not meeting expectations, Meretskov continually begged for further reinforcements throughout the entire week. On the 19th january STAVKA sent 3,000 PPSh submachine guns (my favorite gun from Call of duty world at war) and 300 antitank rifles and released 9 ski battalions and an aerosleigh transport battalion to his control. The 2nd Shock Army moved to attack the junction of the 126th and 215th Infantry Divisions. The 126th had only recently arrived from France and was still acclimating to the harsh winter conditions. As the Soviet assault struck, they began to panic, allowing the 2nd Shock Army to push into the German defensive line. Yet the main strongpoints west of the Volkhov and Tigoda rivers withstood the assault. The flanking 4th and 52nd Armies achieved even less, and both units shifted to a defensive posture by the 15th. After regrouping, Klykov launched another assault on the 17th. With the support of over 1,500 sorties from the VVS, the 2nd Shock Army managed to pierce the first layer of German defenses and advanced up to 10 kilometers. Yet many vital German strongpoints remained standing, hindered by the same failures as before. David Glantz “poor command, control, and coordination, the dispersed nature of the assaults, and deteriorating weather conditions, and heavy losses.” The Leningrad Front’s 54th Army also attacked alongside the Volkhov Front starting on the 13th. Fediuninsky repeated Meretskov’s mistake by dispersing his offensive along the entire 30-kilometer frontline rather than concentrating efforts on a single point. Despite undermining his own offensive, they managed to capture Pogostye by the 17th, confronting a heavily reinforced 269th Infantry Division. This small gain, however, did not suffice to breach the German defensive lines. The remainder of the Leningrad Front stayed relatively quiet, with only a few minor attacks mounted from Leningrad and Oranienbaum. This allowed Leeb to pull sizable detachments from three divisions on the siege lines to reinforce the divisions engaging the Volkhov Front. The Luftwaffe and SS also dispatched detachments to this sector. This setback prompted Stalin to strip...
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    34 mins
  • Eastern Front #32 Stalin’s General offensive: Reinforcing Failure

    Eastern Front #32 Stalin’s General offensive: Reinforcing Failure
    Jan 8 2026
    Last time we spoke about Hitler stealing his Armies trains. The year trudged in with a cruel frost as the Eastern Front lurched into a new phase. Zhukov’s Soviet offensives pressed the German lines around Kaluga, Volokolamsk, and Kalinin, not with elegant strategy but with tenacious, grinding persistence. Across the German rear, Hitler’s halting edicts and internecine debates with generals sowed hesitancy, while Kluge’s cautious withdrawals offered few clear strategic answers. Yet within the chaos, a stubborn, almost improvised discipline, Auftragstaktik at the lower levels, kept pockets of cohesion, even as higher echelons floundered. Trains became lifelines and, at times, liabilities: routes clogged by civilian control, fuel dwindling, and spare parts vanishing. The front oscillated between sieges, counterattacks, and painstaking withdrawals along the central and northern sectors, as both sides endured frostbite and morale drains. This episode is Stalin’s General offensive: Reinforcing Failure Well hello there, welcome to the Eastern Front week by week podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800’s until the end of the Pacific War in 1945. Stalin on January 5th, 1942 “The Germans are in disarray as a result of their defeat at Moscow, they are badly fitted out for the winter. This is the most favourable moment for the transition to a general offensive” Stavka planned once again to encircle and destroy Army Group Center with attacks launched from the North-Western, Kalinin, Western, and Bryansk Fronts. Simultaneously, the Leningrad, North-Western, and Volkhov Fronts, supported by the Baltic Fleet, were tasked with encircling and destroying Army Group North. In Ukraine, the Southwestern and Southern Fronts were directed to liberate Donbas, while the Caucasus Front would reconquer Crimea. Zhukov and Voznesenskii raised objections, arguing that the Red Army should concentrate its resources to smash Army Group Center rather than spreading strength and resources across the entire USSR. Zhukov “On the Western axis, where there is the most favourable set of conditions and [where] the enemy has not yet succeeded in re-establishing the combat efficiency of his units, we must continue offensive operations, but for successful offensive operations it is essential to reinforce our forces with men, equipment and to build up reserves, above all tank units, without which we can have no basis for anticipating particular success. As for offensive operations by our forces at Leningrad and on the South-Western axis, then it must be pointed out that our troops face formidable enemy defences. Without powerful artillery for support they will not be able to break through the enemy positions, they will be ground down and will suffer heavy, not to say unjustifiable losses. I am all for reinforcing the Western Front and mounting the most powerful offensive operations there.” However, these objections were quickly dismissed by Stalin. In fact, Stavka had already issued directives for this offensive before that meeting began. Stalin’s detachment from frontline realities meant that the partial victories at Rostov, Tikhvin, and Moscow had led him to believe that Ostheer was on the brink of collapse. He planned to drain German manpower reserves during the winter and to raise new Soviet forces in the interior. Stalin’s 10 January directive “Our task is to deny the Germans this breathing space, to drive them to the west without a halt, to force them to expend their reserves before spring, when we will have new and large reserves, and the Germans will have no large reserves, and to thus secure complete defeat of the Hitlerite forces in the year 1942”. Stahel later claimed that the Red Army had only 600 heavy tanks and 800 medium tanks still functional. Rather than concentrating these diminished assets in a single sector, the plan called for dispersal across the USSR. Stalin’s isolation from actual conditions caused him to overestimate the Red Army’s capabilities, attributing potential offensive failures to artillery coordination gaps rather than to broader weaknesses within the officer corps. “Often we send the infantry into an attack against the enemy’s defense line without artillery, without any artillery support whatsoever, and after that we complain ...
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    37 mins
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