After three years of stalemate, during which the Germans occupied and ravaged large parts of the Soviet Union and its republics, with the breaking of the German siege of Leningrad in January 1944, Stalin and his generals were able to consider striking back.
In June 1944, they launched Operation Bagration, during which more than two million Red Army soldiers began an offensive. The results were almost immediate and devastating.
Drawing on new sources, Jonathan Dimbleby chronicles this decisive year. He covers the military, political and diplomatic aspects in his trademark accessible and evocative style, illuminating the major conflicts, partisan fighting, and the war within a war in Ukraine.