Soviet forces launched Operation Iskra with attacks from both the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts. Frozen rivers, marshes, fortified towns, and German defenses made every yard costly as the fate of the ...

At 3 a.m. on July 5, 1943, 417 Soviet aircraft launched a bold preemptive strike to cripple the Luftwaffe before Operation Citadel began. But German radar picked them up, and fighters scrambled just ...