Historians consider the Battle of Rzhev "one of the bloodiest in the history of the Great Patriotic War" and "Zhukov's greatest defeat". Veterans called this colossal battle, which continued for a total of 15 months, "the Rzhev slaughterhouse" or "the Massacre", while the German generals named this city "the cornerstone of the Eastern Front" and "the gateway to Berlin". By their territorial scale, number of participating troops, length and casualties, the military operations in the area of the Rzhev - Viaz'ma salient are not only comparable to the Stalingrad battle, but to a great extent surpass it. The total losses of the Red Army around Rzhev amounted to 2,000,000 men; the Wehrmacht's total losses are still unknown precisely to the present day.

Why was one of the greatest battles of the Second World War consigned to oblivion in the Soviet Union? Why were the forces of the German Army Group Center in the Rzhev - Viaz'ma salient not encircled and destroyed? Whose fault is it that the German forces were able to withdraw from a pocket that was never fully sealed? Indeed, are there justifications for blaming this "lost victory" on G.K. Zhukov? In this book, which has been recognized in Russia as one of the best domestic studies of the Rzhev battle, answers to all these questions have been given. The author, Svetlana Gerasimova, has lived and worked amidst the still extant signs of this colossal battle, the tens of thousands of unmarked graves and the now silent bunkers and pillboxes, and has dedicated herself to the study of its history.

Svetlana Aleksandrovna Gerasimova is a historian and museum official. After graduating from Leningrad State University with a history degree, she worked in the Urals as a middle school history teacher, before moving to Tver, where she taught a number of courses in history and local history, and about museum work and leading excursions in the Tver' School of Culture. She earned her Ph.D. in history from Tver State University in 2002. For more than 20 years, S.A. Gerasimova has been working in the Tver' State Consolidated Museum, and is the creator and co-creator of a many displays and exhibits in the branches of the Museum, and in municipal and institutional museums of the Tver' Oblast. Recent museum exhibits that she has created include "The Battle of Rzhev 1942-1943" and "The Fatal Forties … Toropets District in the Years of the Great Patriotic War." She has led approximately 20 historical and folklore-ethnographic expeditions in the area of Tver' Oblast and is the author of numerous articles in such journals as Voprosy istorii [Questions of History], Voenno-istoricheskii arkhiv [Military History Archive], Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal [Journal of Military History] and Zhivaia starina [The Living Past], and of other publications. In 2009, she served as a featured consultant to a Russian NTV television documentary about the Battle of Rzhev, which quickly became controversial for its very frank discussion of the campaign.

Stuart Britton is a freelance translator and editor residing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has been responsible for making a growing number of Russian titles available to readers of the English language, consisting primarily of memoirs by Red Army veterans and recent historical research concerning the Eastern Front of the Second World War and Soviet air operations in the Korean War. Notable recent titles include Valeriy Zamulin's award-winning 'Demolishing the Myth: The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka, Kursk, July 1943: An Operational Narrative ' (Helion, 2011), Boris Gorbachevsky's 'Through the Maelstrom: A Red Army Soldier's War on the Eastern Front 1942-45' (University Press of Kansas, 2008) and Yuri Sutiagin's and Igor Seidov's 'MiG Menace Over Korea: The Story of Soviet Fighter Ace Nikolai Sutiagin' (Pen & Sword Aviation, 2009). Future books will include Svetlana Gerasimova's analysis of the prolonged and savage fighting against Army Group Center in 1942-43 to liberate the city of Rzhev, and more of Igor Seidov's studies of the Soviet side of the air war in Korea, 1951-1953.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of photographs
• List of maps
• List of map abbreviations
• List of tables
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Enemy Staging Area on the Approaches to the Capital
• Chapter 2: The First Attempt at Encirclement – the First Rzhev-Viaz’ma Offensive 8 January–20 April 1942
• Chapter 3: The Wehrmacht Mops up the Rear of Army Group Center – Combat Operations in May-July 1942
• Chapter 4: The Second Attempt … “By the end of the second day, seize the city of Rzhev”1 – The First Rzhev – Sychevka (Gzhatsk) Offensive, 30 July–30 September 1942
• Photo Gallery
• Chapter 5: Operation Mars – The Second Rzhev – Sychevka Offensive, 25 November–20 December 1942
• Chapter 6: The Dénouement – The Liquidation of the Rzhev Salient – The Rzhev – Viaz’ma Offensive Operation, 2-31 March 1943
• Chapter 7: Results of the Battle – “This large and lengthy battle … ”
• Appendices: Documents of the Stavka VGK [Supreme High Command] and the General Staff regarding matters of the combat operations in the area of the Rzhev – Viaz’ma salient (as published in the collected volumes of documents from the series Russkii arkhiv: Velikaia Otechestvennaia)
  • Appendix I: Stavka VGK Directive No. 151141 to the Commanders of the Western and Kalinin Fronts about the Encirclement of the Enemy’s Mozhaisk – Gzhatsk – Viaz’ma Grouping
  • Appendix II: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170007 to the Commander of the Kalinin Front about the Liberation of Rzhev
  • Appendix III: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170035 to the Commander of the Kalinin Front about a Change of the Front’s Roster and Specification of Tasks
  • Appendix IV: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170038 to the Commander of the 30th Army about the Confirmation of the Decision of the Kalinin Front Commander to Conduct a Regrouping
  • Appendix V: Stavka VGK Directive to the Commander of the Kalinin Front about the Liquidation of the Enemy Breakthrough West of Rzhev
  • Appendix VI: Stavka VGK Directive to the Commanders of the Western and Kalinin Fronts about Re-establishing the Post of Commander-in-Chief of the Western Direction
  • Appendix VII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 01542 to the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Direction on the Destruction of the Enemy’s Rzhev – Viaz’ma – Iukhnov and Bolkhov – Zhizdra – Briansk Groupings
  • Appendix VIII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170124 to the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Direction about Confirming the Decision to Break Through the Enemy’s Defense on the Motaevo, Kostrovo Sector
  • Appendix IX: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170157 to the Commander of the Red Army Air Force on the creation of a Strike Air Group of the Stavka of the Supreme High Command
  • Appendix X: Stavka VGK Directive No. 153589 to the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Direction about Hastening the Destruction of the Enemy’s Rzhev – Viaz’ma – Gzhatsk Grouping
  • Appendix XI: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170183 to the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Direction Regarding Changes in the Composition of the Western Front
  • Appendix XII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170182 to the Commander of the Kalinin Front Regarding Changes in the Front’s Composition
  • Appendix XIII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170363 to the Commanders of the Western Front and the Red Army Air Force Regarding Measures for Holding and Expanding the Staging Area, Occupied by Belov’s Operational Group
  • Appendix XIV: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170394 to the Commander of the Western Front Regarding the Front’s Reinforcement
  • Appendix XV: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170433 to the Commander of the Kalinin Front on the Preparation of an Operation to Smash the Enemy’s Olenino Grouping
  • Appendix XVI: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170514 to the Commanders of the Kalinin and Western Fronts about Conducting an Offensive Operation in the Rzhev Area
  • Appendix XVII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170549 to the Commanders of the Western and Kalinin Fronts and the Red Army Air Force on Measures to Eliminate the Causes of the Impermissibly High Breakdowns of Aircraft
  • Appendix XVIII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 994146 to the Commander of the Kalinin Front about Unifying the Commands of the 39th and 58th Armies
  • Appendix XIX: To the Commander of the Western Front, to the Commander of the Kalinin Front
  • Appendix XX: To Kalinin Front’s Chief of Staff about Shortcomings in the Organization of the 30th and 29th Armies’ Combat Operations
  • Appendix XXI: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170558 to the Commander of the Western Front Regarding the Plan of the Operation in the Rzhev Area
  • Appendix XXII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170591 to the Commanders of the Western and Kalinin Fronts about the Reassignment of the 29th and 30th Armies
  • Appendix XXIII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170606 to the Commander of the Western Front Regarding the Working Out the Plan of the Gzhatsk Operation
  • Appendix XXIV: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170651 to the Commander of the Kalinin Front about Reinforcing the Front
  • Appendix XXV: To the Chief of Staff of the Western Front Regarding the Inexpediency of Using Improvised Tank Groups for Exploiting a Breakthrough
  • Appendix XXVI: To the Commander of the Kalinin Front about Expanding the Area of the Unloading of the Motorized Units
  • Appendix XXVII: To the Chiefs of Staff of the Northwestern, Kalinin and Western Fronts and of the Main Intelligence Directorate about Strengthening Reconnaissance
  • Appendix XXVIII: An Order of the Supreme Commander to the Stavka Representative about Reinforcing the 20th Army
  • Appendix XXIX: Stavka VGK Directive No. 170700 to the Commanders of the Western and Kalinin Fronts on the Assignments Pertaining to the Destruction of the Enemy’s Rzhev – Sychevka – Olenino – Belyi Grouping
  • Appendix XXX: To the Chief of Staff of the Kalinin Front about Shortcomings in the Organization of the Defense
  • Appendix XXXI: Stavka VGK Directive No. 30040 to the Commander of the Western Front about the Transfer of the 61st Army to the Briansk Front and the Assignment for Cooperation between the Fronts
  • Appendix XXXII: Stavka Directive No. 30041 to the Commander of the Briansk Front about the Sequence of the Destruction of the Enemy’s Orel – Briansk Grouping
  • Appendix XXXIII: Stavka VGK Directive No. 30043 to the Commander of the Central Front for an Offensive with the Aim of Emerging in the Rear of the Enemy’s Rzhev – Viaz’ma – Briansk Grouping
  • Appendix XXXIV: Stavka VGK Order No. 0045 Regarding the Replacement of the Commander and Chief of Staff of the Western Front
  • Appendix XXXV: Stavka VGK Order No. 0046 Regarding the Replacement of Army Commanders of the Western Front
  • Appendix XXXVI: Stavka VGK Directive No. 30062 to the Commanders of the Kalinin and Western Front on the Pursuit of the Retreating Enemy
• Notes
• Bibliography
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