Marsh Is.#472 Liberation of Smolensk - 1993 Imperforate Mint Issue
September 25, 1943 Overwhelming courage and sheer determination had been Russian’s strongest weapons against the Nazis. Hitler had thrown everything he had at the Russians and was losing large amounts of ground and men daily. The Russian offensive had worn the German lines so thin that the Soviets now outnumbered their invaders four-to-one along the 650-mile front. Hitler’s generals begged for reinforcements that simply did not exist. All available troops had been transferred to stabilize the German war effort in Italy. Hitler’s only chance to avoid further devastation was to pull back across the Dnieper River and dig in on the high cliffs lining its far side. Despite his knowledge of Russian advances, Hitler was slow to evacuate Smolensk, one of Russia’s oldest cities located between Moscow and western Europe. The delay was costly because the Germans had no time to prepare their defenses on the far bank. The army was forced to keep retreating or face total annihilation.
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