Vitebsk

A highly decorated Wehrmacht general gives “an incisive and accurate account” of a pivotal Eastern Front battle during World War II ( Army Rumour Service ). The city of Vitebsk in Belarus was of strategic importance during the fighting on the Eastern Front, as it controlled the route to Minsk. A salient in the German lines, Vitebsk had been declared a Festerplatz —a fortress town—meaning that it must be held at all costs. A task handed to 3rd Panzer Army in 1943. Otto Heidkämper was chief of sta