Suffering defeat after defeat had become the best label for the Russian military in this war.
As time passed, the German military had won victories on every battlefield. German armored forces in particular had performed with astonishing brilliance in this battle.
Their powerful armored strength could not only tear open Russian defensive lines, but also swiftly drive deep behind them, cutting the Russian forces into one encirclement after another, allowing the German infantry that followed to easily wipe out the Russian troops trapped within.
Although only a week had passed since the fighting began, the four Russian front armies deployed along the western defensive line had already suffered catastrophic losses. The Southern Front Army had been completely annihilated, and the other three front armies were not much better off.
The Russian Southwestern Front Army had been dealt a crushing blow by German Army Group C and was holding fast at Kursk and Voronezh. However, the Russian Southwestern Front Army was severely short of troops. Facing the assault of more than a million German troops and several hundred thousand Ukrainian troops, there was simply no way they could hold Kursk and Voronezh. Further retreat had already become inevitable.
The Russian Western Front Army had suffered even more grievously under the ferocious assault of German Army Group B. The 3rd Army Corps had been completely wiped out, the 3rd Tank Army Corps had been virtually destroyed, and the remaining forces had all retreated to Smolensk, intending to use the city for street fighting and hold back the German military. Yet the German military had more than a million troops from five army corps, along with Polish and Belarusian forces. The Russians were at an absolute disadvantage.
Under the German military's fierce attacks, the Russian Northwestern Front Army had already abandoned all territory