This illustrated WII history provides a vivid account of the Red Army''s devastating offensive against the invading German army.In the summer of 1944, the Soviet Army launched Operation Bagration. This massive offensive led to the destruction of the German Army Group Center and was the greatest military defeat ever experienced by the German Army during World War Two. With rare and previously unpublished photographs, this book provides an absorbing insight into one of the most pivotal episodes on the Eastern Front.With detailed captions and text together with twenty artist profiles and maps, the book shows how German Army Group Center tried to counter the overwhelming assault before it was forced to retreat. But the Russian offensive was so quick that many German units were encircled and destroyed. In a cataclysm bigger than Stalingrad, the Germans lost more than 300,000 men.Though Operation Bagration was even more devastating to the Germans than the D-Day campaign in Normandy, comparatively little is written about it. This book reveals the lesser-known battle in the East and shows how the German forces fought and lost against overwhelming odds.