Designed to dislodge the German Army from its position west of Moscow, Mars cost the Soviets an estimated 335,000 dead, missing, and wounded men and over 1,600 tanks. But in Russian history books, it was a battle that never happened-a historical debacle sacrificed to Stalin's postwar censorship.

Fought in bad weather and on impossible terrain, the ambitious offensive faltered despite spectacular initial success in some sectors: Zhukov kept sending in more troops and tanks only to see them decimated by the entrenched Germans.

For three grueling weeks, Operation Mars was one of the most tragic and agonizing episodes in Soviet military history.

http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/glazhu.html

"Despite Model's striking victory, by mid-January the handwriting was on the wall. German defenses would not withstand another such Soviet onslaught. As the preeminent German military historian, Earl Ziemke, later wrote, 'Although the Army Group Center zone was quiet in the early winter of 1942-43 except for partisan activity, its front, in the long run, clearly was untenable. The army group had no reserves. Its left flank was weak, and, after the collapse of Second Army [in late January], its right flank was left dangling in a void. When Army Group North secured permission to evacuate the Demyansk pocket, the great eastward projection of Army Group Center ceased to serve any purpose. To pinch off the Toropets salient was no longer possible, and no one was thinking seriously any more of an advance to Moscow. On January 26 Kluge recommended to Hitler a large-scale withdrawal that would shorten the front and eliminate the danger of the Fourth and Ninth Armies being encircled. As was to be expected, Hitler resisted bitterly, but finally, on 6 February, he yielded to Zeitzler's and Kluge's arguments.'

"In no small measure, it was the damage done to Army Group Center by Zhukov's furious but futile November and December assault that sealed the ultimate fate of the German Rzhev position. The Germans abandoned the Rzhev salient in March, just as Zhukov, unknown to them, was implementing another offensive scheme designed to accomplish what he had failed to accomplish in Operation Mars. Army Group Center's time would come, but not until summer 1944, when Stalin and Zhukov would finally gain their revenge."

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg...0705zhukov.htm

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