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Xadrez BélicoWar as a Chess Game
Topic · 03 battles

Eastern Front

Three battles in the east, from 1941 to 1943, read as a chess game. In the Battle of Moscow, Operation Typhoon had already lost its point by 1 December 1941, in the words of the commander of Army Group Centre himself, before the cold wave of 4 to 6 December; the closest point reliably recorded lies about 30 km from the Kremlin.

At Stalingrad, the 6th Army encircled the city and ended up encircled in it: Operation Uranus broke the weak flanks on the Don, the airlift never reached the 300 t a day calculated as the minimum, and the surrender ended with 91,000 prisoners, of whom between 5,000 and 6,000 came home.

At Kursk, in July 1943, Germany attacked two months late the point that both sides could see, against a defense lying in wait. The page also takes apart the myth of Prokhorovka.

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Battles on this topic

  • Military truck covered with a tarpaulin, stopped at the side of a snow-covered road, with a line of other abandoned vehicles in the background 09 Premieres Nov 19, 2026
    World War II, 1941

    The Battle of Moscow

    30 September 1941 to 7 January 1942 · The approaches to Moscow, Russia, from Vyazma and Bryansk, to the west, to Kalinin (now Tver), to the north, and Tula, to the south

    In the Battle of Moscow, the German offensive had lost its purpose by 1 December 1941; the extreme cold came later. What wore down Operation Typhoon.

    Episode 09Read the game →
  • Soviet soldiers in white winter clothing walk through the snow among roofless ruined buildings, with the river in the background 12 Premieres Dec 10, 2026
    World War II, 1942–1943

    Stalingrad

    17 July 1942 to 2 February 1943 · Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Volgograd Oblast, Russia, and the bend of the Don between the river and the Volga

    Why the 6th Army was trapped at the Battle of Stalingrad: weak flanks, Operation Uranus, an airlift that never added up and the order not to break out.

    Episode 12Read the game →
  • Two destroyed German Ferdinand tank destroyers in an open field, hulls riddled and tracks loose, while Soviet soldiers in greatcoats examine them 13 Premieres Dec 17, 2026
    World War II, 1943

    Kursk

    5 July to 23 August 1943 · Kursk salient, between Orel and Belgorod, Kursk, Orel and Belgorod Oblasts, Russia, as far as Kharkov, Ukraine

    At the Battle of Kursk, Germany attacked the point both sides could see, two months late, against a defense lying in wait. And the myth of Prokhorovka.

    Episode 13Read the game →
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The battles grouped by war and by front, to read the whole campaign.