“The biggest defeat of Zhukov” - this is how both Western historians and Wehrmacht veterans evaluate the Battle of Rzhev. Over 15 months of fierce fighting, the Red Army lost up to 2 million people here, “washing themselves in blood” and literally “filling the enemy with corpses,” but without achieving victory - it was not for nothing that our soldiers called this bloody battle “massacre”, “breakthrough”, “Rzhev meat grinder.” Among those who turned the city into an “indestructible bastion of the Wehrmacht” was the commander of the 6th division, General Grossman. His book is a unique opportunity to look at this massacre from the other side, through the eyes of German soldiers and officers who for more than a year repelled all attacks of the Red Army, considering Rzhev not just “the cornerstone of the Eastern Front,” but “the gateway to Berlin.” Those of them who were lucky to survive remembered the “Rzhev nightmare” for the rest of their lives and until the end of their days they were proud of their victory over the “Marshal of Victory” and the right to declare: “I BEAT MARSHAL ZHUKOV!” Translation: Yuri Bem