German Army on the Eastern Front - The Advance is a highly illustrated record of the extraordinary feat of arms that saw the Nazi armies drive deep into the vast terrain of the Soviet Union, to the gates of Stalingrad and Moscow. It traces the campaign from these hopeful beginnings until, on the brink of victory, the defenders and the winter contrived to slow and then halt the advance. It vividly conveys the appalling conditions endured by the invaders. By early 1943 the German advance finally petered out, leaving some 1.5 million dead from the battle of Stalingrad alone. The long and costly retreat was about to begin.