This last phase of Nazi power in Europe saw the logic of the Weltanschauung reach its apotheosis. The oil of the Caucasus, the minerals and industries of the Donetz basin, the fertile agricultural lands of the Ukraine, eastern Lebensraum, all the ostensible targets of Hitler’s assault, had been lost during the Soviet advances of the winter and spring, together with almost a million German and Axis troops; four out of thirteen German armies in the east had been smashed, another virtually annihilated in the Crimea and forced to evacuate by sea. A Russian thrust deep into the Bukovina region of
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