THE TURNING POINT:
1943
Right This demolished monastery typifies the damage inflicted by bombardment and demolition on Kiev, "mother of Russian cities". Kiev was liberated at 0400 hours on 6 November by General Kirill Moskalenko's 38th Army. The city had taken savage punishment from the German occupiers.
Above Army General Nikolai Vatutin, Commander of the 1 st Ukrainian Front (right) and Lieutenant General Nikita Khrushchev (left) photographed on the Bukrin bridgehead. Vatutin's tanks nad reached the Dnieper north and south of Kiev. Of the 40 bridgeheads over the Dnieper, the most useful was at Veliki Bukrin, just south of Kiev. To reinforce the bridgehead, Vatutin decided to use airborne troops.
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