A Russian View of the Front Line

8th August 1941: Vassily Grossman's impressions of the battlefield - and the lethal measures employed by the Soviet state to impose discipline

A column of Soviet infantry passes Russian T-34/76 medium tanks of the Red Army Armored Force. It is clearly visible only the first armored vehicle is equipped with radio .

The Russian journalist Vassily Grossman, accredited by the Soviet government, arrived on the front line on the 7th August 1941. Grossman was by no means a Communist Party man. He knew…