Muddling forward

An Sd.Kfz. 8 schwerer Zugkraftwagen 12 t artillery tractor forges forward through the infamous rasputitsa mud. During the rains in the fall and the thaw in the spring, unpaved roads throughout the western part of the Soviet Union turned into seas of mud, slowing German troop movements to a crawl. Cars, motorcycles and trucks got stuck, and soldiers on foot and horses had to exert themselves heavily in order to trudge through the mire. Tracked vehicles fared a little better, but fuel consumption was affected. In 1941, the German advance suffered enough from the mud that the strategic objectives weren’t reached. When the weather turned colder, the ground became more firm again, but then the severe Russian winter hit…