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Date: Tuesday, 1 December 1942
Place: Caucasus, Soviet Union
Panzerkampfwagen IV ausf G abandoned by their crews on the Russian steppe. The ausf G had a more advanced, high velocity 75mm gun that could defeat the armor of the Soviet T-34. The coming of the Fall rains left vehicles mired in mud. If the vehicles, even tanks, could not be moved, they were abandoned if the enemy was advancing. The Soviets used the weather to their advantage, planning offensives to coincide with rains or blizzards. Often the weather was so bad that neither side could conduct offensive operations. Reichchancellor Adolf Hitler disbelieved Feldmarschall Heinz Guderian when the General reported how much explosives were needed to blast through the frozen ground to dig trenches and fortifications during the winter of 1941!