German prisoners in the streets of Moscow, 17 July 1944 (b/w photo)

German prisoners in the streets of Moscow, 17 July 1944. Photograph, World War Two, Eastern Front (1941-1945), 1944. Over 50,000 German prisoners were marched through the Soviet capital on 17 July. In a symbolic gesture the streets were washed down afterward. Most of them had been captured near Minsk during the opening phase of the Red Army’s Operation Bagration in Belorussia in June. This offensive smashed Germany’s Army Group Centre, liberated a huge area of Soviet territory and took the Red Army into Poland and Romania. Many of the prisoners who marched through Moscow died in captivity in Soviet labour camps. From a collection of 650 photographs compiled by the Commando Association.