Just so I can provide some countenance to all these great pics of Rzhev with some cold truths.
The population of Rzhev was around 50,000 when the war began. By the time the Germans pulled out, that population had dropped to ~150. Concentration Camps had been set up in and just outside the town, and the entire populace of the region was herded into them, nominally for transportation away from such an important part of the front. In reality they were left there to starve or be shot. After the war, two mass graves were discovered that had over 70,000 bodies in them, all civilians from the region and soviet POWs. In total, only ~350 civilians from Rzhev and the surrounding area survived German occupation.
One of the few surviving families of Rzhev, and what remains of their home.
