After securing the rights to this amazing Ukrainian state photo archive, the author traveled to Kiev with a translator, a bodyguard and several thousand used American dollar bills, the negotiated cost for the collection. According to Fowler, the risk of carrying that kind of cash - or 15 years' salary to the average Kiev worker - through a city with a staggering crime rate was well worth it. This photographic record of the war on the Eastern Front is composed entirely of imagery taken and captioned by Red Army photographers. None of the images have previously been seen in the West. The result, which offers the perspectives of Soviet soldiers, as well as those of ordinary men, women and children, is a visually stunning account covering every aspect of one of history's bloodiest chapters and the epic battles waged in Stalingrad, Kursk, Kharkov, and Leningrad. Almost 30 million people died during the course of the four years of conflict during World War II. In the aftermath, the whole of Poland, European Russia, and Germany lay in ruins as a result of the fighting.