Stalin's ten blows

The term was heard for the first time in November 1944 from Joseph Stalin in his speech "27th anniversary of the Great October socialist revolution" (Russian: «27-я годовщина Великой Октябрьской социалистической революции», romanized: "27-ya godovshchina Velikoy Oktyab'skoy sotsialisticheskoy revolyutsii") during the 1944 meeting of the Moscow's Soviet deputies.

It did not reflect specific strategic planning of the Stavka, and at times had been called the "Year of twelve victories," based on the order issued by Stalin on the following day, authorizing the firing of artillery salutes with 24 guns in 12 cities of the Soviet Union:[2] Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Petrozavodsk, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Kishinev, Tbilisi, Sevastopol, and Lvov.

The term was discontinued in use after Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 Secret Speech denouncing Stalin and ending his cult of personality following his death.

[citation needed] After the collapse of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, the Soviet counter-offensives, and the Battle of Kursk later in 1943, it became apparent that the tide of war was turning against Germany.

[5] This, combined with Hitler's insistence on holding onto captured territory at all costs, made Soviet victories in 1944 nearly inevitable.