As the initiator of the war during World War II, Germany left a impression on people that the powerful armored forces was a crazy attack. In fact, this is not wrong, but few people know that Germany also had several large-scale defense plans in World War II . Today we will discuss the defense plan of Germany's eastern front - the Black Panther-Wotan line. Germany hopes to drain the last drop of blood from the Soviet Union through this line.
1943 Germany lost the initiative in war
After Manstein launched the Kharkov counterattack in early 1943, South-German battlefield fell into peace again, but both sides knew that this temporary calm was the halftime break before the storm.
At this time, the German army formed a huge protrusion in the Kursk region. The German General Staff hoped to eliminate the Soviet army in the protrusion through clamp-shaped offensive, so as to regain the initiative of Eastern Front battlefield , but because Hitler insisted on launching an attack after the arrival of new weapons, it delayed the time until July.
At this time, the Soviet Union had built complete fortifications in the Kursk region, and Germany did not take down this solid fortress at a huge price. After the battle of Kursk , Germany lost a large number of elite troops and completely lost the initiative in the battlefield on the Eastern Front.
Planning the Black Panther Wotan Defense Line
After the Battle of Kursk, the German army realized that if the Soviet army could not be stopped, it would be likely to be pushed out of the Soviet territory by the Soviet army, which was absolutely unacceptable to the German army.
Therefore, German senior management plans to build a solid line of defense on the Eastern Front, known as the "East Wall Line of Defense" tactic. German head of state Hitler attaches great importance to this line of defense because he has experienced trench wars in in battle, and he understands very well how important a solid line of defense is.
German senior management issued a very strict order against the soldiers on the front line, that is, all soldiers who retreated from the front line to the Black Panther Wotan defense line must fight tenaciously on the defense line until the last person. Each unit will definitely not allow Soviet soldiers to cross this line of defense.
German propaganda minister Goebbels also vigorously promoted this, "All soldiers should live and die with their positions. This line of defense is the last chance for Germany to stabilize the situation."
This black panther wotan defense line is very long, from Smolensk to Dnieper River in the south, and there are wide river forests and swamps everywhere along the line. is very tactical for defense. Manstein also implemented the "Great Retreat" plan in the south on September 15, successfully retreating to the east wall.
Why was the Soviet Union eager to attack?
Why did the Soviet Union even hit it head-on even though it knew that Germany had established a solid line of defense? In fact, the Soviet Union was helpless.
After Stalingrad defense battle and Kursk, the Soviet Union suffered heavy losses in its troops and its reserve manpower was close to exhaustion. It was necessary to take over the wealthy western region of Ukraine controlled by Nazi Germany in order to obtain Ukraine's manpower.
Therefore, Stalin ordered the Soviet army not to give the German army the opportunity to strengthen the defense line, and ordered the soldiers who were physically and mentally exhausted to attack the German defense line on the Dnieper River. This is the world-famous Battle of the Lower Dnieper River. This battle, the Soviet Union and Germany invested more than 4 million troops, of which more than 2 million casualties in the Soviet Union, but such heavy casualties were worth it. The Soviet Union successfully broke through Germany's defense line.
The Soviet Union recaptured most of western Ukraine and liberated the Ukrainian capital Kiev . By the end of 1943, the "wotan" defense line of the Dnieper River that Germany had worked hard to establish completely collapsed, and the German Southern Army Group retreated toward Polish and Romanian .
