In the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, what made the German army despair was not only the tragic defeat, but also because even though Germany used all its strategic reserves, it still lagged behind the Soviet Union in terms of military and weapon strength. After the
battle, in order to prevent the Soviet army from advancing westward, the German high command quickly built an "Eastern Barrier" strategic defense area along the Narva River, Vitebsk, Orsha, Sozh River, the middle reaches of the Dnieper River, the Molochnaya River, and the eastern bank of the Crimean Peninsula. The Dnieper River line was the main part of the defense line. The German army attempted to block the Soviet attack in this strategic area and then turned to counterattack.
Battle of the Dnieper River
The Dnieper River region covers the two strategic directions of Ukraine's capital Kiev and Donetsk-Krivoy Rog. It controls the Ukrainian region rich in agricultural products and the Donbass region rich in coal resources. At the same time, it can pose a threat to the Soviet capital Moscow, which is relatively close at any time.
In the autumn of 1943, the entire German defense was not ready. Fortifications had not yet been built in some areas. There was no strong reserve in the depth of the defense, and the rear was not consolidated. The morale of the defensive troops was declining due to a series of failures.
The Soviet Army High Command believed that the German army should not be given a chance to breathe and should quickly break through the current German defense line.
At this time, the German army concentrated in this area the 2nd Army of Army Group Center, the 4th Armored Army, 8th Army, 1st Armored Army, 6th Army and 17th Army of Army Group South, a total of 62 divisions, including 14 armored divisions and motorized divisions, a total of 1.24 million people, 12,600 artillery pieces, 2100 tanks and self-propelled artillery , and 2100 aircraft.
The Soviet troops participating in this battle were five front armies that cooperated with each other. From north to south were the Central Front Army (Commander Rokossovsky ) and the Voronezh Front Army (Commander Vadudin ), Steppe Front (Commander Konev), Southwest Front (Commander Malinovsky) and Southern Front (Commander Tolbukhin); in addition, the Soviet Azov Sea Fleet, long-range aviation and guerrilla regiments also participated in this battle. The Soviet army invested a total of 2.633 million troops and weapons, 2,850 aircraft, 2,400 tanks and self-propelled artillery, 51,200 artillery pieces and mortars, which had a clear advantage over the German army.
On August 26, 1943, three armies of the Soviet Central Front began to attack the German army on the northern front. The Soviet offensive in the main direction encountered obstacles, but the 60th Army in the auxiliary direction made smooth progress. It broke into 45 kilometers of the German defense line that day and opened a gap at the junction of the German Central Group and the Southern Group. Rokossovsky immediately decided to invest the main force of the Front Army in the gap. By August 31, the Central Front Army expanded the gap to 100 kilometers wide and 60 kilometers deep, forcing the German defense line to move back. On September 22, the 13th Army crossed the Dnieper River and established a landing site on the west bank. At the end of September, the troops of the Central Front completely established a foothold on the Dnieper River.
htmlOn August 27, the Voronezh Front launched an offensive in the direction of Kiev. His right-wing troops discovered that the German troops were retreating and launched an advance attack two days ago. On September 21, the 3rd Guards Tank Army crossed the Dnieper River.As for the Steppe Front, the German defense line deployed 15 divisions and continuously launched local counterattacks against the Soviet army. After repelling multiple German attacks, the front switched to counterattack in early September. At the end of September, the Steppe Front approached the Dnieper River and eliminated all German troops on the east bank of the river.
On the front of the Southern Front was the German 1st Armored Group and more than 20 divisions of the rebuilt 6th Army. In mid-August, the 5th Assault Group and the 2nd Guards Army launched an assault and arrived near the coast of the Sea of Azov. Subsequently, the German defense line was broken through in the direction of Donetsk , forming an encirclement of the German army. On August 31, the main force of the German army began to retreat. After breaking through the stubborn resistance of the rearguard troops, the Soviet army liberated Stalino, the capital of Donbas State, on September 8. The German army was forced to retreat again. By September 25, the Southern Front troops crossed the Dnieper River. At this point, the German "Eastern Fortress" defense line was completely breached.
On October 20, 1943, the Soviet Army High Command adjusted the order of battle and changed the Central Front to the Belorussian Front; the Voronezh Front, Steppe Front, Southwest Front and Southern Front were changed to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts in sequence.
After the German army retreated, they rebuilt fortifications west of the Dnieper River and deployed nearly 80 divisions in the direction of Kiev as the main defense direction, in an attempt to repel the Soviet landing site on the west bank of the river and re-defend on the east bank.
On November 10, the Belarusian Front launched an attack. Due to the relatively weak German defense, Rokossovsky's troops made smooth progress. By the end of November, the Soviet army advanced to 130 kilometers west of the Dnieper River, liberating a large area of Belarus eastern territory.
In the direction of Kiev, the focus of German defense, Vadudin's Ukrainian 1st Front concentrated 3 times the superior force, 4.5 times the artillery advantage, and 9 times the tank advantage, and launched a surprise attack from the landing site on the west bank of the Dnieper River on November 3. The 3rd Guards Tank Army entered the battle from the breakthrough opened by the 38th Army, quickly cut off the road from Kiev to Zhitomir , and continued to advance in the direction of Kiev. On November 6, Kyiv was liberated.
At this time, the German army was determined to counterattack with 15 divisions of the 4th Armored Army (including 7 armored divisions and 2 motorized divisions). However, the Germans' attempt was noticed by Vadudin, who ordered the troops to suspend the attack and build a deep echelon defensive position on the spot starting from November 13. Starting from December 6, two large-scale counterattacks by the German army were repelled by the Soviet army.
In addition, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ukrainian Fronts also entered the second phase of the operation. Among them, the Ukrainian 4th Front advanced to the lower reaches of the Dnieper River on November 5 and blocked the German 17th Group Army on the Crimean Peninsula on land, laying the foundation for the subsequent liberation of Crimea.
During the 4-month Battle of the Dnieper River, the German army suffered heavy losses to the Southern Cluster and the Central Cluster on the Soviet-German battlefield , especially causing the Southern Cluster to lose its basic strength.
1943 was a year of fundamental turning point on the Soviet-German battlefield. During this year, the Soviet army conducted a series of decisive offensive campaigns in Leningrad, Stalingrad, North Caucasus, Smolensk, Kursk, and the Ukrainian region on the left bank of the Dnieper River. They defeated the heavy German army groups, annihilated a large number of effective German forces, seized and consolidated the strategic initiative, and fundamentally changed the battlefield situation in their favor.
The Soviet army advanced steadily, advancing 500 kilometers on the central front and 1,300 kilometers on the southern front, liberating nearly 1 million square kilometers of territory, accounting for approximately 2/3 of the Soviet territory occupied by the German army. When summarizing the situation in 1943, Stalin pointed out: "The German fascists lost more than 4 million officers and soldiers in the battles on the Soviet-German battlefield, of which at least 1.8 million were killed. In addition, Germany lost more than 14,000 aircraft, more than 2,500 tanks and no less than 40,000 artillery pieces during this year."
1943 was also a turning point in the Soviet defense power. The Soviet Union's industrial system has completely transitioned to a wartime system and formed strong production capabilities. In this year, the Soviet military industry produced 34,900 combat aircraft, 24,100 tanks and self-propelled artillery, 130,300 various artillery pieces, 69,400 mortars, and 14 major combat ships.
By the end of 1943, the number of Soviet troops had reached 8.562 million, including 7.337 million army, 536,000 air force, 391,000 navy, homeland defense air force .298 million; 6.354 million combat personnel, and the command reserve force was approximately 488,000. The Soviet Union had surpassed the German army in terms of military numbers and weapons and equipment.
The international situation in early 1944 was also very favorable for the Soviet offensive. The Allied forces have eliminated the German and Italian troops in North Africa, controlled the situation in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and successfully landed in southern Italy. They are gathering forces to prepare to land in Western Europe and open a second battlefield. China's Anti-Japanese War contained a large number of Japanese invaders, and the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army have launched local counterattacks on the battlefield behind enemy lines. The British and American troops also caused serious losses to the Japanese army in the Pacific battlefield, weakening Japan's military and economic strength.Therefore, Japan has lost the possibility of attacking the Soviet Union. The Soviet army has relieved its worries of fighting on two fronts and can concentrate its efforts on fighting Germany.
In early 1944, on the Soviet-German battlefield, the Soviet army's strategic battle situation was very conducive to launching a surprise attack on the flanks of heavily armed German groups. In the northwest and west directions, the German army group has been surrounded. In the southwest, the Soviet army has controlled two large strategic landing sites in the Kiev area and the Dnepropetrovsk area on the right bank of the Dnieper River.
In the area from Lake Ladoga to Nevel in the northwest, the enemies of the Leningrad Front, Volkhov Front and Baltic Sea Coastal 2nd Front were the German Army Group Northern and the Finnish Karelian Isthmus Battle Group, which were supported by the 1st Air Force and the Finnish Air Force. Both sides built strong fortification areas in the Karelian Isthmus and from the Gulf of Finland to Holm. The Leningrad Front and the Volkhov Front were preparing to launch an offensive after a long period of defense. The left wing of the 2nd Baltic Front attacked northwest of Nevers, forming a profound encirclement of the southern flank of German Army Group North.
In the southwest, the Soviet Union and Germany both sides used huge forces. From the Pripyat River to the Kerch Peninsula, the Soviet 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ukrainian Fronts and the Independent Coastal Army are conducting offensives. At that time, more than 42% of the Soviet infantry divisions, 82% of the tank corps and motorized corps, and 45% of the aviation division were fighting in this direction. The 47th and 69th Armies and the 2nd and 4th Tank Armies of the Supreme Command Reserve were also deployed in this direction. The German Army Group South and Army Group A implemented defense in this direction. Their strength accounted for about 50% of the total German infantry divisions on the Soviet-German battlefield and more than 70% of the tank divisions and motorized divisions. They were supported by the powerful 4th Air Force and the Romanian Air Force.
After Germany's setback in 1943, it was no longer able to carry out a large-scale offensive campaign on the Eastern Front and had to turn to defense to gain time to make up for its troop casualties. Hitler always believed that the Soviet military power was declining. In 1941, 8 million of the 16 million Soviet soldiers had been killed or wounded in the war. The casualty ratio between German and Soviet troops was 1:7. Based on this extrapolation, the Soviet labor reserve has now been reduced to 2.1 million people. Therefore, Hitler decided to continue fighting the war and asked the German army to hold on until a rift developed between the East and the West, and the West turned to him for help. Therefore, the German command headquarters deployed 198 divisions and 6 brigades of its 315 divisions and 10 brigades in combat strength, as well as 38 divisions and 18 brigades of the slave army on the Soviet-German battlefield.
In judging the direction of the Soviet army's next offensive, the German high command believed that the main Soviet forces would be concentrated in the south and attack the Balkans and southern Poland. Therefore, the Soviet army will launch a major assault from the Kiev area to the northern flank of Army Group South in order to reach the Transnistria and Romanian borders. At the same time, the Soviet army will continue to attack from the Dnipropetrovsk area and the lower reaches of the Dnieper River and the Crimean Peninsula.
The counter-offensive in Ukraine in 1944
Not long after the Battle of the Dnieper River ended, the four Soviet fronts in the direction of Ukraine launched another offensive. On December 25, 1943, the 1st Ukrainian Front broke through the German defense line. By December 30, it advanced 100 kilometers and divided the German 4th Armored Group into three sections. In order to avoid encirclement, the German troops retreated hastily. On January 10, the Soviet army surrounded the German Kanev Group in the northwest. The German army deployed 16 divisions from various places to launch a counterattack in an attempt to eliminate the threat of the Kanev salient, but failed.
On January 5, 1944, the Soviet Army High Command ordered the Ukrainian 2nd Front Army to launch an assault in the direction of Shpola , and together with the Ukrainian Front Army, annihilated the German troops in the Kanev salient. On January 24, the two front armies concentrated seven armies to carry out a centripetal assault on Kanev. Finally, on January 27, the 10 divisions of German troops in the protrusion were surrounded.
html On February 11, the German Southern Group launched a frontal attack on the outside of the encirclement. The 1st Armored Group Army and the 8th Army carried out an assault on the Lexiangka area, and the besieged group army broke out in the direction of Lexiangka.That night, the German 1st Armored Group broke into the Lesyanka area, and the encircled German troops broke through to the Shendirovka area. The distance between the two German units was shortened to 10 to 20 kilometers. The main forces of the Soviet 21st Tank Army and the 5th Tank Army, as well as several infantry divisions and anti-tank artillery units, quickly entered the breakthrough zone, blocking German reinforcements and keeping the encircled German troops within the encirclement circle. The German army suffered heavy losses and was forced to give up its attempt to join the besieged army during the day on February 12. html Late at night on February 16th, the besieged German group was completely desperate and abandoned all heavy weapons and equipment except tanks. With the cover of darkness and blizzard, it was divided into three columns and began to quietly break out in the direction of Lexiangka. The Soviet army quickly mobilized tanks and artillery, and used night bombing aviation to launch assaults on the Germans. The German troops were scattered in all directions under the fierce firepower of the Soviet army, and the breakout failed.After repeated defeats in the winter, the German army gave up its plan to restore front-line defenses along the Dnieper River and only sought to consolidate the currently occupied areas. The German high command estimated that the Soviet army may not continue to carry out active offensive operations in the near future due to unfavorable conditions such as heavy losses and muddy roads in the spring. Accordingly, the German army attempted to use the lull in the battle to restore strength, establish a solid defense line, and send nine additional divisions to Ukraine. Although the German army took a series of measures to restore combat effectiveness, it still failed to make up for the heavy losses in winter operations.
In March 1944, the spring offensive launched by the Soviet army completely caught the German army by surprise, and the defense line defenses had not yet been completed. Both the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts attacked successfully. In the offensive direction of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, the rapid advance of the assault group split the German 6th Army into two sections and cut off the German army's retreat. However, due to insufficient troops, most of the German army successfully retreated. On April 10, the Soviet army liberated Odessa . By the beginning of May, the Soviet army reached the Carpathian Mountains near the Soviet border, and the high command ordered the Soviet army to switch to defense on the spot.
When the Soviet army was victorious in Ukraine in the southwest, the Crimean Peninsula was still in the hands of the German army. The German High Command ordered the 12 divisions of the 17th Army to defend Crimea with 200,000 men. During the two years since the German army occupied Crimea, a complete fortification system was established. In April 1944, the Ukrainian 4th Front, with nearly 500,000 men, supported by 5,982 artillery pieces and 1,250 aircraft, launched an attack on the Crimean Peninsula. On April 11, the Soviet army recaptured Kerch. On April 15, the Soviet army entered Sevastopol. On May 12, the Soviet army broke through the last line of German defense and liberated the entire Crimean Peninsula.
In this battle, the German 17th Army was completely defeated. It lost 100,000 people on land alone, of which 61,587 were captured. Almost all the German technical weapons were captured by the Soviet Red Army. In addition, Black Sea Fleet aviation and ships sank a large number of ships carrying German troops and military supplies. According to incomplete statistics from the 17th Army Headquarters, at least 42,000 officers and soldiers drowned in the sea.
From the beginning of 1944 to mid-May, the Soviet army advanced 450 kilometers on a front of more than 1,300 kilometers, annihilating 10 German divisions and 1 brigade, severely damaging 86 German divisions, and another 8 divisions were disbanded due to heavy losses. Liberating most of Ukraine, including the entire Crimean Peninsula, all forces advanced to the front line of the Carpathian Mountains and penetrated deep into Romania.
Leningrad Counterattack
In the northwest of the Soviet Union, the German siege of Leningrad has never been lifted. In early 1944, the Soviet high command ordered the Leningrad Front, Volkhov Front, 2nd Baltic Front and Baltic Fleet to launch an attack on the German army to lift the German blockade of Leningrad.
The task of the German high command for Northern Army Group is to consolidate the existing area, continue to blockade Leningrad, ensure the ports along the Baltic Sea, and stabilize the security of the German left wing on the eastern front. During the more than two years of siege of Leningrad, the German army built the "Northern Fortress" defense line in Leningrad and Novgorod area, with a defense depth of 230 to 260 kilometers.
In terms of troops and weapons, the Soviet army's three fronts have 1.252 million people, more than 20,000 artillery pieces, 1,580 tanks and self-propelled artillery, and 1,386 combat aircraft; the German northern cluster has 741,000 troops, more than 10,000 artillery pieces, 385 tanks and self-propelled artillery pieces, and 370 combat aircraft. The Soviet army has obvious advantages.
On January 14, the Leningrad Front used two armies to launch a centripetal attack on the German army, and broke through the German defenses on the 16th. At the same time, the Volkhov Front and the 2nd Baltic Coast Army also turned to the offensive, using break-through and segmentation tactics to divide, surround and annihilate the German army, gradually eroding the German army's "Northern Fortress" defense line. On January 24, Soviet troops liberated Pushkin. On January 29, Chudovo was captured, the railway line from Leningrad to Moscow was opened, and the blockade of Leningrad was lifted.
After that, the Soviet army approached the front line of the Luga River, threatening the German army's retreat in the Luga area. In early February, the Soviet army concentrated the main force of the two fronts in the direction of Luga, and on February 8, it surrounded the Luga German Army Regional Group from the southwest and north. On February 12, the 67th Army of the Soviet Leningrad Front and the 59th Army of the Volkhov Front jointly captured the city of Luga. They then completely destroyed the German Luga defense line and the remaining German troops retreated. At this point, the Soviet army not only lifted the blockade of Leningrad and pushed back the German army from Leningrad to 220 to 280 kilometers, but also liberated almost the entire Leningrad Oblast.
On June 9, 1944, the troops of the Leningrad Front began to attack in the direction of Vyborg on the Karelian Isthmus. After fierce and long-term artillery fire preparations and aviation firepower preparations, on the morning of June 10, the 21st Army switched to the offensive and successfully broke through the Finnish defense positions. Taking into account that the main strength of the Finnish army was concentrated in the Vyborg Highway area, the front army shifted the main assault direction to the left coastal road direction. On June 14, the Soviet army launched an attack on the enemy's second defensive zone. After fierce fighting, they broke through the zone before June 17 and quickly developed attacks in depth and flanks.
The Finnish army hurriedly transferred 2 divisions and 1 brigade from South Karelia to strengthen the defense forces in the Vyborg area and the Vuoksa River area, but still could not stop the Soviet attack. On June 19, the troops of the Leningrad Front broke through the third defense zone and the outer defense zone of Vyborg; on June 20, the 21st Army captured the city of Vyborg. At the same time, the Karelian Front launched an offensive on June 21. On June 28, part of the 32nd Army coordinated with the first part of the 7th Army to liberate the city of Petrozavodsk, the capital of Karelia. After that, the Soviet army continued to advance into , Finland, , forcing Finland to withdraw from the war in September 1944.
On the central front, the Soviet offensive in early 1944 was mainly intended to contain the German Army Group Center so that it could not deploy troops to support the northwest and southern fronts and ensure the Soviet counterattack in Ukraine and Leningrad. After the operations in the above two directions were successfully implemented, the focus of the operations on the central front changed to: liberating the entire territory of Belarus.
In a series of counterattacks after 1943, the Soviet army did not hit the German Army Group Center as a key blow. The group still maintained a relatively strong combat strength. At that time, the German Central Group consisted of the 3rd Armored Group and the 2nd, 4th, and 9th Group Armies, with a total of 63 divisions and 1.35 million people. There are 630 tanks and self-propelled artillery, 12,000 artillery pieces, and more than 700 combat aircraft.
At the end of May 1944, the Allied forces were about to land in Normandy, France, and open up the second battlefield in Europe. In order to cope with the Allied offensive, the Soviet high command decided to launch the Battle of Bagration to crush the German Army Group Center, liberate Belarus, and create conditions for the liberation of western Ukraine, the recovery of the Baltic region, Poland, and East Prussia .
To this end, the Soviet army assembled the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Belarusian Fronts, 1st Baltic Front , and the Polish 1st Army in the west. A total of 19 combined armies, 2 tank armies, and 1.4 million people; at the same time, more than 5,000 combat aircraft, including the French Normandy Air Corps, were put into combat.
On June 22, 1944, the Soviet army began to launch an offensive. The 1st Baltic Coast Army forcibly crossed the West Dvina River and advanced, forcing the German troops to retreat.By June 25, the assault force joined the 3rd Belorussian Front on the southern front and surrounded the 5th Division of the German 3rd Armored Army in Vitebsk . On June 27, the Soviet army would be surrounded and eliminated by the Germans.
The main force of the 3rd Belarusian Front Army, together with the 2nd Belarusian Front Army, first attacked the German Orsha Group. On June 24, the Soviet 5th Army, with the cooperation of the cavalry mechanized group, cut off the railway between Orsha and Repelli, and liberated the city of Orsha on the 27th. The 2nd Belarusian Front Army launched an assault south of Orsha. On June 28, the Soviet army crossed the Dnieper River and advanced towards Minsk , and cooperated with the Belarusian Front Army to encircle the German troops in the Orsha area.
html On June 24, the 1st Belarusian Front on the southern front began to carry out a surprise attack after 2 hours of artillery preparations. The Soviet tank cluster quickly broke through and surrounded the 40,000 German troops in Bobruisk. After follow-up troops followed up, the tank cluster did not wait to clear the surrounded German troops and continued to attack Minsk. On June 29, the Soviet army liberated Bobruisk and completely wiped out the surrounding German forces.
In Minsk, Model , who had just succeeded Marshal Busch to take over the German Central Cluster, was rushing to command the troops to withdraw westward. At this time, the German 4th Army was 130 kilometers away from Minsk, and was being attacked by the 2nd Belorussian Front on the defensive front and was unable to escape. The tank clusters of the Soviet 3rd and 1st Belorussian Fronts were only 100 kilometers away from Minsk. On July 3, the 2nd Tank Army of the 3rd Belarusian Front took the lead in breaking into Minsk, the capital of Belarus. The 1st Tank Army of the 1st Belarusian Front also entered the southeastern suburbs of Minsk on the 2nd. The two armies met south of Minsk and completed the encirclement of the German 4th Army and the first part of the 9th Army.
At the same time, the Soviet 1st Baltic Coast Army launched an attack on the German 3rd Armored Group, and 6 German divisions guarded Polotsk. The Soviet army launched a centripetal assault on the German army from the northeast and south, and surrounded the German army on June 29. On July 4, the Soviet army liberated Polotsk.
At this point, the Soviet army liberated a large area of Belarusian territory, the German Army Group Center suffered a disastrous defeat, and the main force was surrounded by the Soviet army.
On July 3, 1944, the Soviet summer offensive ended with the liberation of Minsk. On July 4, the Soviet Army High Command issued an order to cross the border and launch an offensive. Immediately, the 1st Baltic Coast Army arrived in Near East Prussia, cutting off the German northern group's retreat; the 39th Army of the 3rd Belarusian Front advanced in the south to protect the flanks of the 1st Baltic Coast Army. On July 30, the Soviet army entered Latvia and Lithuania . At the same time, the main force of the 3rd Belarusian Front advanced to Vilnius , encircling one section of the German 3rd Armored Group and the 4th Army. In mid-July, the Soviet army captured Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and annihilated the besieged German troops.
html On July 17, the 1st Belorussian Front launched an offensive on the southern front. On July 20, the Soviet army entered Poland. On July 24, the Soviet army recaptured Lublin, a city in eastern Poland. On July 28, the Soviet army crossed the Bug River and bypassed the Brest Fortress. On July 31, the Soviet 2nd Tank Army rushed to the right bank of the Vistula River and approached Warsaw. It was immediately counterattacked by 7 German divisions (including 5 armored divisions) and was forced to switch to defense. On August 2, the Soviet 8th and 69th armies crossed the Vistula River south of Warsaw and approached Warsaw.At this point, in a series of offensive battles, the Soviet army not only severely damaged the German central cluster, but also liberated the entire territory of Belarus, recovered most of the territory of Lithuania and Latvia, and entered Poland to approach Warsaw. At the same time, the Soviet army reached the German border in East Prussia.
