Apatin-Kaposvarer operation

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The Apatin-Kaposvár-operation ( russ . Апатин-Капошварская операция) when was the battle for Hungary an offensive operation of the 3rd Ukrainian Front and units of the Soviet Danube Flotilla which the attack on Budapest in support of the 2nd Ukrainian Front of 7 November until December 10, 1944. It led to the pushing back of the German-Hungarian troops in the southern part of Transdanubia and worsened the position of the Axis powers in the southwestern apron of Budapest. The battles, in which Yugoslav units also took part, were referred to in the local military history as the "Battle of Batina ".

prehistory

On October 29, 1944, the 2nd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Malinovsky began the battle for Budapest with 39 rifle and 3 airborne divisions, 3 tank, 2 mechanized and 3 cavalry corps and a tank brigade . The 2nd Ukrainian Front had around 760,000 men, 4,833 artillery pieces and anti-tank guns, 868 tanks and self-propelled guns and 1,300 aircraft. The opposing German-Hungarian Army Group South under Colonel General Frießner had 35 divisions, including 7 armored and 4 motorized divisions and 3 brigades. Budapest, declared a fortress by Hitler, had been heavily fortified by the Axis powers in anticipation of the Soviet attacks. The German-Hungarian defense in the Soviet main attack field was with the Army Group Fretter-Pico ( German 6th and Hungarian 3rd Army). The German 8th Army covered the right wing of the 6th Army and the Hungarian 2nd Army , which was decimated at Debreczen , had been relocated to the still little contested southern Transdanubia .

As with the German divisions, the Soviet units were severely decimated by the two months of fighting. The average number of the rifle division was only about 5,600 men. In the 3rd Guard Airborne Division only 3,316 fought and in the 68th Guard Rifle Division 7,586 soldiers, while the regular strength of the Guard Infantry was set at 10,670 men and for the Airborne Divisions with 9,380 men. It should be noted that this state of affairs was the rule for the last year of the war, as was the case with the major German-Hungarian associations.

After the Soviet conquest of the Banat and Syrmia and the displacement of the German troops still in Serbia over the Drina , the 3rd Ukrainian Front was planned by the Stawka to cover the southern flank of the 2nd Ukrainian front advancing towards Budapest. The Stawka quickly came to the conclusion that the 2nd Ukrainian Front would hardly be able to conquer Budapest on its own after the heavy losses in the Debrecen operation . Under pressure from Stalin, the 3rd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Fyodor Tolbuchin was also supposed to encircle it from the south in order to take the Hungarian capital more quickly. Tolbuchin's troops had just successfully completed the Belgrade operation and were now to be regrouped north to cross the Danube and then encompass Budapest from the south and west.

German defense

Initially, the German defense on the right bank of the Danube consisted of the Brandenburg Panzer Grenadier Division (from the mouth of the Drau to Batina) and the 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division (from Batina to Baja) supported by 25 batteries and 30 Tank. This section was held by the Felmy Corps Group , later the 2nd Panzer Army took over with the LXVIII. Army Corps (General of the Infantry Müller ) took the lead. The 11th Reserve Regiment, the 39th Regiment of the 16th Grenzer Regiment, the 9th Regiment, the Grenzer Battalion 54 and a field gendarmerie battalion were available as Hungarian and Croatian auxiliary troops. Further reinforcements arrived by mid-November: the Bosnian 13th SS Mountain Division "Handschar" , parts of the 1st Mountain Division, 118th Jäger Division , remains of the Belgrade Fortress Regiment, 44th and 71st Infantry Divisions , remains of the 92nd Infantry Division . motorized brigade and other formations with about 60,000 men and 200 guns.

The 3rd Ukrainian Front

The troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front began regrouping from Belgrade to the confluence of the Drava and Danube at the end of October. By the beginning of November, parts of the 57th Army as well as the 18th Panzer Corps (around 130 tanks) and strong artillery formations were concentrated in the Sombor area. The command of the 3rd Ukrainian Front began preparations for the offensive in the direction of Stuhlweissenburg (Szekesfehervar) in order to bypass the Budapest group from the south-west and to destroy them in cooperation with the 2nd Ukrainian Front. Air support was provided by the 17th Air Army. The first available 75th Rifle Corps marched together with the 7th, 8th and 12th Yugoslav Brigade on 130 kilometers of the front on the left bank of the Danube between Bačka Palanka , Sombor and Baja . The 299th Rifle Division was deployed on the left flank of the corps south of Apatin , and the 734th Rifle Regiment of the 233rd Rifle Division and the Yugoslav 8th Brigade to the north west of the village of Bezdan . In order to increase the troop strength of Tolbuchin, the 4th Guards Army was transferred from the Stawka reserve to his front , but this could not be fully concentrated until mid-November. It was not until November 22nd that the 4th Guards Army was reinforced by the 31st Guards Rifle Corps, which was surrendered by the 46th Army . At the end of November, the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps joined the 3rd Ukrainian Front, but it was not brought across the Danube near Mohács until December 8th . Altogether the front numbered around 205,300 men, and the 51st proletarian division of the Yugoslav Liberation Army was called in as auxiliary troops in the course of the operation .

Yugoslav General Peko Dapčević with General Vladimir Shdanov, Commander of the 4th Mechanized Corps

57th Army (General Mikhail Nikolayevich Sharochin )

  • 75th Rifle Corps, Major General Adrian Z. Akimenko (74th, 233rd, 236th, 299th Rifle Division and 32nd Guards Mechanized Brigade)
  • 64th Rifle Corps, Major General IK Krawtzow (73rd Guards, 19th and 52nd Rifle Divisions, Reserve: 113th Rifle Division)
  • From November 25th: 6th Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Stepan Ilyich Morozov (10th Guards Airborne, 20th Guards and 195th Rifle Divisions)

Reserve: Yugoslav 51st Division (General Peko Dapčević)

From November 22nd: 4th Army of the Guard (General Iwan Wassiljewitsch Galanin )

  • 31st Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Bobruk (4th, 34th and 40th Guards Rifle Divisions)
  • 20th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Nikolai Biryukov (5th and 7th Guards Rifle Divisions)
  • 21st Guards Rifle Corps General Pyotr Fomenko (62nd, 69th and 41st Guards Rifle Divisions)

Reserve: 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, Lieutenant General Sergei Ilyich Gorshkov (11th and 12th Guards and 63rd Cavalry Divisions); Subordinated to the 57th Army on December 8th.

course

First phase November 7th to 19th

Batina after the fighting

The Soviet 57th Army began to cross the Danube on November 7th, on the orders of General Sharochin, without having achieved full troop concentration . For the transition in the Mohács area , 8 divisions (19th, 74th, 113th, 233, 236th Rifle, 20th and 73rd Guards Rifle and 10th Airborne Divisions) and the 32nd Guards mechanized brigade were included several artillery units designated. A total of around 90,000 soldiers and around 1,200 guns under the leadership of the 75th Rifle Corps under General Akimenko were assembled for the first phase of the attack. In the night of November 6th to 7th, two battalions of the Rifle Regiment 360 (74th Rifle Division) crossed the Danube near Apatin and built a first small bridgehead. On the same night, the battalions of the Rifle Regiment 109 were able to build another bridgehead 2 km wide and 1.5 km deep 4 km northwest of it.

At the beginning of the operation, the headquarters of the German LXVIII relocated . Army corps to Baranja, the general command in charge of defense was subordinate to all units between Baja and the mouth of the Drava. The Kübler Combat Group (parts of the 1st Mountain Division) in the Osijek area and the 118th Jäger Division then crossed the left bank of the Drava in order to strengthen the " Brandenburg Division ". The Germans responded by bringing in the 92nd Motorized Grenadier Brigade, the 668 Artillery Regiment and the 13th Battalion of the already decimated 13th SS Division "Handschar", which arrived from November 8th. The first attempts of the 223rd Rifle Division to cross the Danube at Batina on the night of November 8th failed. With the effect of surprise, the 57th Army was able to establish itself in the western Danube bridgeheads at Apatin and Batina until November 9th . On November 10th, the OKW had extended the command area of Army Group F ( GFM von Weichs ) north to Baja , as Army Group South northeast of Budapest was too busy. The defense was symbolically transferred to the Hungarian 2nd Army . During the night the Soviet troops had established themselves in another bridgehead at Batina, 15 miles north of Apatin. The defensive line ran in front of the dominant heights 169, 205, 206 and 209 and at Batina station.

On November 13, the 64th Rifle Corps and the Yugoslav 51st Proletarian Division arrived in the bridgehead. Two battalions of the Rifle Regiment 703 and two battalions of the Yugoslav 12th Brigade with 31 guns reinforced the troops in the bridgehead. On November 14th, the German troops, with the support of artillery, started a counterattack, but their attacks on the villages of Topol-Zmajevac- Kneževo were repulsed. The 19th and 113th Rifle Divisions, available as reserves in the Sombor area , were immediately deployed in defense. The already worn out 12th Brigade was replaced by the fresh 7th Brigade. The situation in the bridgehead remained critical, the Germans launched strong counter-attacks and prevented further Soviet progress. The 73rd Guards Rifle Division and the 7th Brigade, which had begun fighting to expand the bridgehead, encountered stubborn resistance.

When the main forces of the 3rd Ukrainian Front were regrouping north in mid-November, Marshal Tolbuchin also relocated his headquarters from Belgrade to Baja on the Danube. The Soviet offensive should reach the Bátaszék -Tetesh-Bolman line by November 15 , and the 6th Guards Corps and the 32nd Guards Mechanized Brigade to break through in the direction of Pécs (Fünfkirchen) and Nagykanizsa were planned . As part of the new operational plan, the 75th Rifle Corps was also assigned the 236th Rifle Division and the Yugoslav 8th Brigade, which were relocated to the Apatin bridgehead.

On November 15, during the day, Soviet troops faced more than a dozen counter-attacks by the 31st SS Division, supported by tanks and about 20 aircraft. The troops of the 73rd Guards and 233rd Rifle Divisions were stopped on the northern slopes of Height 205. Before dark, the 75th Rifle Corps in the Batina bridgehead was dammed to a width of 3.5 km and a depth of 3 km, while the 74th Rifle Division in the Apatin bridgehead was able to hold out at a width of 12 km to 7 km. On the morning of November 16, the remaining rifle regiments of the 233rd and 73rd Rifle Divisions, as well as the Yugoslav 7th Brigade, were moved to the bridgehead. The 19th Rifle Division (Major General Pawel Efimowitsch Lasarew) crossed the bridgehead on the same day and was able to occupy the village of Pillen despite the difficult terrain. General Sharochin tried hard to break the opposing defense in front of Batina, but with the onset of darkness the enemy was able to regain lost ground in a counterattack.

New attacks from November 19th to November 24th

In order to unite the Soviet bridgeheads, it was necessary to smash the corridor between the enemy troops. General Sharochin planned to start a new offensive of the 57th Army for November 18th, but could not start the attack until November 19th at 10 am after 45 minutes of artillery fire with the 75th and 64th Rifle Corps. The 73rd and 233rd rifle divisions stormed the German defense between Kneževo and Vinohrady. By 1 p.m., the Soviet and Yugoslav units were able to break another 2 kilometers deep into the enemy defense. On the night of November 20, the German troops attacked the units of the 19th Rifle Division from Drazen. Since 10:30 p.m., the Soviet and Yugoslav troops carried out counterattacks after massive artillery preparation and air strikes. On November 20, the 64th Rifle Corps was reinforced with the 113th Rifle Division (Colonel Latijpow), the next day the front squadron of the 233rd Rifle Division moved into positions in front of the height 205. The artillery of the 57th Army showered the enemy positions again for 45 minutes from 12.00 p.m. The general attack of the 73rd Rifle Division and the Yugoslav 7th Brigade was able to occupy the village of Zmajevac, the 8th Brigade took Monjoroz and the 233rd Rifle Division took Drazen. By the end of the day he had also stormed height 205 and brought 452 prisoners in.

On November 23, the 75th and 64th Rifle Corps united the Apatin and Batina bridgeheads after heavy fighting and expanded them to about 30 kilometers wide and 15 kilometers deep. As the third corps of the 57th Army, the 6th Guards Rifle Corps as well as the newly brought up 4th Guards Army and the 18th Panzer Corps were introduced into the fighting. The 64th Rifle Corps handed over its section to the 4th Guard Army, which now commanded between Baja and Mohács. At 1 p.m. the troops of the 64th and 75th Rifle Corps followed, at the end of the day the height fell 206. By November 22, the remaining units of the 236th Rifle Division and the 8th Brigade crossed the right bank. During November 22nd, the Batina bridgehead was expanded to 20 kilometers wide and 9 kilometers deep and the Apatina bridgehead to 10 kilometers wide and 5 kilometers deep. By November 24, the troops of the 4th Guard Army occupied the eastern bank of the Danube on a front length of 135 kilometers from Mohacs to Dunapentele . Galanin's troops kept in touch with the right wing of the 3rd Ukrainian Front and shook hands with the 46th Army (Lieutenant General Petruschewski ) advanced on Budapest .

Final phase November 24th to December 10th

Soviet armored troops on the advance

On November 24th the offensive of the 3rd Ukrainian Front continued. Tolbuchin's new plan of attack envisaged the establishment of forces of the newly introduced 4th Guard Army in a new bridgehead near Mohacs on the west bank of the Danube. The 4th Guard Army numbered more than 87,000 men, 976 artillery pieces and anti-tank guns, 16 anti-aircraft guns and 857 mortars. The 31st Guards Rifle Corps (Major General Bobruk) first prepared to support the 57th Army. At 6 p.m. the 41st Guards Rifle Division (Major General Konstantin Nikolajewitsch Tswetkow) was subordinated to the 21st Guards Rifle Corps and began to cross the Danube for 2.5 km southeast of Mohacs. The 57th Army pushed the enemy back another 1 to 7 km and widened the Apatin bridgehead to 40 kilometers wide and 16 kilometers deep. The 64th Rifle Corps began fighting for Udvar , and the city was taken the next day. The Soviet offensive was slower than General Sharochin had expected. The difficulties of the 57th Army attracted the attention of the leadership of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. The backlog of the planned land gain was justified by the lengthy regrouping of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps and the 32nd Guards Mechanized Brigade. General Sharochin was instructed to take immediate action to remedy the deficiencies in the organization.

On the morning of November 25th, the 6th Guards Rifle Corps was reinforced with the 20th Guards Rifle Division. After the artillery preparation, the corps broke through the thin defense of the 31st SS Division on the evening of November 26th. The 32nd Guards Mechanized Brigade was introduced into the gap in the front and penetrated 2.1 kilometers into the evening. The introduction of the additional parts of the 21st Guards Rifle Corps brought the units of the 4th Guards Army the capture of Mohács on November 26th. After General Iwan Galanin fell ill, Major General Kusma Derewjanko took over the leadership of the 4th Guard Army on November 26th until the arrival of the new Commander-in-Chief. On November 26th, at 12.30 p.m., a 40-minute artillery strike was followed by a new Soviet attack, the 17th Air Army supported that day with 374 missions. About 15 counterattacks were repulsed, but the 57th Army was able to advance up to 8 kilometers. By the evening of November 26th, the 4th Guards and 57th Army had widened the bridgehead to 62 kilometers wide.

On November 27, the dividing line between the armies was reorganized: The 57th Army was concentrated in the direction of Pécs to break through on Kaposvár and Nagykanizsa , the troops of the 75th and 64th Rifle Corps moved 4–12 kilometers, the 6th Guard - Rifle Corps and the 32nd Guards Mechanical Brigade - more than 20 kilometers deep. The 4th Guard Army has secured its positions and created favorable conditions for the advance to the north, the following day the new Commander-in-Chief General Sakharov arrived. The 3rd Ukrainian Front was now operating on the western bank of the Danube at a width of 150 kilometers and a depth of 60 kilometers.

On November 29th at 10 a.m. the troops of the 57th Army continued their offensive. The 6th Guards Rifle Corps and the 32nd Mechanized Brigade were able to storm the small town of Pécs (Fünfkirchen) on the night of November 29th. Guerrilla units also rose up in the city, and the uprising was more effective than the previous actions of the partisan groups in the hinterland. The Yugoslav 51st Division was pulled out and relocated to the estuary on the left bank of the Drava to the village of Torjantsi to secure the left flank of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. The Yugoslav 10th Corps established itself in the Sremska Podrawina area behind the German troops and occupied Bátaszék .

On November 30th, the advance of Sakharov to the northwest brought a depth of 28 kilometers and the collapse of the German-Hungarian front on the Danube, the city of Szekszárd fell into the hands of the 4th Guard Army. The Yugoslav 51st Division broke into the Baranja together with the troops of the Yugoslav 12th Corps and prepared the attack on Osijek. After the capture of Donji Miholjac , the Yugoslav troops were also able to operate in the rear of the German troops. After the Virovitica bridgehead was formed, direct communication with the left wing of the 57th Army was established.

The troops of the 57th Army occupied Kaposvár on December 2nd and reached the Margaret Line along the southern part of the Balaton up to the Drava. The 4th Guard Army continued the offensive northwards towards Stuhlweissenburg with the 18th Panzer Corps and on December 4th reached the section between Lake Velence and Lake Balaton, where they returned to positional warfare on December 10th .

Consequences and balance

Monument to the Soviet Fallen in Batina (by Antun Augustinčić , 1947)

The success of the Apatin-Kaposvarer operation gave the Soviet troops good starting conditions for bypassing Budapest from the south and west. At the beginning of December the 2nd Ukrainian Front succeeded in encircling the city from the north. The 3rd Ukrainian Front continued to operate in the direction of Bicske and the Danube in the Esztergom area , where on December 23rd the connection with the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front was achieved, thus the escape routes of the Budapest garrison to the west were cut off.

During the offensive, the 3rd Ukrainian Front liberated the cities of Pecs, Bátaszék, Mohács , Kaposvár and 330 other villages and settlements. The German-Hungarian troops suffered a heavy defeat and many Hungarian units were dispersed. In November 53 officers, 457 NCOs and 6,216 men were captured by the 3rd Ukrainian Front. The total losses of the Axis Powers are unknown. The Brandenburg Division and the 31st SS Division were almost completely destroyed, and the remains of them were evacuated to the rear. The decimated Hungarian 2nd Army had to be disbanded at all.

The 3rd Ukrainian Front lost 6,470 dead and 25,460 wounded, including more than 50% - during the fighting in the bridgehead. According to the November casualty report, Tolbuchin's forces lost 3,628 dead, 11,076 wounded and 5,136 sick, a total of 19,840 men. The 51st Yugoslav Division had lost 416 dead and 190 missing in the operation; according to other sources, 750 dead and 850 wounded.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ K. Ungvary: Battle of Budapest , Herbig 2006, p. 34
  2. ↑ Diary of the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, p. 190
  3. ^ AG Michalik. History of the Battle of Hungary from September 1944 to April 1945. pp. 181–183
  4. ↑ Россия и СССР в войнах 20 века

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