Belgrade operation

Belgrade operation

Part of: Second World War , Eastern Front

Allied forces advance into Yugoslavia

date	September 14th to November 24th, 1944
place	Yugoslavia
output	Allied victory

Parties to the conflict
German Empire	Soviet Union Bulgaria Yugoslavia
Commander
Maximilian von Weichs Wilhelm Schneckenburger Hans-Gustav Felber	Fyodor Tolbuchin Vladimir Zhdanov Peko Dapčević Savo Drljević Danilo Lekić Vladimir Stoychev
Troop strength
Army Group E 200,000 non-German soldiers	2nd Ukrainian Front 3rd Ukrainian Front
losses
unknown	18,838 Red Army soldiers (4,350 of them dead and missing)

The Belgrade operation was a major offensive by the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army and the Red Army with the support of the Bulgarian armed forces during World War II . In October 1944 it led to the capture of the city of Belgrade and threatened the withdrawal of the German armed forces from the Balkans. The actual aim of the operation, cutting off and annihilating German Army Group E , was not achieved.

background

Since the military occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece during the Balkan campaign in 1941 , the occupying forces of the Axis powers have been in a constant battle against the growing Yugoslav partisan movement . In May 1944, the German Army Group F carried out a large-scale but unsuccessful offensive against the partisans. In August of the same year, the Red Army broke through the German Eastern Front with Operation Jassy-Kishinev in Bessarabia . It first conquered Bulgaria and approached the Yugoslav border in September. Now, in talks with the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz Tito , the Soviet leadership agreed to start a joint offensive to liberate Yugoslavia and destroy the German occupation forces. In this operation, the conquest of Belgrade was to be given the highest priority because this city was not only of great political importance, but also represented a major logistical hub.

Starting position

German forces and planning

German soldiers and armored personnel carriers in October 1944 in the Balkans

In August 1944, Hitler had given the German Commander-in-Chief Southeast General Field Marshal Maximilian von Weichs instructions to hold the entire Balkan region. It was only the collapse of Army Group South Ukraine and the defection of Bulgaria that led to the instruction of September 1st to prepare for retreat. Initially, it was planned to take Army Group E ( Colonel General Alexander Löhr ) back on the Corfu - Saloniki line and only use the 2nd Panzer Army, which was operating against partisans in Yugoslavia, to cover the Yugoslav-Bulgarian border. Behind the border line ran the only railway line from Greece (Saloniki) via Skoplje north to Belgrade. This was the most important supply line for the entire Axis forces in Greece. Bulgarian troops had taken over their protection in Macedonia . When they came under Soviet orders after the occupation of their country, they were disarmed by the Wehrmacht. Nevertheless, at the time Bulgaria declared war on Germany on September 7, 1944, there were practically no German troops in a possible defensive position between the Danube and the Aegean Sea. However, an attack by the Red Army at this point was to be expected soon. With insufficient strength, the German leadership tried to improvise a defensive position. Army Group E was only able to form two infantry divisions (22nd Division from Crete and the 11th Air Force Field Division) on the border with Bulgaria with great difficulty in order to intercept the advance of Bulgarian troops there. In the north, the 2nd Panzer Army reversed its front to the east in order to establish preparedness north of Belgrade. The 117th Jäger Division was detached from Greece and brought in by air to reinforce the garrison of Belgrade. To the south of it, between Belgrade and Kladovo , at this point in time there were only alarm units from supply departments and displaced persons trying to set up a defensive front under the local military commander in the south-east , General Felber Infantry . The forces of the XXI. Army corps that were operating further to the west against partisans were only just on the march.

Army Group E began to repatriate its units from the numerous Greek islands as early as August 1944, and from September 6th began to clear the Peloponnese . Since the Allied superiority made sea transport impossible, the troops had to be evacuated by air transport, leaving the heavy equipment behind, until this option had to be discontinued from September 15 due to the opposing air superiority (numerous Wehrmacht units remained on Greek islands until the end of the war). These troops had to be combined and organized into new regiments and battalions. Overall, the Army Group pulled together around six divisions on the Greek mainland, but their combat strength was well below the target strength. These troops should now withdraw to the north via the railway line and the road that ran alongside it. In the middle of this disengagement, the Soviet major offensive broke out in early October. At this time there were a total of 20 divisions, 7 brigades and 25 independent regiments and battalions of the German Reich in Yugoslavia, Greece and Albania. About 200,000 non-German soldiers (including Croats, Chetniks ) were added to these .

Soviet-Yugoslav preparations

Marshal FI Tolbuchin

As early as mid-September 1944, talks between the Yugoslav and Soviet leaders took place in Moscow in order to coordinate the joint offensive. Tito's partisans were assured of the support of two Soviet aviation divisions and it was decided to deliver a large amount of war material. Some instructors were also sent to the partisan units.

The 3rd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Fyodor Tolbuchin received the order to attack Belgrade and cut off the German line of retreat . It comprised the 57th Army (Lieutenant General Nikolai Gagen ) with the 75th, 68th and 64th Rifle Corps (nine divisions and a motorized rifle brigade), a further infantry division, the 17th Air Army and the Danube Flotilla. These forces alone comprised more than ten divisions with over 2200 guns, 358 tanks, 1292 aircraft and 80 ships. The 4th Mechanized Guards Panzer Corps was also on the approach, but was not expected to arrive before mid-October. Tolbuchin received additional support on his right flank from the 46th Army (especially the 10th Guards Rifle Corps) of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, which was to advance north of the Danube. Several Bulgarian divisions were ready to attack the southern wing. This gave the Soviet side a great material and numerical superiority, since at that time only twelve German units were available on the entire front section, which were primarily equipped for use as occupation troops and for coastal defense and mostly had no "Easter experience".

The plan provided that the three corps of the 57th Army should initially cross the Eastern Serbian Mountains from the line Radujevac - Kula - Widin and form a bridgehead across the Morava . From this bridgehead the 4th Mechanized Guards Panzer Corps was to advance on Belgrade, while the 57th Army had to shield this movement to the south and west. North of the Danube, the 46th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front was to attack over a width of 250 km and its 10th Guards Rifle Corps were to reach the Pančevo area east of Belgrade. To the south of the 57th Army, the Bulgarian 2nd Army was supposed to advance from Pirot to Niš , whose possession could block the main artery from Greece. All of these operations should be done in close cooperation with the Yugoslav partisans. Since the middle of September the Soviet air forces prepared the offensive with numerous air strikes.

course

The advance to the Morava

Soviet tanks advance into Belgrade

On September 28, 1944, the offensive of the Soviet troops began. The 68th Rifle Corps (Major General AS Shkodunovich) crossed the Timok River and quickly captured Kobišnica . North of it the 75th Rifle Corps (Major General AK Akimenko) began its movement, while behind the German lines the 14th Corps of the Yugoslav Liberation Army operated against the German lines of communication. At Štubik , the Soviet corps succeeded in encircling a larger German unit, which was wiped out by October 4th. During the fighting near Štubik, parts of the 75th Rifle Corps advanced further west, but the attack got stuck at Donji Milanovac and Klokočevac . Both cities changed hands several times up to October 8th. While the 75th Rifle Corps bore the brunt of the fighting in this section, the bulk of the 68th Rifle Corps pushed through the East Serbian Mountains essentially more unhindered. On October 3rd it took Bor and reached Žbrelo on the Mlava on October 7th with the first units . Since the 75th Rifle Corps had been stopped on the right flank and the 64th Rifle Corps had hardly gained any space in the south, the 68th Rifle Corps had to be stopped first to secure its own flanks. Nevertheless, the crossings over the Morava had to be secured before the Wehrmacht units succeeded in building a new line of defense on the river. The commander of the 57th Army, Lieutenant General NA Gagen, therefore decided to deploy his reserve, the 5th independent motorized rifle brigade. Their troops reached the Morava on October 8 and formed a first bridgehead on the opposite bank the following day. A little further north some advanced units of the 68th Rifle Corps also crossed and took the town of Velika Plana . This concluded the first phase of the Soviet offensive. The troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front had broken through the German defense line and advanced to Morava, 130 kilometers away. From the bridgehead formed there, the actual attack on Belgrade could now begin in a second phase.

The attack by the 46th Army (Lieutenant General IT Schljomin ) of the 2nd Ukrainian Front met hardly any German resistance north of the Danube. The 10th Guards Rifle Corps (Major General IA Rubanjuk) captured Vršac and Bela Crkva before reaching Pančevo on October 6th. On the night of October 10, the 109th Rifle Division of the Corps crossed the Danube at Starčevo together with the 12th Brigade of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army and formed a bridgehead. The German troops in the Belgrade area were then forced to deploy strong forces against this bridgehead, which were no longer available to repel the attack by the 57th Army. The Soviet advance soon stalled south of the 57th Army. The Army’s 64th Rifle Corps (Major General IK Krawzow) did not cross the border with Yugoslavia until October 3rd and was then involved in heavy fighting for the town of Zaječar until October 8th . On the same day, the Bulgarian 2nd Army (General K. Stanchev) attacked Niš even further south. Although the attack was supported by the 13th Corps of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army in the rear of the German defenders, it initially failed to break through the German lines. Only with the use of a tank brigade and with the support of Soviet air forces was the German defense line broken on October 10th and the Morava reached here, east of Leskovac .

These attacks hit the provisionally set up army divisions "Felber" and "Serbia", which practically consisted only of alarm and security units without heavy equipment. Most of these had been destroyed by the Soviet attack. Only between the Morava and the 74th Rifle Corps were the remains of the "Felber" army group, which was ordered to move to Belgrade. However, these attacks also brought the entire German leadership into serious distress. Army Group F now needed more forces to stop the Soviet and Bulgarian troops. Weichs ordered the arrival of the 297th and 186th Infantry Divisions as well as the 104th Jäger Division from Army Group F. However, it would be some time before these units would arrive, as they had only a few transport routes and the British Air Force often launched attacks against the marching columns, which on average could only make about 25 km per day.

The capture of Belgrade

Destroyed Soviet tank in front of the Palate Albanija skyscraper in downtown Belgrade

Yugoslav partisans in downtown Belgrade in October 1944

After the bridgehead over the Morava had been erected, the forces of the 57th Army were regrouped for the further attack and the 4th Mechanized Guard Corps (Lieutenant General VI Zhdanov) was called in. This corps, together with parts of the Yugoslav 1st Corps, was to conduct the main thrust on Belgrade along the railway line via Mladenovac . A side thrust on the capital was conducted through Smederevo . On their flank, the 75th Rifle Corps and the 5th independent motorized brigade were supposed to destroy the German forces that were still on the right bank of the Morava in a concentric thrust. The entire movement was to be covered by the 68th and 64th Rifle Corps, which were to advance further west and reach the Aranđelovac - Kruševac line .

The attack began on October 11th. The fresh formations of the 4th Mechanized Guard Corps broke through the German reception position on Mount Avala and reached the southern outskirts of Belgrade on October 14th. The 12th Yugoslav Corps sealed off the capital from the southeast. A large part of Belgrade had already been conquered by the evening of October 15, but in the following days considerable Soviet forces had to be diverted in order to be deployed against the remnants of the "Felber" army group (20,000 men according to Soviet data), which were in front of the 75th Rifle Corps withdrew and tried to break through to Belgrade. This German combat group was on 16./17. October encircled and rubbed by October 19th. Only then did the fighting focus again on the Yugoslav capital. From the Soviet side, the 263rd Rifle Division, three artillery brigades, an anti-aircraft division and parts of seven Yugoslav partisan divisions were deployed here. Out of consideration for the Yugoslav allies, attempts were made to keep the damage in the city as low as possible, so that the Soviet artillery and air forces only rarely intervened in the fighting. Instead, seven engineer battalions searched the city's buildings and, according to their own statements, defused 845 explosive devices. In the first few days the German garrison had been divided into several parts. On October 20th, Soviet troops captured the Kalemegdan fortress, the last German resistance nest in the city. According to Soviet figures, German losses in these battles amounted to 18,000 soldiers (10,000 dead and 8,000 prisoners).

The attacks on the southern sectors of the front were also successful for the Bulgarian and Red Army and for their Yugoslav allies. The 68th and 64th Rifle Corps had reached their commanded line by October 21st. Heavy fighting against the German XXXIV took place only in the Kragujevac area . Army Corps . Even further south, the Bulgarian tank brigade captured Leskovac and the Bulgarian 6th Infantry Division Bela Palanka on October 13th . The following day the attacks on Niš began by the Bulgarian forces from the south and by the Yugoslav partisans from the north and south-west. The Wehrmacht had to evacuate the city by evening, with the 7th SS Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" deployed here suffering considerable losses. The loss of the city and the extensive advance of the Soviet corps was a heavy blow for Army Group E, whose most important rail and road connections to the north were thus lost. However, the Bulgarian units advanced even further until October 21 and finally reached the line Kruševac - Kuršumlija - Vranje - Kriva Palanka - Kočani .

Stabilizing the front

After the capture of Niš and the Soviet advance over the Morava, Army Group E was actually more or less cut off. Only one street was still open to her to retreat, namely that from Skoplje via Kosovska Mitrovica , Kraljevo , Užice to Sarajevo . The last third of this road was occupied by strong partisan units, but with the strength of an entire army group this would be overcome. More importantly, the Soviet attack leaders of the 64th Rifle Corps were already approaching Kraljevo. Maximilian von Weichs later described the battle for this road as the actual decisive battle because it decided the fate of Army Group E. In the battle for this important section of the front, all troops in southern Serbia were placed under the command of the infantry general Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller . With a battalion of the 22nd Infantry Division and the Fusilier Battalion "Rhodos", the first blocking units were flown in from the Saloniki area. This was followed by parts of the 104th Jäger Division, the 197th and 181st Infantry Division and the remnants of the SS mountain division "Prinz Eugen". On October 22, 1944, the fighting began in the Kraljevo area. Since the Soviet 64th Rifle Corps was not able to take the place even after days, the 57th Army sent the 68th Rifle Corps to an attempt to encircle Čačak. However, this was also repulsed with heavy losses for the Red Army. The route of retreat thus remained in German hands. In the south, too, the advance of the Bulgarian troops in front of Pristina could be stopped by parts of the 22nd Infantry Division and air force marching battalions.

Result

German Soldiers During the Difficult Retreat from the Balkans (November 1944)

Pressed by the advancing Soviet troops, the Wehrmacht had to rush to vacate the Balkans, leaving behind a large amount of military equipment. The actual goal of the Soviet offensive, namely the cutting off and smashing of Army Group E, was ultimately not achieved. In mid-November 1944, the Army Group gained affiliation with the 2nd Panzer Army via Sarajevo . In the following months, the Soviet units concentrated on the Hungarian area (see Battle of Budapest ) and no longer carried out any major operations in Yugoslavia.

The most important consequence of the Soviet offensive was the capture of Belgrade. The city immediately became the seat of the new Yugoslav government of Josip Tito, which, supported by the Soviet Union, was building the new Yugoslav state (→ Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia ). October 20, the date when Belgrade was retaken, was later declared a national holiday.

20 soldiers and officers of the 4th Mechanized Guard Corps received the award “ Hero of the Soviet Union ” and 70,000 participants in the operation received the medal “For the Liberation of Belgrade” ( Russian За освобождение Белграда ; donated on June 9, 1945). The Yugoslav government later awarded 2,000 soldiers and officers awards, including 13 times the title of “People's Hero of Yugoslavia”.

The Red Army lost 18,838 soldiers (4,350 of them dead and missing).

literature

• Karl Hnilicka: The end in the Balkans 1944/45 - The military evacuation of Yugoslavia by the German armed forces. Musterschmidt, Göttingen 1970. (= studies and documents on the history of the Second World War. Volume 13).
• MM Minasjan / ML Altgowsen (among others): The history of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. Volume 4, German Military Publishing House, Berlin (East) 1965.
• Erich Schmidt-Richberg: The end in the Balkans - The operations of Army Group E from Greece to the Alps 1944-1945. Kurt Vowinckel Verlag , Heidelberg 1955. (= The Wehrmacht in combat. Volume 5).
• Kurt von Tippelskirch : History of the Second World War. Athenäum-Verlag, Bonn 1956.
• Maximilian von Weichs: The great withdrawal movement in the southeast - memorandum from January 1945. In: Percy M. Schramm: The war diary of the OKW. Volume 7, Augsburg 2002, pp. 812-827.

Web links

Commons : Belgrade Operation  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} M. M. Minasjan, ML Altgowsen (u. A.): History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union . Vol. 4, Berlin (East) 1965, p. 478.
2. ^ ^{A b} David M. Glantz, Jonathan House: When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence 1995, ISBN 0-7006-0899-0 , p. 299.
3. ^ Kurt von Tippelskirch : History of the Second World War. Bonn 1956, p. 501f.
4. ↑ Maximilian von Weichs: The great withdrawal movement in the southeast - memorandum from January 1945. In: Percy M. Schramm: The war diary of the OKW. Vol. 7, Augsburg 2002, pp. 818-820.
5. ↑ Maximilian von Weichs: The great withdrawal movement in the southeast - memorandum from January 1945. In: Percy M. Schramm: The war diary of the OKW. Vol. 7, Augsburg 2002, p. 816.
6. ↑ MM Minasjan, ML Altgowsen (among others): The history of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. Vol. 4, Berlin (East) 1965, pp. 479f.
7. ↑ MM Minasjan, ML Altgowsen (among others): The history of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. Vol. 4, Berlin (East) 1965, pp. 480-482.
8. ↑ On the Soviet operations from September 28 to October 10, see: MM Minasjan, ML Altgowsen (et al.): The history of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. Vol. 4, Berlin (East) 1965, pp. 483-485.
9. ↑ Maximilian von Weichs: The great withdrawal movement in the southeast - memorandum from January 1945. In: Percy M. Schramm: The war diary of the OKW. Vol. 7, Augsburg 2002, pp. 820f.
10. ↑ Of these, around 10,000 soldiers are said to have been killed, wounded and captured in the course of the fighting, as it is said by 20 different regiments and battalions, see: MM Minasjan, ML Altgowsen (among others): The History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. Vol. 4, Berlin (East) 1965, p. 486.
11. ↑ MM Minasjan, ML Altgowsen (among others): The history of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. Vol. 4, Berlin (East) 1965, p. 487.
12. ↑ jury Lubschenkow: The 100 greatest battles of World War II. Wetsche Publishing, Moscow 2005, p. ???
13. ↑ Maximilian von Weichs: The great withdrawal movement in the southeast - memorandum from January 1945. In: Percy M. Schramm: The war diary of the OKW. Vol. 7, Augsburg 2002, p. 821.
14. ↑ Maximilian von Weichs: The great withdrawal movement in the southeast - memorandum from January 1945. In: Percy M. Schramm: The war diary of the OKW. Vol. 7, Augsburg 2002, pp. 821f.
15. ^ Dietrich Herfurt: Military Awards of the USSR. Military Publishing House of the GDR , Berlin (East) 1987, p. 128f.