Polesians operation

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The Polesier Operation (Russian: Полесская операция, also Operation in the Polesier Swamps or Battle of Kovel ) was an offensive operation by the Red Army during World War II that was carried out by the 2nd Belarusian Front as part of the Dnepr-Carpathian Operation . It lasted from March 15 to April 5, 1944. The Soviet troops were able to gain considerable territorial gains, but they have not yet managed to break through the German front.

prehistory

The success of the Rovno-Lutsk operation not only created favorable conditions for the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front , against the flank of the Army Group South in the direction of Chernivtsi proceed, but also for the development of an offensive against Kovel and on to Brest in the back of the Army Group Center . In order to carry out this offensive, the Stawka decided to form a new front. This was called the 2nd Belarusian Front , the previous Belarusian Front was divided and divided into “1. Belarusian Front Army General Konstantin Rokossovsky ”renamed. The 2nd Belarusian front was thus between the 1st Belarusian and the 1st Ukrainian front.

Involved troops

At the beginning of the operation, not the entire Belarusian 2nd Front was involved in the offensive. Of the 25 divisions, only 13 were involved in the attack. Further forces only joined in during the course of the operation, but 3 divisions and 3 tank regiments were not available in time until the end of the operation. The following major associations were involved in the Polish operation:

  • 2nd Belarusian Front ( Colonel General P. A. Kurochkin )
  • 6th Air Army (Lieutenant General Poljinin )
  • 61st Army (General PA Below , a total of 8 rifle divisions), 9th Guards Rifle Corps and 89th Rifle Corps; 55th and 356th Rifle Divisions; 2nd and 7th Guards Cavalry Corps, 68th Tank Brigade
  • 70th Army (Lieutenant General IF Nikolajew ) with the 96th Rifle Corps (38th Guards Division and 1st Rifle Division) and 114th Rifle Corps (76th Guards and 160th Rifle Divisions)
  • 47th Army (Lieutenant General VS Polenow , a total of 11 rifle divisions), 77th Rifle Corps (60th and 143rd Rifle Divisions) and 125th Rifle Corps (76th, 175th and 260th Rifle Divisions), later also 129th Rifle Corps (185th and 328th Rifle Divisions) . Rifle Division)
  • North wing of the 13th Army ( 1st Ukrainian Front ) (another 2 rifle divisions)
  • Dnepr Flotilla, 65th Air Defense Division and several brigades

The German troops facing the 2nd Belarusian Front at the beginning of the operation were as follows: Between Pinsk and Kobryn on the left wing of the 2nd Army ( Army Group Center ), 7th Infantry Division and "Gruppe Hähnle" and "Gruppe Agricola" (1 cavalry regiment and 6 infantry battalions).

Parts of the 4th Panzer Army ( Army Group South ), 213rd Security Division , SS Panzer Division 5 ( Mühlenkamp ) and other units. In addition, remnants of the 5th SS division "Wiking" under SS General Gille were in action, which had escaped the Korsun-Shevchenkov pocket . After the Cherkassy Kessel Battle , the division was reinforced again and initially belonged to Army Group South. Part of the division was in Kovel , the bulk north of it. Immediately behind the German defense there were also 5 Hungarian divisions (1st, 9th, 12th, 19th and 23rd divisions).

On March 28th the XXXXII. Army corps transferred from Army Group South to Army Group Center ( 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" , Hungarian 19th Division and the 131st Infantry Division from the OKW reserve). From the end of March to the beginning of April, the following forces were also deployed against the 2nd Belarusian Front: 4th and 5th Panzer Divisions , 131st , 211th , 253rd Infantry and 5th Jäger Divisions , Corps Department E (Combat Groups 251st , 137th and 86th Infantry Divisions and parts of the 1st Ski Brigade), plus the 190th, 270th, 904th, 1005th and 1007th Assault Gun Brigade.

course

The operation began on March 15, 1944; the Soviet 47th Army led the main thrust on Kovel, the 70th Army advanced north of it in the direction of Kamin-Kaschyrskyj . Support attacks by the 61st Army, which was supposed to occupy the southern bank of the Pripyat , followed on March 16 . On March 18, the Soviet advance had reached Kovel after 30 to 40 km . There were parts of the Kampfgruppe von dem Bach (since March 25th SS-Gruppe Gille - 177th Regiment of the 213rd Division, 17th Police Regiment, 12th Railway Battalion, parts of 19th and 9th Hungarian divisions and SS-Wiking ) - including a total of about 6,500 to 8,500 men. The fortification of Kovel had previously been greatly expanded by the Wehrmacht. The city was surrounded by the 77th Rifle Corps of the 47th Army; this association consisted of three divisions (60th, 260th and 143rd rifle divisions). These divisions, which came from the 1st Belarusian Front, were only 40 to 60 percent represented at the beginning of the operation - a total of around 15,000 men (the divisions of the 70th Army from the Stawka reserve numbered around 7,200 men). The German defense of Kowel was well organized; therefore only limited successes of the Red Army were possible from March 19 to 26 and in the following Kesselschlacht , albeit at the cost of high German losses. In addition, the commander of the 47th Army made serious mistakes, the assault on Kovel was badly organized and costly for the attackers - General Polenow was therefore recalled after the operation.

German counterattack

The command of the German 2nd Army (Colonel General Weiss ) quickly realized that the Kovel group was still not able to withstand long-term without reinforcement. A strong German counterattack was organized. With the counter-offensive from the Brest area on March 21st, the LVI became the general command . Panzer Corps (General of the Infantry Hoßbach ) commissioned. In March and April 1944, four infantry, two fighter and two tank divisions were brought in from the area of ​​Army Group Center. The 4th Panzer Division under General von Saucken took the leading role in the relief . Outside the pocket, the Soviet 47th Army had three rifle divisions on March 23rd, and on April 1st it already had six rifle divisions. On March 23, the German relief group began to deploy; this was reinforced at the beginning of April and was deployed with eight divisions, including three armored divisions, along the Ljuboml- Kovel road . In addition, the Wehrmacht briefly took control of the air in the region . On April 4th, Kovel was relieved and the operation was over.

consequences

The Polesian operation had brought great territorial gains to the Soviet forces with relatively limited losses. The Red Army advanced on a front about 100 km wide to a depth of 50 km. The planned goal of the operation was not achieved by the 2nd Belarusian Front. On the part of the Germans, the battles for Kovel were considered a strategic success. But the Kesselschlacht as well as the counterattack and the relief operation brought heavy losses to the Wehrmacht. According to Soviet information, the German troops lost more than 10,000 men (dead and missing) in the Polesier operation. According to German sources, the Kowel garrison lost 3,220 men, including 738 dead, 348 missing and 2,134 wounded. The 2nd Belarusian Front mourned 2,761 dead and 8,371 wounded. For propaganda reasons, the liberation of the Kowel garrison was blown up to a great victory by the OKW , although this was only a minor success compared to the loss of terrain by Army Group South in March 1944.

The implementation of the operation contributed to the success of the 1st Ukrainian Front offensive on Chernivtsi. The Polesier operation was the smallest of the 10 operations of the Dnepr-Carpathian operation. After the operation, the Stawka decided to take a break from fighting in Ukraine in order to prepare for Operation Bagration against Army Group Center . As a result, the 2nd Belarusian Front was dissolved again and its troops were transferred back to the 1st Belarusian Front. The city of Kovel could only be liberated on July 6, 1944 by the 129th Rifle Corps (Major General Mikhail Borissowitsch Anaschkin) and the 125th Rifle Corps (Major General Ivan Kuzmich Kuzmin) of the 47th Army.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Allgemeine Schweizerische Militärzeitschrift Volume 117 (1951), Issue 4, p. 265 f.
  2. ↑ ML Dudarenko, Ju. G. Perechnjew: Liberation of the cities during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945 (directory), Moscow 1985

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