Battle of the Sea of Azov
Eastern Front until September 9, 1941
| date | September 26 to October 11, 1941 |
|---|---|
| place | north of the Sea of Azov, Soviet Union |
| output | German victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Erich von Manstein |
Jakow Timofejewitsch Tscherewitschenko |
| Troop strength | |
|
Army Group South 11th Army Panzer Group 1 Romanian 3rd Army |
9th Army 18th Army |
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The Battle of the Sea of Azov (Russian: Донбасско-Ростовская стратегическая оборонительная операция ) from September 26 to October 11, 1941 was a battle between the German Wehrmacht and the Red Army in World War II .
background
At the beginning of September 1941, the 11th Army of the Wehrmacht (under Eugen von Schobert , from September 12th Erich von Manstein ) forced the crossing over the lower Dnieper near Berislaw and began to pursue the retreating Soviet enemy. Access to the Crimea was within reach in a south-easterly direction . The industrial and transport center of Rostov-on-Don should be reached further east . For the second target there was no direct connection to Panzer Group 1 (under Ewald von Kleist ; renamed 1st Panzer Army on October 6 ), which was further north. Due to Soviet reinforcements brought in, the pursuit had to be stopped on September 21.
course
On September 26, the Soviet 9th and 18th Armies launched a major attack against the eastern front of the German 11th Army with a total of twelve divisions. This consisted of the XXX. Army Corps ( 22nd and 72nd Infantry Division ) and the Romanian 3rd Army (1st, 2nd and 4th Mountain Brigade, reinforced by the German 170th Infantry Division ) together, while another corps is at the entrance to the Crimea stand ( LIV. Army Corps ). After a 15 km wide breakthrough with the Romanian 3rd Army, it became XXXXIX , which was marching towards Crimea . Mountain Corps ( 1st and 4th Mountain Divisions ) regrouped to reinforce the threatened Eastern Front. The situation worsened by September 29th. Only a counter-attack by the mountain corps that had arrived in association with the SS brigade “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler” cleared the situation in the Romanian 3rd Army.
In the days that followed, the two Soviet armies increased the pressure again, especially on the XXX. Army Corps. At the same time, the preparations of Panzer Group 1 to intervene had come to an end largely unnoticed by the Red Army on its northern flank. Finally, on October 1st, the XXX. Army Corps and the Romanian 3rd Army counterattacked. The XIV Army Corps (motorized) under General von Wietersheim closed the pocket on October 9th by advancing from the northeast and east. The subordinate 16th Panzer Division stopped at Andrejewka, the 60th Motorized Infantry Division at Semenowka and the SS division "Wiking" in the area east of Mermentschik. By October 11, the bulk of the Soviet armies in the Bolshoi Tokmak - Mariupol - Berdyansk area were encircled or beaten in overtaking pursuit. Around 65,000 prisoners were taken and 125 tanks and over 500 artillery pieces were captured.
consequences
This battle was a great operational success for the Wehrmacht, which was made possible by the cooperation of two large units (parts of the 11th Army and Panzer Group 1). As a result, a new force grouping arose on the south wing of the Eastern Front, which was supposed to dictate further operations. The previous double mission of the 11th Army was changed to the sole conquest of the Crimean peninsula. The army was reduced in size and consisted of only two corps with three divisions each and the Romanian 3rd Army. The next steps on Rostov were assigned to Panzer Group 1, which was assigned for this purpose by the XXXXIX. Mountain Corps and the SS Brigade "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" was reinforced.
The Wehrmacht lost 12,421 soldiers, of which 2,456 were killed, 266 missing and 9,699 wounded. The Red Army lost 150,000 soldiers, 106,332 of them were taken prisoner, and the Wehrmacht was able to destroy or capture 212 tanks and 772 artillery pieces.
literature
- Percy E. Schramm (Ed.): War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht , Volume I: 1940/41 edited by Hans-Adolf Jacobsen , Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, Frankfurt am Main 1965, pp. 666–690 (Part 2)
- Roland Kaltenegger : The German Mountain Troop 1939–1945 , Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1999, pp. 59/60 and 278
Web links
- http://hwar1941.narod.ru/donbas.htm (Russian)
Individual evidence
- ^ Liedtke, Gregory (2016). Enduring the Whirlwind: The German Army and the Russo-German War 1941-1943. Helion and Company. ISBN 978-1910777756 , p. 149