Battle for Rostov

Part of: Second World War , German-Soviet War

date	November 17 to December 2, 1941
place	Soviet Union
output	Rostov is retaken by the Red Army

Parties to the conflict
German Reich NS German Empire Slovakia Slovakia 1939	Soviet Union 1923 Soviet Union
Commander
German Reich NS Gerd von Rundstedt ( Army Group South ) Ewald von Kleist German Reich NS	Soviet Union 1923 Anton Lopatin
Troop strength
Army Group South Panzer Group 1 Slovak Fast Division	Southern Front 37th Army 9th Army 56th Army
losses
20,000-30,000 men	33,111 men 15,264 dead and missing 17,847 wounded

The Battle of Rostov was one of the first offensive operations of the Red Army in World War II and lasted from November 17 to December 2, 1941. In the course of this, it was possible for the first time to recapture a large city that had previously been captured by the Wehrmacht .

background

According to the Wehrmacht's original attack plans , the 11th Army was supposed to conquer the Crimea and Rostov peninsulas at the same time and then advance into the Caucasus . After the Battle of the Sea of Azov , which was successful for the German side , the plan was changed: while the 11th Army was released from its dual task and was only supposed to take the Crimea, the conquest of Rostov fell to the 1st Panzer Army , which was part of it Purpose through the XXXXIX. Mountain Corps and the SS Brigade " Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler " was reinforced. The 1st Panzer Army advanced along the Sea of Azov and was able to cross the Mius on October 17th, and Taganrog was captured on the same day . Heavy autumn rains and the resulting mud period brought the attack against the Soviet 9th Army to a standstill for the time being. Due to the acute threat to Rostov from the high command of the Caucasus Front , the formation of a new 56th Army began at the beginning of October . In support of the 9th Army, the first two rifle divisions of the 56th Army took a defensive section 25 km west of Rostov-on-Don on the Generalskoje - Sinyavka line from October 17th.

On November 5, the Soviet 9th and 18th armies were attacked again by German troops: The 136th Rifle Division was pushed back northwards via Djakowo to Darjewka , parts of the 30th Rifle Division had to go back to Boldyrewo, leaving a gap in the front of 30 kilometers in between. The 150th Rifle Division, deployed on the left of the 30th SD, went fighting on Novoshakhtinsk and the 339th Rifle Division to the south of it retreated to Shakhty and Novocherkassk . Colonel General Yes. T. Tscherewitschenko , the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Front, had received instructions from Marshal Tymoshenko to hold the city of Rostov, the "gateway to the Caucasus".

At the initiative of Marshal Tymoshenko, the conditions for a planned Soviet counter-offensive were created in the northern Donets section. On the line from Krasnodon to Kamensk-Shakhtinsky , the second formation of the 37th Army was set up under Major General AI Lopatin , which was formed from levies from various armies of the Southwest Front and the general reserve. The first units of the 37th Army were assigned to the southern front (Colonel General JT Tscherewitschenko, Chief of Staff: Major General AI Antonov ) and moved forward on the Rowenka - Dolschanskaja - Biryukewo line in the run-up to the gap between the 18th and 9th Armies. The main strike favored by Tymoshenko was to be carried south to the Sea of Azov, the attack was to break through the northern flank of the German 1st Panzer Army and reach Taganrog.

Involved armed forces

Marshal of the Soviet Union, SK Tymoshenko, was in general command of all Soviet troops in the southwestern direction . His troops numbered 26 rifle divisions, 7 cavalry divisions and 6 tank brigades.

Soviet Southern Front (Colonel General Jakow T. Tscherewitschenko)

12th Army , Major General KA Korotejew with 4th, 218th, 230th, 74th and remnants of the 15th and 261st Rifle Divisions, 15th Panzer Brigade
18th Army , W. Yes. Kolpaktschi with 130th, 164th, 218th, 274th and 395th Rifle Divisions
6th Cavalry Corps, General Bychkowski with 35th, 56th and 64th Cavalry Divisions
37th Army , Lieutenant General Anton Lopatin with 51st, 96th, 99th, 176th, 216th, 253rd and 295th Rifle Divisions, 3rd, 132nd and 142nd Panzer Brigade
9th Army , Lieutenant General FM Kharitonov with 30th, 136th, 150th, 176th, 317th and 339th Rifle Divisions
8th Cavalry Corps, General Chorsun with 68th and 70th Cavalry Divisions
56th Army , Lieutenant General FN Remesow with 31st, 343rd, 347th and 353rd Rifle Divisions and 6th Panzer Brigade
Mobile group Grechkin with 62nd and 64th cavalry divisions and 54th tank brigade
Azov Military Flotilla, Rear Admiral SG Gorschkow

German Army Group South

The Commander-in-Chief of the Army Group, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt , had 18 infantry - 4 motorized and 3 tank divisions as well as 9 different brigades - in the Donbass area (excluding AOK 6 ).

17th Army , Colonel General Hermann Hoth

XI. Army Corps , General of the Infantry Ott with 73rd and 125th Infantry Divisions, Romanian 5th and 6th Cavalry Brigade
LII. Army Corps , General von Briesen with 9th, 298th, 100th, 101st Infantry Divisions
Hungarian Mobile Corps, Major General Bela Miklós-Dalnoki
XXXXIV. Army Corps , General Koch with 68th, 257th, and 295th Infantry Divisions
IV Army Corps , General von Schwedler with 76th, 94th, 97th and 111th Infantry Divisions

1st Panzer Army , General of the Panzer Troop Ewald von Kleist

Italian Expeditionary Corps, General Giovanni Messe with Divisions Celere, Torino and Pasubio
XXXXIX. Mountain Corps , General Kübler with 1st and 4th Mountain and 198th Infantry Divisions
XIV. (Motorized) Army Corps , General von Wietersheim with 13th and 16th Panzer Divisions as well as Slovakian Rapid Division and SS Division Wiking
III. (Motorized) Army Corps , General von Mackensen with 14th Panzer Division, SS Brigade Leibstandarte and 60th Motorized Division

course

In order to divert the attention of the Soviet high command from Rostov, the troops of the German 17th Army went on the offensive in the direction of Voroshilovgrad on November 16 . Outnumbered, they broke through the defense of the 12th Army (Major General Koroteyev) and advanced towards Pervomaisk . However, this attack was soon stopped and this section was stabilized by the Red Army until November 24th. This success enabled the troops of the Soviet 18th Army to effectively support the attack of the 37th Army on November 18th and to realize the goals of the counter-offensive set by Tymoshenko.

After the ground had frozen, the German 1st Panzer Army had resumed its attack in the direction of Rostov against the Soviet 9th Army (Lieutenant General Charitonov) on November 17th. The advance of the Germans was short-lived, however, because the newly formed Soviet 37th Army had launched the offensive against the northern flank of the 1st Panzer Army at the same time. In the Soviet 56th Army, the 353rd Rifle Division (Colonel Grigory Filippowitsch Panchenko) had to return to the village of Kamenolomni in the northern outskirts of Rostov on the morning of November 20 and was withdrawn to the south bank of the Don, but still held the important railway bridge in the city. The remnants of the Soviet 31st Rifle Division (Colonel Michail Iwanowitsch Ozimin) and the Rifle Regiment 1175 of the 347th Rifle Division stayed in scattered groups in the northern outskirts of Rostov. At the same time, the 343rd Rifle Division (Colonel Pyotr Pavlovich Tschuwaschow) successfully pushed the German troops into the flank in the center of the city. At 2 p.m. the German 14th Panzer and 60th Infantry Division (motorized) broke through the defense of the 347th Rifle Division (Colonel Nikolai Ivanovich Seliverstov). The Soviet units operating in the center of Rostov and on the Don threatened to be cut off from the main army's forces. The latter division was reinforced with the 1145 Rifle Regiment and tried in vain to stop the enemy near the main train station.

On November 21, Rostov was by the German III. Motorized Army Corps (von Mackensen) completely captured and the Soviet 56th Army (Lieutenant General Remesow) pushed back behind the Don . Meanwhile the Soviet 37th Army (Lieutenant General Lopatin) had advanced about 35 kilometers behind the German units and had reached the Tuslow River northeast of Rostov. The German units already fighting in Rostov threatened to be cut off from their connections to the rear. The 13th Panzer and SS Divisions "Wiking" were dispatched to help the German XIV Army Corps (motorized) .

Between November 24th and 27th, the command of the southern front completed the regrouping of the troops of the 37th and 9th Armies in order to vigorously continue the offensive. The Soviet command succeeded in preparing an additional thrust against the German troops in the city north of Rostov. On November 25th, at the height of the Battle of Rostov, Major General FV Kamkow took command of the 18th Army. The troops of the 18th Army on the northern Nagolnaya section were given the task of tying up the forces of the Italian expeditionary and German 49th Mountain Corps and using an attack wedge in the direction of Djakowo to prevent the enemy from being behind those advancing 37th Army attack group to penetrate.

On November 27th at around 9 a.m. the divisions of the 37th and 9th Armies resumed the offensive, in order to meet the 56th Army on the thin ice of the Don, coming from the east and north. The southern attack on Rostov by the 56th Army began on the morning of November 27th with three groups:

Major General AA Grechkin headed the Eastern Combat Group, consisting of the 317th and 353rd Rifle Divisions, the 64th Cavalry Division and the 6th Tank Brigade. It penetrated from the area of Krasny Dvor on the eastern outskirts of Rostov.
The central group with the 343rd and 347th Rifle Divisions, the 230th NKVD Regiment and the Rostov Militia Regiment advanced from the Bataisk region to the southern outskirts of Rostov.
The Western force under Major General PM Kozlov consisted of the 62nd and 70th Cavalry and the 31st Rifle Division and the 13th and 78th Rifle Brigade and went from the region north of Azov to the western outskirts of Rostov and Tschaltyr ago .

In order to avoid the impending encirclement of the 1st Panzer Army, which at the same time threatened from the north by the 37th Army advancing south, the commander of Army Group South , Gerd von Rundstedt , ordered his armored corps to withdraw from Rostov against Hitler's express instructions . However, since he continued the withdrawal movement to the Mius section, he was released on December 1 and replaced by Walter von Reichenau . On November 30th, the Soviet 56th Army assembled a mobile group (62nd and 64th Cavalry Divisions and 54th Tank Brigade) under the command of Major General Grechkin to reach Taganrog. This advance was repulsed by the Slovak rapid division under General Malár . Two days later, the Soviet troops were able to recapture Rostov with the help of partisans and the Rostov Landwehr. Following the retreating German units, Soviet troops reached the Mius River on December 2, but were stopped at a line of defense established by the Wehrmacht.

consequences

The Red Army advanced 60 to 80 kilometers on a front 140 to 180 kilometers wide and prevented the German breakthrough into the Caucasus . In doing so, they liberated Rostov-on-Don, the first major Soviet city that had previously been occupied by the Wehrmacht. In the course of the fighting, the Red Army suffered losses of 33,111 men (15,264 of them dead and missing). The Wehrmacht lost around 20,000 to 30,000 men. The sources give different numbers.

During the German summer offensive in 1942, Rostov was again occupied by the Germans in July. The final Soviet reconquest took place in February 1943.

literature

I. Ch. Bagramjan : How the war began, Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 172. pp. 418–463
Владимир Афанасенко: 56-я армия в боях за Ростов. Первая победа Красной армии. Октябрь-декабрь 1941, Moscow 2013

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ http://velikvoy.narod.ru/bitvy/1941/rostov_nast_oper_1941.htm ( Memento from August 30, 2003 in the Internet Archive )

↑ ostkrieg.by.ru ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / ostkrieg.by.ru

[1] ttp://velikvoy.narod.ru/bitvy/1941/rostov_nast_oper_1941.htm ( Memento from August 30, 2003 in the Internet Archive )