Voronezh-Kharkiv operation

Operations in the southern part of the Eastern Front in the winter of 1942/43

The Voronezh-Kharkov Operation ( Russian Воронежско-Харьковская операция ) was an offensive operation by the Red Army in World War II against the German troops that had been in the country since the beginning of the German-Soviet War (June 1941) . In the course of the Soviet offensive, which lasted from January 13th to March 3rd, 1943, three sub-operations were carried out, which brought the recapture of Voronezh and Kursk and a short-term liberation of Kharkov .

prehistory

In the winter of 1942/43, the Red Army launched stronger offensives on the southern part of the Eastern Front in the course of the Battle of Stalingrad , in the North Caucasus and on the Don section. The front of the German Army Group Don under General Field Marshal von Manstein was breached several times by troops from the Soviet southern front in January 1943 , while the German 6th Army in Stalingrad was increasingly surrounded by Rokossowski's troops . At the end of December, the troops of the Southwest Front defeated the Italian 8th Army as part of the operation on the central Don and reached the line Novaya Kalitva - Markovka - Voloshino - Chernikovsky.

In the course of these successes, the Stawka planned a major strategic operation with the aim of cutting off all German forces in the Caucasus , for which the 3rd Panzer Army should break through to the sea in the direction of Pavlograd and the 5th Panzer Army of the southern front on Rostov-on-Don . At the same time, the Voronezh Front (Lieutenant General Golikow ), in cooperation with the left wing of the Bryansk Front, was tasked with a strong offensive in the direction of Voronezh and Kursk, which set itself the goal of retaking Kharkov.

course

On the 260 km wide section of the Voronezh Front, General Golikov created three main thrust groups - the 13th Army of the Brjansk Front participated in the attack on the northern section of the front. The 38th , 60th and 40th Army (Lieutenant General KS Moskalenko ) were assigned to the central Don between Voronezh and Pavlovsk . In the middle of the 3rd Panzer Army (from January 19 Lieutenant-General had Rybalko ) supported by 18 separate Rifle Corps (Major General P. Zykov ), parts of the 40th Army and the 7th Cavalry Corps (General Sokolow ) the breakthrough to the river Oskol to and turn to the north via Rossoch for a containment operation. In the south, the 6th Army (Lieutenant General FM Charitonov ) of the Southwest Front accompanied the attack in the direction of Kantemirowka .

Involved troops

The German Army Group B under General Field Marshal von Weichs , which was affected by the offensive, comprised around 30 divisions at the beginning of January 1943, excluding the Fretter-Pico Army Division:

2nd Army - General of the Infantry Hans von Salmuth

LV. Army Corps (299th, 45th, 88th and 383rd Infantry Divisions )
XIII. Army Corps ( 82nd , 68th , 340th and 327th Infantry Divisions )
VII Army Corps ( 57th , 75th and 323rd Infantry Divisions )

Hungarian 2nd Army - Colonel General Gusztáv Jány

III., IV. And VII. Corps with 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 12th, 19th, 20th, 23rd light divisions and German 168th infantry division

Italian 8th Army - Army General Italo Gariboldi

Leftovers Italian XXXV. Corps (Divisions: Pasubio, Torino, Cosseria)
German 19th Panzer and 298th Infantry Division
XXIV Panzer Corps ( 27th Panzer Division and 385th , 387th Infantry and 213th Security Divisions )
Alpine Corps (Divisions: Cuneense, Vicenca and Tridentina)

Ostrogozhsk-Rossosher operation (January 13-27)

On January 13, 1943, the 40th Army attacked from the Don bridgeheads at Storoschewoje . The Hungarian troops were able to hold the front for 24 hours before they had to retreat. On January 14, the Soviet troops were also out of the bridgehead Shchuchye for engaging on Hungarian VII. Army Corps. On the evening of January 14th, the Soviet tanks pushed forward 12-23 km, near Shilin the headquarters of the German XXIV Panzer Corps was overrun. On the morning of January 15, the offensive was extended to the north and northwest and the Hungarian III, standing on the left wing, was also extended. Army corps attacked. On the same day the independent 18th Rifle Corps was launched on the offensive, supported by artillery fire and air strikes, the German resistance collapsed in the Korotojak area on the evening of January 15 in a night battle at -25 degrees. From the south, from the Kantemirowka area , the 3rd Panzer Army under Pavel Rybalko stepped up to encircle it. The 12th Panzer Corps (Major General Mitrofanov ) pushed into Rossosh on the morning of January 16 with the advance guard of the 106th Panzer Brigade . After the breakthrough in Novaya Kalitva , freed Rybalko troops in the back of the rolled over enemy units in cooperation with parts of the 40th Army on January 19, Alekseevka . The 7th Cavalry Corps occupied Waluiki on January 19 and confiscated large camps with war material. The 7th Cavalry Corps (Major General General S. Sokolow) was renamed the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps for the successful fighting from January 15th to 19th. The withdrawal order for the Hungarian 2nd Army came too late on January 17th, large units were surrounded, including 70,000 Hungarians and Italians and around 10,000 Germans. The encircled troops tried to break out to the west to the Oskol . On January 22nd, the Hungarian 2nd Army was disbanded, the remaining troops were transferred to the German General Command z. b. V. Cramer subordinated. Only the Hungarian III. Army Corps under FML Stomm held its positions on the Don on the north wing until January 26, thereby securing the southern flank of the German VII Army Corps under General Siebert . In a severe frost, loss-making breakthrough battles followed at Postojalij, Varwarowka and Scheljakino, and at Waluiki the bulk of the Alpine Corps then had to capitulate. The Hungarian 2nd Army and the Alpine Corps of the Italian 8th Army were almost completely destroyed.

Voronezh-Kastornoye operation (January 24th to February 17th)

The Soviet 40th Army took the new thrust to the northwest on Stary Oskol , the 60th Army under General Tschernjachowski was headed against Voronezh , which was liberated on January 25th. From the north, from the Liwny area , the Soviet 13th Army (General Puchow ) advanced west and pushed the German LV. Army Corps back over the Tim section, while at the same time the 38th Army (General Tschibisow) pushing south, the front of the German XIII. Army Corps broke through.

On January 24th the union with the 4th Panzer Corps (General Kravchenko ) of the 40th Army coming from the south took place . The entire south wing of the German 2nd Army was cut off in the Kastornoje area . The containment of the troops enclosed in the area southwest of Kastornoye was carried out by the bulk of the Soviet 38th Army. The Soviets had deployed around 27,500 soldiers for this purpose, in the beginning of February there were around 35,000 soldiers who led the following eruption in three groups via Bykowa and Swatowo to the southwest on Stary Oskol . The German 2nd Army lost 6,476 dead, 14,129 wounded, 4,568 men to frostbite and 13,225 missing in the Voronezh-Kastornoje operation until February 15, most of the war material.

As a result, the Soviet 60th Army overcame the Tim section and occupied the small town of Tim on February 4 . With its breakthrough south of Maloarchangelsk, the Soviet 13th Army tore open a 50 km wide gap in the front and cut off the railway line between Kursk and Orel. The German 45th Infantry Division was pushed back north of the Sosna River, and LV pushed back to the north. Army Corps was subordinated to the 2nd Panzer Army of Army Group Center on February 4th . At the same time used for the protection of Kursk had 4th Armored Division Shchigry give up and to the Sejm back section. Units of the Soviet 60th Army liberated the important district town of Kursk on February 8th .

Kharkov attack operation (February 2-15)

On February 2, the Voronezh Front initiated another attack on Kharkov opposite the newly established Lanz army detachment . The Soviet 40th Army (Lieutenant General Moskalenko), the newly established 69th Army (Lieutenant General Kasakow ) and the 3rd Panzer Army (Lieutenant General Rybalko) attacked in the direction of Kharkov. The 40th Army was supposed to bypass the city to the north and the 69th Army to attack Kharkov directly via Volchansk , while the 3rd Panzer Army was to bypass the city to the south. On the south wing near Kupyansk the German 298th Infantry Division , further right to Isjum on the Donets river, the 320th Infantry Division (General Postel) secured against the action of the 15th Rifle Corps (Major General Athanasi S. Grjaznow) of the Soviet 6th Army . On February 5, Isjum fell into the hands of the Soviet 6th Army, the 320th Infantry Division, which had been cut off on the northern Donzufer, fought for the breakout in the direction of Balakleja and on February 12, after the Donets crossing at Smijow, caught up with the retreated German front.

On February 3, the central section of Kupyansk was lost, the Soviet 12th and 15th Panzer Corps of the 3rd Panzer Army tore open the German defense to a width of 35 kilometers between Volchansk and Isjum and crossed the Donets section. On February 4, the 3rd Panzer Army reached the Donets near Tschugajew, but was unable to advance across the frozen river against the SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" on the opposite bank of the river. A relief attack north against Belj Kolodez failed before Prikolodnoye when the 15th Panzer Corps encountered defensive positions of the SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Das Reich" . The Greater Germany division surrendered on February 6 in combat with the independent 18th Rifle Corps Volchansk, while the 40th Army occupied Korotscha on February 7 . On February 9, the 40th and 69th Armies liberated Belgorod in battle with the German Corps Lanz (Division Großdeutschland, 26th, parts 88th and 168th Infantry Divisions ) and formed a bridgehead over the Donets. To the south of this the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps had bypassed the enemy via Andejewka and was advancing towards Merefa . On February 14th, the 12th and 15th Panzer Corps and the 160th Rifle Divisions and the 48th Guards Rifle Divisions of the 3rd Panzer Army succeeded in penetrating the eastern suburbs of the city. The II. SS Corps under General Hausser and the 6th Panzer Division of the Raus Corps had to give up Kharkov on February 15 before the superior Soviet pressure. From the north and northwest the 5th Guards Panzer Corps (Major General Kravchenko), the 340th, 25th Guards, 183rd, 309th, and 100th Rifle Divisions of Generals SS Martirosjan , PM Shafarenko, AS Kostitsyn, MI Menshikov and FI penetrated Perkhorovich entered the city.

consequences

The Soviet Voronezh Front and the Southwest Front advanced 360-520 km and inflicted heavy defeats on German Army Group B in several kettle battles. Due to the counter-offensive of the German 4th Panzer Army between Pavlograd and Krasnograd and the German 1st Panzer Army in the Slavyansk area against the flanks of the Popov tank group (4th Guards and 3rd, 10th and 18th Panzer Corps) that had broken through on February 25th a dangerous gap in the front can be closed. The victorious run of the Voronezh Front advancing to the north came to a standstill by the beginning of March.

The Axis powers lost 160,000 men (77,000 dead, 49,000 of them German). The Red Army lost 154,000 men (55,000 dead). In the following battle for Kharkov , Kharkov (March 16) and Belgorod (March 18) were recaptured by German troops.

literature

David M. Glantz : From the Don to the Dnepr: Soviet Offensive Operations, December 1942 - August 1943. Frank Cass, 1991. ISBN 0-7146-3350-X .
David M. Glantz: After Stalingrad: The Red Army's Winter Offensive, 1942-1943. Helion Ltd., 2008. ISBN 1-906033-26-9 .
A. Gorkin: Wojenny enziklopeditscheski slowar: Tom 1 . Bolschaja rossijskaja enziklopedija, 2001, p. 363. ISBN 978-5-7905-0994-0 (Russian).
Eberhard Schwarz: The stabilization of the Eastern Front after Stalingrad : Manstein's counterstrike between Donets and Dnieper in spring 1943, Cologne 1981.

Web links

Voronezh-Kharkiv Operation (Russian)