Voronezh-Kastornoye operation

Voronezh-Kastornoye operation

Part of: Second World War

date	January 24, 1943 to February 2, 1943
place	Soviet Union
output	Decisive Soviet victory

Parties to the conflict
Soviet Union	German Empire Hungary
Commander
Filipp Ivanovich Golikow	Hans von Salmuth
Troop strength
120,000	at the start of operation 125,000
losses
33,000 dead and wounded	83,000 dead, prisoners and wounded

The Voronezh-Kastornoye Operation ( Russian: Воронежско-Касторненская операция ) was an attack operation by the Red Army during World War II that was carried out from the Voronezh Front as part of the Voronezh-Kharkiv Operation . It lasted from January 24th to February 2nd, 1943.

prehistory

As a result of Operation Ostrogoshsk-Rossosh , the Red Army managed to crush strong Hungarian, Italian and German forces. The Hungarian 2nd Army (Colonel General Jány ) was encompassed on both sides and cut off. This created a deep indentation in the front line west of Voronezh . Troops of the German 2nd Army and the Hungarian III. Corps with a total of twelve divisions (around 125,000 soldiers according to Soviet data). Envelopment of the enemy forces was planned on the Soviet side. The 13th Army of the Bryansk Front was to advance from the north and the 40th and 60th Armies of the Voronezh Front from the south.

course

Soldiers of the Bezdetko Mortar Battalion fire at German positions (February 22, 1943)

Due to the offensive of the southwest front ( Watutin ) and the Voronezh Front ( Golikow ), the front of Army Group B between Jelets and the Donets near Lisichansk over a width of 250 kilometers wavered. The Soviet 40th Army under General Moskalenko headed north towards Stary Oskol , the 60th Army under General Tschernjachowski was directed head-on against Voronezh, which had to be surrendered by the Germans. From the north the Soviet 13th Army (General Puchow ) advanced on Liwny and pushed the German LV. Army Corps returned to the west over the Tim section, while at the same time the 38th Army pushed south through the front of the German XIII. Army corps on Volovo. On January 24th the union with the 4th Panzer Corps from the south under General Kravchenko took place . The entire southern wing of the German 2nd Army (Colonel General of Salmuth ) with the still Don holding section XIII. and VII Army Corps , as well as the Siebert group, saw themselves cut off in the Kastornoje area .

In the course of these operations, a large part of the German 2nd Army (8 divisions) and the Hungarian III. Corps (2 divisions) surrounded by Soviet troops. In the first few days, the Axis powers suffered the greatest losses, from January 25-29, 22,000 soldiers were taken prisoner by the Soviets. Then began a new major offensive on the Voronezh Front, which together with the 3rd Panzer Army on the south-western front, also on the offensive, tried to recapture the city of Kharkov . The wearing down of the troops enclosed at Kastornoje (remnants of about 8 divisions) was carried out by the bulk of the Soviet 38th Army (General Tschibissow ). The Soviets had deployed 27,500 soldiers for this, while those trapped numbered around 35,000 at the beginning of February. This gave the remains of the trapped associations a chance to break out to the west on February 2. Three separate groups were formed for the outbreak:

• The Beukemann group united the remnants of the 75th , 340th and 377th infantry divisions as well as two (6th and 9th) Hungarian divisions with a total of around 10,000 soldiers.
• Gruppe Siebert, with the remnants of the 57th, 68th and 323rd Infantry Divisions, numbered around 8,000 soldiers.
• The smallest group under General Aldrian consisted of the remnants of the 26th and 88th Infantry Divisions .

To the north of it, the troops of the Soviet 60th Army had meanwhile been brought forward, captured Kursk on February 8 and crossed the Sejm sector. Troops of the Soviet 38th Army organized the pursuit and destruction of the Beukemann group. The two other eruption groups were able to re-establish communication with the troops of Army Group B in the area east of Obojan between February 12 and 17 . The 2nd Army (under General of Infantry Weiß from February 4th ) was only able to consolidate the front between Rylsk and Sumy at the end of February.

episode

According to Soviet sources, more than 83,000 German and Hungarian soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. According to General von Tippelskirch , "the 2nd German Army had very heavy losses, the remnants of the Hungarian 2nd Army could no longer be used for the major battle, the remnants of the XXIV Panzer Corps and the Italian Alpine Corps were largely destroyed".

The losses on the Voronezh Front between January 24th and February 1st were about 33,000 dead and wounded.

The 2nd Army's front stabilized only after the subsequent Soviet Dmitryev-Sevsk operation had been repulsed (February 24 to March 28, 1943).

There was also a Voronezh-Kastornoye operation during the Russian Civil War in 1919.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Soviet Military Encyclopedia. Volume 2, pp. 360-361
2. ↑ ^{a b} Мощанский И.Б. Превратности войны. Retrieved December 4, 2019 (Russian). 
3. ^ Kurt von Tippelskirch: History of the Second World War , Bublies, Beltheim-Schnellbach 2012, 3rd ed.

Web links

• the Voronezh-Kastornoe operation plan