Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad operation
The Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Operation ( Russian Воронежско-Ворошиловградская операция ) was a defensive operation by the Red Army in the German-Soviet War , which lasted from June 28 to July 24, 1942. In the course of this operation three operations were performed: Kastornensker , Walujsk- Rosso shear and Woroschilowgrad - Schachtynsker defensive operation .
prehistory
After the Soviet defeat in the Battle of Kharkov in May 1942, the Wehrmacht prepared their summer offensive of 1942 in the area of Army Group South . It was planned to wait for the complete conquest of the Crimea with the Sevastopol fortress (the battle for Sevastopol ended on July 4th) in order to have the parts of Air Fleet 4 deployed there available again. In addition, several newly established divisions in the west and extensive troops of the allies of the German Reich were brought to the front during this time and regroupings and refreshments were carried out. In this way a numerical and equipment superiority over the Red Army was established for the planned attack.
At the beginning of the German offensive, three Soviet fronts (the Brjansk Front under Filipp Golikow , the Southwest Front under Semyon Tymoshenko and the South Front under Rodion Malinowski ) had around 655,000 men, 744 tanks, 14,196 artillery pieces and mortars and 1,012 aircraft. Five reserve armies (3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th) were also deployed behind the front.
In contrast, the German Army Group South under Fedor von Bock deployed over 900,000 men, 1,263 tanks, 17,035 guns and mortars and 1,640 aircraft.
course
On June 28, the von Weichs Army Group on the northern wing of Army Group South , consisting of the 4th Panzer Army , 2nd Army and 2nd Hungarian Army , began an offensive towards Voronezh in the Shchigry - Kolpny area east of Kursk and broke through within two days the defense of the 40th and 13th armies of the Bryansk Front at a depth of around 40 kilometers. On June 30th followed the attack of the 6th Army from the Belgorod - Volchansk area against the lines of the 21st Army on the Southwest Front. By July 2, parts of the army advanced up to 80 km to the northeast to meet with troops of the 4th Panzer Army at Stary Oskol . Parts of the 40th and 21st Soviet armies (approx. Four divisions) were enclosed in the cauldron formed in this way and around 40,000 prisoners were taken. Meanwhile, the main part of the 6th Army advanced in an easterly direction towards Kamenka . The Soviet high command tried to stabilize the situation by relocating three of the five reserve armies to the threatened sections of the front.
On July 5, parts of the Weichs army group reached the Don near Voronezh and formed three bridgeheads, crossed the river on July 6 and captured most of Voronezh. The city itself could never be completely conquered and was finally liberated by the Red Army on January 25, 1943 during the Voronezh-Kharkiv operation . On the same day, the Red Army and the newly established 5th Panzer Army carried out a counterstrike south of Jelez on the flank of the Weichs Army Group, to defend against which several German divisions had to be turned to the north, which meant the planned further advance of the 4th Panzer Army south along the Don weakened or delayed. On July 7th, the Voronezh Front under Golikov (replaced a little later by Nikolai Watutin ) was formed from the left wing of the Bryansk Front , which had the task of defending the east bank of the Don under all circumstances.
On the same day, the second phase of the German offensive began with the code name Company Clausewitz . The XXXX. Armored Corps of the 6th Army, turning south, pushed forward via Rossosch to the rear of the southwest front and threatened it with encirclement. On the following day, the 1st Panzer Army attacked from the Slavyansk - Artyomovsk area in the direction of Starobjelsk . On July 9th, Army Group South was divided into Army Groups A ( Wilhelm List ) and B (Bock). Hitler's decision to assign the 4th Panzer Army to Army Group A and turn it south instead of east with the aim of creating a huge basin north of Rostov-on-Don led to Bock's dismissal on July 15. Hitler's goal was ultimately missed, as most of the troops on the southern front withdrew behind the Don in time. In this way, however, the Red Army was given the opportunity to rebuild a line of defense with the newly formed Stalingrad Front under Tymoshenko from the remnants of the southwest front and other reserve armies . An early advance on Stalingrad was thus missed.
Voroshilovgrad was reached by German troops on July 14th and fell a few days later. Rostov was reached on July 23 and the Don bridges there were brought under control by the end of the month.
Losses and consequences
The German Wehrmacht advanced 150 to 400 km and inflicted heavy losses on the Red Army: 568,000 men were sidelined, 370,500 of whom were dead or missing (including 80,000 prisoners). 2,436 tanks, 13,716 guns and mortars and 783 aircraft were destroyed or captured. Encouraged by these German successes, the planned double offensive against Stalingrad and the North Caucasus was put into practice. According to German data, the own losses amounted to 94,500 men, 19,000 of them dead and missing.
swell
- Percy Ernst Schramm (Ed.): War Diary of the OKW , 1942, Volume 2, Part 1 and 2, ISBN 3-8289-0525-0
Web links
- Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Operation on narod.ru (Russian)
- Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Operation Map (Russian)
- Another map of the operation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Operation on wwii-soldat.narod.ru (Russian)
- ↑ Schramm, 1942, pp. 456ff.
- ↑ Schramm, 1942, Part 1, p. 476, Part 2, p. 1416
- ↑ a b Schramm, 1942, part volume 2, p. 1416
- ↑ Город-воин ( Memento from April 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian)
- ↑ Article Voroshilovgrad in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)
- ↑ a b Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad operation on militaria.lib.ru (Russian)