The Siege of Stalingrad

FeaturedLeave a comment

The Germans did not have this battle all their own way. In the southern part of the city one defense line still held. Its strong point was the grain elevator. The first German attack on 16 September erupted in a savage firefight. On 18 September the fighting entered the elevator itself. Soon the grain caught fire and the fighting took place in thick smoke.

In the north the Soviets counterattacked on 19 September. The battle raged for two days. Each night Soviet Po-2 biplanes bombed the enemy flying 600 sorties.

On 20 September the Germans attacked the grain elevator using tanks. Soviet resistance broke two days later and the grain elevator fell to the Germans in spite of air attacks directed from the ground using rockets, smoke signals and tracers to indicate targets.

The Air Force for Long Range Operations (AFLRO) attacked German airfields. Flights of fighter aircraft, operating as hunters, drove enemy aircraft out of their forward airfields.

By 27 September the battle shifted to the residential and factory districts.

The 16th Air Army had 232 aircraft, 152 of them serviceable. This included 13 night bombers, down from 31 after their previous work.

Most of the southern and central parts of Stalingrad had fallen to the Germans. Only the northern factory district held out. The Germans had suffered 7,700 dead and 31,000 wounded. The Russians lost 80,000 casualties.

On 2 October General von Paulus renewed his attacks on the northern factory district. Aerial and artillery bombardment exploded the oil reserves at the Red October Ordnance Factory. Burning oil poured into General Chuikov’s headquarters dugout. Tanks and infantry attacked the Red October factory, the Barricades Plant, and the Tractor Factory. Fighting extended into the plants, the cellars, and the sewers. The German soldiers, assisted by Stukas, advanced their front toward the Volga by more than 400 meters by 8 October.

On 14 October General von Paulus began his ‘Final Offensive.’ Three infantry divisions and two tank regiments took parts of the Tractor Factory and surrounded the rest. By 23 October half of the Red October fell and most of the Barricades was taken.

From 27 through 29 October the 8th Air Army and the AFLRO raided and damaged thirteen German airfields in 502 sorties. During the month of October 260 mass air battles occurred in the Stalingrad area. The Luftwaffe lost eleven percent of their aircraft in four months of fighting.

From 1 September to 1 November only five Soviet infantry divisions crossed the Volga into Stalingrad. At the same time 27 fresh infantry divisions and 19 armored brigades were activated. These forces were concentrated between Saratov and Povorino, northwest of Stalingrad and received training and combat experience.

By 7 November General von Paulus held 90% of Stalingrad, but it was no longer a town.

Sources: Red Army Resurgent, John Shaw and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Time-Life Books, Inc., Chicago, IL, 1979

“Stalingrad: The Onslaught,” Alan Clark, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

The Soviet Air Force in World War II, Edited by Ray Wagner, Translated by Leland Fetzer, Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, NY, 1973

War Over the Steppes: The Air Campaigns on the Eastern Front 1941—45, E. R. Hooton, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, U.K.,2016

Stalingrad

FeaturedLeave a comment

General Hermann Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army finally arrived south of Stalingrad, after its turn at Kotelnikovo, and attacked the Soviet 64th Army commanded by Major General M. S. Shumilov. In the hill country, the 64th Army fought the Fourth Panzer Army to a standstill on 23 August.

As the area around Red Square burned, 6,000 soldiers were ferried across the Volga River and sent north to confront Lieutenant General Hans Hube’s 16th Panzer Division which entered Stalingrad from the west striking toward the tractor factory on the north end of the city. These soldiers, with the assistance of unpainted T-34 tanks from the factory driven by factory workers, stopped this attack.

Adolf Hitler moved his headquarters from Rastenburg, East Prussia to Vinnitsa, Ukraine on 25 August. On the same date a state of siege was declared in Stalingrad.

Marshal Semyon K. Timoshenko was quietly removed from command of the defense of Stalingrad, and replaced by the savior of Moscow, General Georgy Zhukov, with Varonov in charge of artillery, and Novikov in charge of the Soviet Air Force in the Stalingrad area.

General Hoth’s troops sidestepped the Soviet position in the hills south of Stalingrad and attacked on 30 August penetrating the Soviet fortification at Gavrilovka. This move threatened to drive a wedge between the Soviet 64th and 62nd Armies. The 64th Army retreated into the city.

Turning east Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army struck into the city and reached the Volga River south of the grain elevator on 10 September.

Lieutenant General Aleksandr I. Lopatin, commanding the 62nd Army, was relieved of command on 12 September and replaced by General Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov who promised he would hold the city or die there.

On the same date, Lieutenant General Friedrich von Paulus and General Maximillian von Weichs were called to Hitler’s headquarters in Vinnitsa. He told them it was vital to take Stalingrad and the banks of the Volga River. Von Paulus voiced concerns about the northern flank of the Sixth Army, at which point Hitler reassured him the allied armies were watching the Volga banks in that area.

Von Paulus launched his main offensive on 13 September after an artillery bombardment.

On the 14th of September Chuikov moved his headquarters from the threatened Mamayev Hill to the bunker in the Tsaritsa Gorge.

The Luftwaffe bombed Soviet forces, concentrating on the railroad station where the Soviets kept their last reserve of tanks.

Under severe pressure, Chuikov knew he had to keep the Germans from taking the Volga River ferry landing. Without that the 10,000 soldier of the 13th Guards Division, commanded by Major General Alexandr Ilyich Rodintsev, would not be able to reinforce the defenders.

Rodintsev’s soldiers landed on the west bank of the Volga on 15 September and were able to retake Mamayev Hill on the 16th.

The battle for Stalingrad took on the appearance of a house-by-house fight. This erased the German army’s superiority in training and teamwork allowing the Soviets to take advantage of their knowledge of the city to pop up behind the German lines and force them to fight back through areas they had already taken.

By 21 September the Germans cleared all of the Tsaritsa Gorge and positioned themselves within a few yards of the landing stage forcing Chuikov to move his headquarters to the Matveyev-Kurgon area.

Sources: Red Army Resurgent, John Shaw and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Time-Life Books, Inc., Chicago, IL, 1979

“Drive to the Don,” Alan Clark, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

“Stalingrad: The Onslaught,” Alan Clark, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

The Drive to Stalingrad

FeaturedLeave a comment

“The Russian is finished,” Hitler told Colonel General Halder on 20 July, 1942. Thus was born a new plan. With Field Marshal von Bock gone Directive 45, issued on 23 July, ordered Army Group A, commanded by General List, south to take the Caucasus and the oil reserves there. Army Group B, commanded by General Weichs, was to take Stalingrad and cut off the isthmus between the Don River and the Volga.

The battle for Rostov, fought by XVII Army, began on 22 July. It ended on 24 July and the first German units crossed the Don.

Kleist’s I Panzer Army was to take the Don River crossings. OKH, however, felt the Soviet forces in the Donets River basin would hold up Kleist’s panzers, so IV Panzer Army, commanded by General Hoth, was diverted to assist Kleist. The Russian forces seemed to evaporate, so Kleist and Hoth arrived at the Don River crossings at about the same time. Kleist got his panzers across the river between 25 and 27 July due to congestion. General Hoth got his panzers across on 29 July at Tsimlyanskaya. General Hoth was then directed through Kotelnikovo, to strike north taking Stalingrad in the rear.

Von Paulus. on his way to the Don at Kalach, ran out of fuel 240 kilometers from his goal. Soviet General Timoshenko took advantage of the delay by filling the Don bend with Soviet troops.

While von Paulus waited for fuel for his tanks General Kleist took Prolettarskaya on 29 July and Salsk on the Manych River on 31 July. Weichs moved south toward Krasnodar while XI Army in Crimea crossed the strait from Kerch to the Kuban Peninsula to assist him.

Hoth’s Panzers reached Kotelnikovo on 31 July, threatening the flank of the 62nd and 64th Soviet armies in Stalingrad. The Soviet Air Force was not idle. On 1 August LaGG 3 fighters armed with 37 mm cannon attack the tanks. Two hundred sixty-four sorties were flown on 5 August against the Germans at the Abganerovo and Plodovitoye railroad stations as the Germans moved on Tinguta. Another Soviet attack hit the airfield at Bolshaya Donshchina.

On 9 August Kleist took Maikop.

Meanwhile, von Paulus finally made his move. Using his 14th Panzer Korps and the 24th Panzer Korps on loan from Hoth he used a double envelopment to surround the troops at Kalach on 8 August. The haul included 35,000 soldiers, 270 tanks and armored vehicles, and 600 guns. Von Paulus forces faced Stalingrad on 10 August.

In the rush to take Kalach, and as a result of his lack of forces, von Paulus did not occupy the small bend in the Volga River at Kletskaya. He left to the Rumanians the guarding of Russian forces in that space. He would later regret that choice.

Hoth’s IV Panzer army arrived on von Paulus southern flank on 19 August. On 21 August the VI Army crossed the Don.

The Soviet Air Force, realizing the situation developing in the south, sent five divisions of the AFLRO (Air Force Long Range Operations) from Moscow to Stalingrad. The 8th Air Army received fighter units equipped with the new La 5.

XVI Panzer Korps penetrated the Soviet perimeter at Stalingrad on 22 August and reached the Volga through the northern suburbs. The railroad bridge over the Volga at Rynok came within mortar range.

On the night of 23/24 August the Luftwaffe delivered a night attack in three waves against the Soviet 64th Army. Half of the bombs dropped were incendiaries.

Sources: Red Army Resurgent, John Shaw and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Time-Life Books, Inc., Chicago, IL, 1979

“Drive to the Don,” Alan Clark, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

The Soviet Air Force in World War II, Edited by Ray Wagner, Translated by Leland Fetzer, Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, NY, 1973

Army Group South, Summer 1942

FeaturedLeave a comment

With Kursk, Kharkov, and Sevastopol taken, Hitler’s eyes turned to the oil fields of the Caucasus. The General Staff ordered Field Marshall von Bock to send General Herman Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army from Kursk to Voronezh on the Don River. Second Army followed them.

Lieutenant General Friedrich von Paulus’ Sixth Army, with eleven divisions, and General Stumme’s 40th Panzer Corps attacked from Kharkov northeast to Voronezh to trap the Soviet armies between the Oskol and the Don Rivers.

These actions began on 28 July, 1942.

STAVKA noted the high concentration of armor in the south, but with the renewal of the attack on Leningrad, they estimated the German southern action could be directed through Yelets and Tula toward Moscow. Any reserves in the south, moved toward Moscow, could be trapped. They ordered Marshal Timoshenko to maintain two ‘hinges.’ One at Voronezh and the other at Rostov to threaten the German’s southern flank.

By 30 June, the German thrust from Kursk reached the halfway point to Voronezh, meeting no resistance.

STAVKA ordered 40th Army to fight at Voronezh while Timoshenko fell back on Stalingrad.

Hitler flew to von Bock’s headquarters on 3 July. He advised von Bock to bypass Voronezh and go south instead. On 4 July that order was reversed. Von Bock was to take Voronezh despite the occupation of the city by the 40th Army.

Hoth’s panzers reached Voronezh, straddling the city on 5 July. STAVKA, meanwhile, established the Voronezh Front on the same day, naming General Vatutin as commander, reporting directly to Moscow, rather than to Timoshenko.

By 12 July the Soviets woke to the threat of the German advance. The Stalingrad Front was established naming the 63rd, 21st, 62nd, and 64th Armies as its compliment. General Chuikov, commander of the 64th Army, located at Tula, advised the Soviet command he could not reach his required position before 23 July. Air support for the Stalingrad Front was the 8th Air Army commanded by T. T. Khryukin.

Von Bock’s forces cleared Voronezh on 13 July and Hitler ordered his advance on Stalingrad, sealing off the city with one arm, while the other would capture Rostov near the Sea of Azov.

Soviet air operations supporting the 62nd and 64th Armies on the Chir and Tsimlya Rivers began on 17 July. The long range bombing operation concentrated on German crossings over the Chir and Don Rivers. The 8th Air Army possessed 300 aircraft consisting of 150 to 200 long range aircraft, and 50 to 60 fighters of the 102nd Fighter Air Division and the Air Defense Force. This opposed the Luftwaffe‘s 1,200 aircraft.

Von Kleist’s First Panzer Army, originally directed as the southern prong against Stalingrad, was now ordered straight to Rostov. Herman Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army, originally to stiffen von Paulus’ Sixth Army was now ordered to assist von Kleist.

When Field Marshal von Bock protested, wanting to use Weich’s unit and part of von Paulus’ to deal with Vatutin at Voronezh, he was sacked. Weich’s forces were to guard the Don River from Voronezh to the Don bend.

Sources: Red Army Resurgent, John Shaw and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Time-Life Books, Inc., Chicago, IL, 1979

“Drive to the Don,” Alan Clark, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

The Soviet Air Force in World War II, Edited by Ray Wagner, Translated by Leland Fetzer, Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, NY, 1973

The Defense of Sevastopol

FeaturedLeave a comment

The defenses of Sevastopol consisted of three lines. The first line, one and a half to three kilometers deep, was made up of trenches, tank obstacles, and mine fields. The second line was a kilometer and a half deep north of the city. Maxim Gorki I, north of the city near the Belbek River, was 300 meters long, 40 meters deep and held 300 millimeter guns.

South of the city a second line, the Zapun line, on the Zapun heights included thirteen fortresses or strong points. Maxim Gorki II, located six and a half kilometers south of the city was similar to Maxim Gorki I.

It took the Germans two days to break through the first line of defenses. They then concentrated on reducing Fortress Stalin several kilometers behind the line of defenses. They captured that fortress on 13 June.

The battle for Maxim Gorki I continued. This fortress controlled the Belbek River down to the Black Sea more than five and a half kilometers away. Barrages of one ton shells opened the gun emplacements. Once the Germans infiltrated the fortress the battles continued underground until 17 June when the fortress was taken. Four other fortresses fell the same day.

During the fighting both sides took heavy losses. XLVI Infantry Division reinforced the German attackers. In the second half of June units from XVII Army, operating in the Donbass region, were sent. The Soviets received no replacements and suffered shortages of ammunition. By the end of June artillery fired only at short range targets. There was much hand-to-hand combat.

The Germans reached Severnaya Bay north of Sevastopol city on 18 June. This bay, 970 meters wide, separated the Germans from the city. On 20 June they infiltrated North Fortress, located in the German rear, from the sea. That gone, the Soviets retreated to the south shore of Severnaya Bay on 23 June.

South of the Sevastopol City the Germans elected to outflank the Zapun defense lines on the Zapun Heights by attacking the Inkerman highway beside the Chernaya River. Inside the mountain was a Soviet armaments factory. On 28 June the Germans crossed the Chernaya River to attack the arms factory. The Soviets elected to blow up the factory and themselves.

On the night of 28/29 June the Germans launched an attack across Severnaya Bay in assault boats.  In the south they launched an attack from the Fedyukhim Heights southeast of Sevastopol toward Zapun Mountain. The Soviet defenses were broken and the Soviet began evacuation to Cape Khersones on the western end of the Crimea by water. Some escaped into the mountains. Military leaders and some of the wounded were evacuated by submarine. Aircraft of the Sevastopol Defense Force were moved to airfields in the Caucasus.

The inner city was bombarded by the Germans on 1 July. The remaining Soviets surrendered on 3 July. The Germans took more than 100,000 prisoners.

Sources: ‘The Siege of Savastopol,’ Colonel Vasili Morozov, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

Red Army Resurgent, John Shaw and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Time-Life Books, Inc., Chicago, IL, 1979

All-Out Offensive on All Fronts

FeaturedLeave a comment

At a meeting of STAVKA on 5 January, 1942, Stalin called for an “all-out offensive” against the Germans. The proposal consisted of attacks by all nine fronts against all three German army groups.

In the north the objective was the freeing of Leningrad from encirclement. In the center Stalin wanted liberty for the Donbas region. In the south an assault to retake the Crimea.

General Zhukov, honored as the savior of Moscow, and Voznesensky objected based on the weakened condition of the Soviet Army. With the support of Timoshenko, Beria, and Malenkov, Stalin overrode the objections.

The attacks started on 7 January. Northwest Front struck north from south of Lake Ilmen but failed to take Staraya Russa. On 13 January the Volkov Front on the Volkov River found itself unable to move against the Germans. Lack of ammunition, food, and fuel prevented the troops from passing into and through Lyuban.

On 9 January 3rd and 4th Shock Armies cut south behind Army Group Center. Short of food, the troops knew the only way to succeed was to take the German supply dump at Toropets.

Kalinin Front worked to surround the German IX Army near Sychevka while cavalry attacked to surround German forces in Rzhev. General Zhukov’s forces moved through the ‘Kaluga Gap’ and attacked north toward Vyazma to surround Sukinichi.

The Luftwaffe flew in supplies for seven German divisions surrounded in Demyansk.

Fifteen hundred Soviet paratroops were dropped on Zhelanye and operated behind German lines with the assistance of partisans.

The less than spectacular results of these operations prompted Stalin to take command. He transferred the 3rd and 4th Shock Armies to the Kalinin Front. First Shock Army was detached from Kalinin Front and assigned to Northwest Front. He then directed 16th Army detached from Zhukov’s forces and sent to Bryansk Front to take Sukhinichi.

Govin’s spearheads were on the road to Minsk when Army Group Center, itself nearly surrounded, cut off those forces near Vyazma.

Casualties during this offensive were high. By late January Kalinin Front had 35 tanks remaining. High Command Reserve Artillery had only six guns. Rifle divisions had 3,000 to 3,700 soldiers each. 13th Army, originally assigned 11,500 soldiers, had been reduced to the size of a division. Tank brigades possessed 15 to 20 tanks, and artillery regiments had 12 guns.

Air support for ground forces vanished as the front moved out of the range of fighters.

General Model surrounded the Soviet 39th and 29th Armies at Rzhev.

In Army Group South’s area General Timoshenko crossed the Donets River and drove a wedge 97 kilometers deep into the German positions near Izyum.

In the Crimea Soviet troops crossed from the Kerch Peninsula and moved as far west as Feodosiya before the Germans forced them to a stop.

Sources: “The Russian Recovery,” John Erickson, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

“The Moscow Counterblow,” Marshal Zhukov, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

The Soviet Air Force in World War II, Edited by Ray Wagner, Translated by Leland Fetzer, Doubleday & Co, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1973

The Battle for Moscow – Part 1

Featured1 Comment

With the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June, 1941, a state of threat existed in Moscow. The Soviet Army began building 12 divisions for the defense of the city. Twenty-five battalions of militia patrolled the outskirts of the city against the chance of parachute troop assaults. Firefighting units were established. Citizens camouflaged the Bolshoi Theater to look like small houses. Larger buildings were made to appear like parks from the air.

German night air raids on the city began on the night of 21-22 July. Thirty-six took place during the period from July through September.

The citizens of Moscow built the Vyazma Defense Line and, on 16 July work on the Mozhaysk Defense Line began. One hundred thousand citizens of the city, 2/3rds women and children, built three lines of defenses around the city. These were known as the Ring Road, the Sadovoye Ring, and the Boulevard Ring. Six hundred eighty kilometers of anti-tank ditches, 447 kilometers of breastworks, 383 kilometers of anti-tank barriers, 30,000 firing points, 1,306 kilometers of barbed wire, and 1,537 kilometers of wooden obstructions in wooded areas were built.

Obstacles including metal spikes, barbed wire entanglements, and minefields were placed in the streets.

In the factories of Moscow workers repaired 263 guns, 1,700 mortars, 15,000 rifles and 2,000 lorries.

Partisan groups were organized and armed with rifles, grenades, warm uniforms, and food. Forty detachments formed in Moscow with another 30 in Tula.

On 8 October heavy rain slowed the movement of the German forces. IV Army reached the area east of Kaluga, their left on the Borovsk – Mozhaysk Line. IX Army reached the Volga at Kalinin and Rzhev. General Guderian’s forces established positions on either side of the Bryansk Pocket but the weather and fuel and supply shortages hindered his operations.

Marshal Zhukov, hero of the battle at Kalkin Gol in Mongolia, took command of the Western Front. General Konev commanded the Kalinin Front.

Fighting around Vyazma ended on 14 October. The Germans liquidated the Bryansk Pocket on 20 October. Field Marshal von Bock, in his report of 19 October, claimed the destruction of eight Soviet armies, but he worried about his southern flank where a gap between Army Group South opened near Belgorod due to the slow advance of II Army.

OKH issued new orders on 14 October. II Panzer Army was to move on Moscow from the south and east while IV Army and IV Panzer Gruppe were to close in from the north and west. II Army was released from Bryansk. II Panzer Army received orders to move on the Orel – Kursk – Yelets line to protect Army Group Center’s southern flank.

The season of mud began in the second half of October. The only paved road in Byelorussia connected Smolensk and Moscow. This road, torn up by traffic and Soviet bombing forced the Germans to form road crews to fill the craters. Traffic bogged down. Horses died from overwork and starvation. Communications were cut and air support was unavailable.

Sources: “Battle for Moscow: The Soviet View,” Colonel D. Proektor, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

“Battle for Moscow: The German View,” Generalmajor (AD) Alfred Phillippi, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

Sevastopol, The Beginning

Jack KruseLeave a comment

As part of Army Group South’s operations in Ukraine, the German 11th Army and the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies invaded Crimea on 26 September, 1941, through the Isthmus of Perikop. The Soviet 51st Army and the Black Sea Fleet proved unable to prevent the occupation of Crimea by the Germans. Kerch and the Kerch Peninsula were lost and the Soviets were pushed across the Kerch Strait to the Taman Peninsula.

Sevastapol, though isolated, avoided conquest. Army Group A took over occupation duties. The Balaklava Hills south of Sevastopol were taken 30 October, 1941. In mid-December the German’s second offensive took place and they pushed to within eight kilometers of the city.

At the end of 1941 the Soviets retook Kerch with an amphibious operation and the German attack on Sevastopol was called back to oppose them.

General von Manstein, commanding the offensive against Kerch, examined the Soviet defenses and found an anti-tank ditch nearly four meters deep and ten meters wide filled with water, and guarded by a field of mines, barbed wire obstacles and pillboxes.

On 8 May, 1942, Manstein’s first attack, of three divisions with Luftflotte IV support, was on the stronger northern flank. This feint was pushed back. The main attack took place on the weaker southern front. Assault boats entered the anti-tank ditch from the Black Sea. Portal bridges, thrown across the ditch, allowed assault troops to advance. By 17 May the battle was over. One hundred seventy thousand Russian soldiers were captured, as well as 250 tanks, and 1,100 artillery pieces.

The remainder of the Soviet forces again withdrew to the Taman Peninsula. Eighty-six thousand soldiers were evacuated, including twenty-six thousand wounded. The reasons given for the loss included lack of communication and leadership.

During the winter of 1941-42 Sevastopol underwent continuous shelling and bombing. The defenders of the fortress of Sevastopol were commanded by General I. E. Petrov’s Coastal Army with seven rifle divisions, four brigades, two Marine regiments, two tank battalions and an armored train: 106,000 men, 600 guns, 100 mortars, 38 tanks, and 55 aircraft.

The German forces numbered ten infantry divisions and 120 batteries of guns: 204,000 men, fifty-six heavy guns of 190 to 420 mm, super heavy 615 mm mortars, and 800 mm railway guns, 670 lighter guns of 76 to 420 mm, 655 anti-tank guns, 720 mortars, 450 tanks and 600 aircraft. The Naval blockade possessed 19 motor torpedo boats, 30 patrol boats, eight anti-submarine boats, and 150 anti-shipping aircraft.

The bombardment began on 2 June. The first infantry attacks began on 7 June with the main assault against the Kamyshly-Belbec sector with an auxiliary attack from the south, up the Yalta highway. Luftwaffe supported with 600 to 1,000 sorties per day.

Sources: ‘The Siege of Savastopol,’ Colonel Vasili Morozov, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

Red Army Resurgent, John Shaw and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Time-Life Books, Inc., Chicago, IL, 1979

Kharkov: Spring 1942

Jack Kruse1 Comment

Kharkov was taken by the Germans 24 October, 1941. It would be taken three more times during the Great Patriotic War, also known as World War II.

By spring 1942, the Soviet people worked to restructure their economy. Aircraft production plants, relocated far to the east, began ramping up production. Soon types such as the Yak-1, Il-2, and Pe-2 entered service, and production of the La-5 began. But the Soviet Air Force had been nearly destroyed in the early days of the campaign and replacements from the Western Allies only totaled 249 machines of earlier types such as the Hurricane, Kittyhawk, and the early Warhawks.

Training of Soviet aircrews now used the experience gained since the June invasion began. The Air Force formed air divisions equipped with one type of machine.

Aircraft produced in the factories relocated to the east were of an inferior quality. Air engineering services, formed to improve the quality, worked tirelessly.

Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe, strengthened with new advanced types, called on their allies to provide additional pilots and machines. The majority of the Luftwaffe, nearly 75%, now operated against the Soviet Union.

In April, 1942, STAVKA ordered South Front and Southwest Fronts to retake Kharkov. The main blow of the two pronged thrust featured 6th Army of the South Front attacking from the south out of the Barvenkovo salient supported by an attack toward Krasnogrod. Southwest Front’s attack, comprised the 28th Army accompanied by formations of the 21st and 38th Armies, formed the northern pincer, and thrust from Volchansk toward Kharkov to encircle that city from the north and northwest.

Not surprisingly, the Germans also had a plan which included the liquidation of the Barvenkovo salient and seizing a bridgehead across the Donets River with an eye toward Voronezh. Army Group Kleist would attack from Slavyansk and Kramatorsk heading northwest. VI Army would strike south from Balakleya.

On 12 May the Southwest Front’s 28th Army attacked, breaking through the German lines north and south of Kharkov, and advancing 26 kilometers. The 38th Army attacking toward Zmiyev advanced 19 to 32 kilometers. By 14 May mobile forces were ordered to encircle Kharkov, but these forces were not advanced because of a German armored force discovered in the neighborhood of Zmiyev. The mobile forces were activated 17 May, but it was too late.

On that date German VI Army attacked from north of Volchansk and from Zmiyev working to encircle the Soviet 28th and 38th Armies. In the south Army Group Kleist attacked the Soviet 9th Army of South Front from the Kramatorsk area. The Soviet 9th Army, ordered to cut off the Germans advancing from Barvenkovo, proved unable to do so and 9th Army executed a fighting retreat toward the northern Donets.

As the German attack developed, the Southwest Front requested permission to cease their offensive toward Kharkov. Stalin refused the request.

The Soviet 28th Army was driven back to its start line by 22 May.

The Soviet 6th Army of South Front was ordered to drive back the German attack but was unable to comply. By 23 May Army Group Kleist joined up with VI Army to close off the Barvenkovo salient encircling 6th Army and 57th Army. Some of the surrounded Soviet forces broke through the German encirclement during the period 24 May to 29 May and crossed to the eastern bank of the Donets River.

Southwest Front was assigned defensive duties at the end of May.

Sources: “The Kharkov Offensives,” Colonel Vasili Morozov, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

The Soviet Air Force in World War II, Edited by Ray Wagner, Translated by Leland Fetzer, Doubleday & Co, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1973

The Soviet Offensive Bogs Down

Jack KruseLeave a comment

The Soviet winter offensive in the south began on 18 January, 1942. Southwest Front’s 6th and 57th Armies attacked the Germans on a line between Balakleya and Slavyansk advancing 26 kilometers. The 37th Army made advances south of Slavyansk but were unable to penetrate the German defenses. 1st and 5th Cavalry assisted 57th Army’s advance to take Barvenkovo on 24 January. 6th Army turned north toward Kharkov.

An ad hoc German unit, ‘Mackensen’ Group, blocked the Soviet 57th Army north of Krasnoarmeyskoye. 6th, 57th, and 9th Armies with the assistance of a Cavalry Corps held a salient at Balakleya, Lozovanya, and Slavyansk 88 kilometers deep and 113 kilometers across. The attempt to defeat the Germans in the Donbass failed.

Against Army Group North the 2nd Shock Army penetrated the German line moving toward Lyuban. This fighting continued through February. The salient gained there could not be extended or widened. Ultimately, the Germans surrounded Vlasov’s 2nd Shock Army in March.

Returning to Army Group Center the Soviet 5th and 33rd Armies liberated Ruza, Mozhaysk, and Vereya on 20 January while the paratroops dropped on Zhelanye straddled the enemy routes to the rear. The Soviet 33rd Army, assisted by cavalry blocked the Warsaw road on 27 January striking for Vyazma, but German forces restored their line along the Ugra River. This success cut off Soviet forces near Zhelanye. They continued to fight alongside the partisans until April.

Shortage of shells prohibited an artillery offensive on 14 February. STAVKA’s directive of 20 March insisted on a more energetic prosecution of the German-held Rzhev, Gzhatsk, Vyazma triangle. The spring thaw finally forced STAVKA to accept a defensive posture. It also allowed the Germans to attack the concentration of partisans near Zhelanye inflicting severe casualties on them.

The winter offensive smashed the myth of the invincibility of the German Army. German losses included 500,000 men, 1,300 tanks, 2,500 guns and 15,000 assorted vehicles.

For the Soviets, the block on the German advance allowed the completion of the transfer of most of Soviet industry to the east and production began ramping up.

By 1 May Hitler’s plans for the Soviet Union solidified. He focused on the southern sector. Donbas would be removed from the Soviet military/economic balance. Transportation on the Volga would be cut off. He intended a siege on oil supplies and a conquest of Stalingrad as a hold on the Soviet military forces. The taking of the Caucasus oilfields would draw Turkey into the war.

Additionally, psychological operations ensured Stalin believed the capture of Moscow remained of high importance in German strategy.

For the summer offensive the Soviet Army possessed 5,500,000 men, 5,000 tanks, 41,000 guns and 2,500 combat aircraft.

The Germans possessed 217 divisions, and 20 brigades at 89 to 90% strength, and three air fleets. This force consisted of 6,200,000 men, 57,000 guns, 3,200 tanks and assault guns, 3,400 combat aircraft, 300 surface ships, and 44 submarines.

The next phase of the battle was about to begin.

Sources: “The Russian Recovery,” John Erickson, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

“The Moscow Counterblow,” Marshal Zhukov, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

“The Kharkov Offensives,” Colonel Vasili Morozov, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

The Soviet Riposte

Jack KruseLeave a comment

The Germans entered the Moscow suburbs on 5 December, 1941, as the Soviets went on the offensive. But the Soviets had suffered greater losses in six months than any army in history. Stalin commanded an attack against a German Army unprepared for the Russian winter.

With the occupation of Minsk and Riga, with Moscow nearly surrounded and factories moving east, the Soviet Union saw a drop in the production of war materials. Electric generation stations shut down. Coal supplies were lost. Kharkov’s production of tanks stopped. Aircraft production was reduced from July’s output of 2,000 to 627 in November. Leningrad, though surrounded, continued production of guns and ammunition and sent the products to Moscow by air.

Losses among Soviet fighting units reduced their effectiveness. The population, fleeing German occupation, reduced available manpower for the military. The Army resorted to conscription of the available population. Barely trained recruits received a few lectures on warfare and were thrown into the front line against accomplished German adversaries. Experienced soldiers from the far eastern Kwantung Army traveled by train across Siberia into the west.

Stalin called General Zhukov to ask if he felt Moscow could be held.

Severe frost and deep snow enveloped central Russia, but the Soviet troops possessed high morale.

On 2 December the 65th Ground Attack Air Regiment destroyed 100 vehicles near Solnechnogorsk. That night the air force of Moscow Military Air District destroyed 20 enemy aircraft on the ground near Klin.

Kalinin Front launched their attack 5 December and on 6 December penetrated the German defenses south of Kalinin. Solnechnogorsk was entered on the evening of 9 December and the Germans were driven out by the 12th. Kryukovo was taken on 8 December. Klin was taken on the 15th.

Guderian’s II Panzer Army retreated from Tula beginning on 3 December intending to stand at Venev. However, on 6 December II Panzer Army’s flank at Mikhailov was attacked and the Germans fell back from Venev and Mikhailov toward Uzlovaya, Bogoroditsk, and Sukhinichi.

On 9 December reconnaissance aircraft detected the German retreat. The Soviets advanced 130 kilometers. By 12 December the German flank forces had been defeated.

Soviet paratroops were dropped west of Teryayeva Sloboda on 15 December.

From 13 December to 24 December the Western Front moved their right wing to the Zubtsov—Gzkatsk line and the left wing to Polotnyany—Zavod-Kozelsk with the center on Mozhaysk—Maloyaroslavets.

All of this was accomplished with the assistance of the Air Defense Forces and the Long Range Air Force which attacked artillery positions, tank units, and command posts.

In the north the Kalinin front reached the area of Staritsa on 17 December.

By 1 January, 1942, the only front still moving was Western Front. The right wing met German resistance on the Lama and Ruza Rivers. The center, on the Ruza, Nara, and Oka Rivers struck toward Mozhaysk, Borovsk, and Maloyaroslavets, while the left wing pursued the enemy in the direction of Yukhnov, Mosalsk, and Kirov. A request for fresh forces to continue the pursuit of the Germans was refused.

Sources: “Battle for Moscow: The Russian View,” Colonel D. Proektor, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

“The Russian Recovery,” John Erickson. History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

“The Moscow Counterblow: The Russian View,” Marshal G. K. Zhukov, History of the Second World War Magazine, 1970s

The Soviet Air Force in World War II, Edited by Ray Wagner, Translated by Leland Fetzer, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1973