Dates of the Stalingrad and Kursk battles. Stalingrad and Kursk battles
Battle of Stalingrad, one of greatest battles The Great Patriotic War was a turning point in the course of the Second World War. Interest in Stalingrad is not weakening, and the disputes of researchers do not subside. Stalingrad is a city that has become a symbol of suffering and pain, a symbol of the greatest courage. Stalingrad will remain in the memory of mankind for centuries Battle of Stalingrad conditionally divided into two periods: defensive and offensive. The defensive period began on July 17, 1942 and ended on November 18, 1942. The offensive period began with a counteroffensive Soviet troops November 19, 1942 and ended with victorious volleys on February 2, 1943. At certain stages, more than 2 million people participated in the battle. (on the distant approaches from July 17 to August 10, 1942, on the near ones - from August 10 to September 13, 1942) By the middle of summer 1942, the battles of the Great Patriotic War had reached the banks of the Volga. In the plan of a large-scale offensive in the south of our country (Caucasus, Crimea), the command Nazi Germany includes Stalingrad (Hitler's directive No. 41 of April 5, 1942). Purpose: to take over the industrial city, whose enterprises produced military products (factories "Red October", "Barrikada", Tractor); reach the Volga, along which in the shortest possible time it was possible to get to the Caspian Sea, to the Caucasus, where the oil necessary for the front was extracted. Hitler plans to carry out this plan with the forces of one 6th Paulus field army in just a week - by July 25, 1942. On July 14, 1942, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Stalingrad region was declared under a state of siege. July 17, 1942 was the day of the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Kletsky, Surovikinsky, Serafimovichsky, Chernyshkovsky districts of our region were the first to meet the enemy. Well-prepared, armed, numerically superior to ours, the Nazi army, at the cost of any losses, sought to get to Stalingrad, and the Soviet soldiers, at the cost of incredible efforts, had to hold back the onslaught of the enemy. The forces of the advancing enemy were opposed by the Stalingrad Front. It was created by decision of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on July 12, 1942. It included: 62nd, 63rd, 64th, 21st, 28th, 38th, 57th combined arms armies, as well as 8 I'm an air force.
The complexity of the situation also consisted in the fact that our troops experienced an acute shortage of anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery, in a number of formations there was not enough ammunition. Most of the divisions that arrived from the Headquarters Reserve did not yet have combat experience, other divisions were exhausted in previous battles. The open steppe nature of the terrain allowed enemy aircraft to strike at the Soviet troops and inflict great damage in people, weapons and military equipment. The battles for the main line of defense were preceded by the battles of the forward detachments. They also included cadet regiments. Having just left the walls of military schools, young officers went on their first attack as ordinary soldiers.
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk occupies the Great Patriotic War special place. It lasted 50 days and nights, from July 5 to August 23, 1943. This battle has no equal in its bitterness and stubbornness of the struggle.
The general plan of the German command was to encircle and destroy the troops of the Central and Voronezh fronts defending in the Kursk region. If successful, it was supposed to expand the front of the offensive and return the strategic initiative. To implement his plans, the enemy concentrated powerful strike groups, which numbered over 900 thousand people, about 10 thousand guns and mortars, up to 2700 tanks and assault guns, about 2050 aircraft. Great hopes were placed on the latest Tiger and Panther tanks, Ferdinand assault guns, Focke-Wulf-190-A fighter planes, and Heinkel-129 attack aircraft.
The Soviet command decided to first bleed the enemy strike groups in defensive battles, and then go on the counteroffensive. The battle that began immediately took on a grandiose scope and was of an extremely tense character. Our troops did not flinch. They met the avalanche of enemy tanks and infantry with unprecedented stamina and courage. The offensive of the enemy strike groups was suspended. Only at the cost of huge losses did he manage to penetrate our defenses in some areas. On the Central Front - at 10-12 km, on the Voronezh - up to 35 km. Hitler's operation "Citadel" was finally buried by the largest oncoming tank battle near Prokhorovka in the entire Second World War. It happened on July 12th. 1200 tanks and self-propelled guns simultaneously participated in it from both sides. This battle was won by the Soviet soldiers. The Nazis, having lost up to 400 tanks during the day of the battle, were forced to abandon the offensive.
On July 12, the second stage of the Battle of Kursk began - the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops. On August 5, Soviet troops liberated the cities of Orel and Belgorod. On the evening of August 5, in honor of this major success, a victorious salute was given in Moscow for the first time in two years of the war. Since that time, artillery salutes have constantly announced the glorious victories of Soviet weapons. On August 23, Kharkov was liberated. So the battle on the Kursk fiery arch ended victoriously. During it, 30 selected enemy divisions were defeated. The fascist German troops lost about 500,000 men, 1,500 tanks, 3,000 guns and 3,700 aircraft. For courage and heroism over 100 thousand. Soviet soldiers- participants in the Battle of the Fiery Arc, were awarded orders and medals. The Battle of Kursk ended with a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War.
Belarusian operation (1944)
On June 22, 1944, the day before the start of the general offensive, reconnaissance in force was carried out. At the front of 450 km, 45 reconnaissance units operated simultaneously. On the whole, reconnaissance in force, despite its failure in the zone of the 11th Guards and 31st Armies (the area of the Minsk Highway to the north and south), achieved its goal - the front line of defense, the fire system, and the enemy grouping were clarified. In addition, the enemy, having taken the actions of the forward battalions as the beginning of a general offensive, used up a significant part of his divisional and even corps reserves.
During the first two days of the operation, formations of the strike force of the 1st Baltic Front and the northern strike group of the 3rd Belorussian Front broke through the enemy's tactical defense zone to a depth of 25-30 km, inflicting significant losses on him. The troops of the 1st Baltic Front crossed the river. Western Dvina. Favorable conditions were created for the encirclement of the enemy in the Vitebsk region.
Five enemy divisions were surrounded and destroyed near Vitebsk, two divisions were defeated. The total losses of the enemy near Vitebsk amounted to over 20 thousand people killed and more than 10 thousand wounded.
The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front went on the offensive on June 24. On the first day of the operation, they broke through the main line of defense, and on the second day, the second line.
The front commander decided to deliver a concentrated strike on the Nazis with aviation. From 19:00 to 20:00 on June 27, 526 aircraft delivered a massive attack on the enemy, dropping 11,300 bombs and firing 572 rockets and 41,000 shells and cartridges. The enemy suffered huge losses and was scattered. On June 29, ground troops that went on the offensive finished off the enemy.
As a result of the Bobruisk operation, the enemy lost 73,680 people killed and captured. The main forces of the 9th Army were defeated. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front deeply enveloped the 4th Nazi Army from the south.
The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front, acting in the Mogilev direction, by the end of June 29, advanced to a depth of 90 km, crossed the Dnieper and liberated the city of Mogilev. This completed the first phase of the operation. For six days, the troops of the fronts crossed six rivers. including such a large water barrier as the Dnieper.
On July 3, troops of the 3rd and 1st Belorussian Fronts completed the encirclement of a 105,000-strong group of Nazi troops east of Minsk. Its liquidation lasted from 5 to 11 July. It was carried out by cutting the enemy with blows from several sides with simultaneous compression of the inner front of the encirclement. The partisans rendered great assistance in these battles to the regular troops, who from July 8 to July 11 bore the brunt of the fight against disparate enemy groups.
The defeat of the enemy army group "Center" was of great military-political and strategic importance. The most important result of this operation was the liberation of the Byelorussian SSR, a large part of the Lithuanian SSR and the eastern part of our allied Poland. The Soviet troops, having crossed the G. Neman, approached the borders of fascist Germany.
The enemy suffered huge losses. Of the 97 divisions and 13 brigades that participated in the battles at different times, 17 divisions and 3 brigades were completely destroyed. 50 divisions suffered losses from 60 to 70% of the entire composition.
1st Belorussian Front, aimed at Berlin
Zhukov leads the operation to take Berlin. Huge work was carried out in the rear to provide the army with ammunition and fuel, evacuate the wounded and feed millions of people.
In November 1944, the General Staff began to plan fighting on the outskirts of Berlin. It was necessary to defeat the German army group "A" and complete the liberation of Poland.
The Soviet attack on Berlin was carefully prepared. It was transferred to the city great amount ammunition and military equipment. The troops of three fronts took part in the Berlin operation. The command was entrusted to marshals G.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky and I.S. Konev. On both sides, 3.5 million people participated in the battle.
The assault began on April 16, 1945. At 3 am Berlin time, under the light of 140 searchlights, tanks and infantry attacked the positions of the Germans. After four days of fighting, the fronts commanded by Zhukov and Konev, with the support of two armies of the Polish Army, closed the ring around Berlin. 93 enemy divisions were defeated, about 490 thousand people were taken prisoner, a huge amount of captured military equipment and weapons. On this day, a meeting of Soviet and American troops on the Elbe took place.
The Hitlerite command declared: "Berlin will remain German," and everything possible was done for this. Hitler refused to surrender and threw old people and children into street fighting. He hoped for strife among the allies. The prolongation of the war led to numerous casualties.
On April 21, the first assault detachments reached the outskirts of the German capital and started street fighting. German soldiers offered fierce resistance, surrendering only in hopeless situations.
On May 1, at 3 o'clock, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, General Krebs, was delivered to the command post of the 8th Guards Army. He stated that Hitler had committed suicide on 30 April and offered to start negotiations for an armistice.
On the night of May 9, an act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed. The war in Europe is over.
Stage 1 - July 17 - November 19, 1942- defensive battles, state of siege 125 days, street fighting. The enemy forces outnumbered them 1.7 times in personnel, 1.3 times in artillery and tanks, and 2 times in aircraft. The capture of the region of Stalingrad by the enemy represented a serious danger, since it was here that the main artery of the country passed, along which Baku oil, necessary for the front, the national economy, was transported.
The fall of the city of Stalingrad and a breakthrough to the Volga would lead to the loss of a major hub, communications linking the central regions of the European part Soviet Union with the Caucasus, as well as disruption of communications on highways going to Central Asia and the Urals. R. was of particular importance. The Volga, along which Caucasian oil was transported. The city of Stalingrad was also of great strategic importance for the Soviet troops. Holding the Stalingrad area, the Soviet troops hung from the north over the Caucasian grouping of the enemy and had a real opportunity at the right time to strike at its flank and rear, and subsequently completely defeat his troops at the southern end of the Soviet-German front.
Based on a deep analysis of the situation, the Soviet Supreme High Command correctly determined the significance of the city of Stalingrad, foreseeing that it was here that the decisive struggle would unfold at this stage of the war. Considering also that in the most difficult situation, the Stalingrad direction has become extremely advantageous in operational terms, since from there it is possible to deliver a very dangerous blow to the flank and rear of the enemy grouping advancing through the river. Don to the Caucasus. Thus, the idea of the Stavka to organize a strategic defense was to bleed and stop the enemy in stubborn defensive battles, preventing him from reaching the river. Volga, to win the time necessary to prepare strategic reserves and advance them to the region of the city of Stalingrad in order to subsequently go on a decisive offensive.
July 17, 1942 vanguard divisions of the 6th german army met at the turn of the Chir and Tsimla rivers with the forward detachments of the 62nd and 64th armies of the Stalingrad Front. Squad fights put Start great battle of Stalingrad. The heroic struggle of the Soviet soldiers continued for six days. With their perseverance and steadfastness, they did not allow the enemy to break through to Stalingrad on the move. When in a large bend of the river. Don, in single combat with the 6th German Army, units of the Stalingrad Front entered, the enemy realized that in this direction he would meet strong resistance from the Soviet troops. On July 23, the Nazi command issued Directive No. 45. It specified the tasks for the troops advancing towards the Volga and the Caucasus.
Army Group "B" (2nd, 6th German and 2nd Hungarian armies), which included 30 divisions, was ordered to defeat the grouping of Soviet troops in the region of Stalingrad, capture the city and disrupt transportation along the Volga; subsequently strike along the river to the southeast and reach the city of Astrakhan. Army Group "A" (1st, 4th tank, 17th, 11th field armies), which had 41 divisions, was supposed to surround and destroy the forces of Soviet troops in the area south and southeast of the city of Rostov-on -Don, and cut the Tikhoretsk-Stalingrad railway with advanced units. After the destruction of the grouping of Soviet troops south of the river. Don, it was planned to develop the offensive in three directions for the complete mastery of the Caucasus.
The Soviet army suffered huge losses, but stood to the death, because everyone knew that there was nowhere to retreat further. If the enemy captures the city of Stalingrad, then the Soviet army simply could not win further in this battle, and if it had chances, then they were simply scanty, that it would be almost impossible. At this time, the slogan "Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat!" and so the fighters of the Stalingrad Front fought. They fought not for life, but to the death. This was confirmed by the huge number of feats that were performed these days in the city of Stalingrad and on its outskirts. Here is some of them.
Immortal heroism was shown in the sky of Stalingrad by the Soviet pilot Major V.V. Zemlyansky. On August 7, 1942, he brought down his burning plane on enemy tanks in the 74 km siding area.
In October 1942, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Barricades plant, signalman 308khy rifle division Matvey Putilov, under enemy fire, carried out the task of restoring communications. When he was looking for a broken wire, he was wounded in the shoulder by a fragment of a mine. Overcoming the pain, Putilov crawled to the place where the wire was broken, he was wounded a second time; an enemy mine crushed his hand. Losing consciousness and unable to use his hand, the sergeant squeezed the ends of the wire with his teeth, and a current passed through his body. Having restored communication, Putilov died with the ends of telephone wires clenched in his teeth.
And there were dozens, hundreds of such feats. The soldiers rushed to the embrasures of enemy tanks, the pilots went to air and ground rams, and they all knew that they would die or could die, but this did not prevent them from performing more and more feats. Speaking about everything, one cannot fail to mention the Stalingrad crossings, which played an important role in the Battle of Stalingrad. With the beginning of the bombing of Stalingrad, all ferry crossings connecting the city center with the left bank of the river. The Volga were forced to stop working, as the enemy attacked ships, moorings and wharfs.
Made through the river. Volga flights of single river vessels, more than 10 VVF minesweepers and means of pontoon-bridge battalions, saving the inhabitants of the city. Maneuvering among the explosions of bombs, dodging cannon-machine-gun bursts of fascist aircraft and fighting off their attacks with the fire of their anti-aircraft weapons, they made their way to the right bank of the river. Volga, delivering military reinforcements, ammunition, equipment, and there they took the inhabitants and wounded soldiers and transported them to the left bank.
The fire-and-rescue ship "Gassitel" these days was in the thick of it. He rushed along the raid from one burning or damaged boat to another, saving them from fire and towing them to a safe place. He became famous in those days throughout the river. Volga is a small old paddle steamer "Swallow". In the early days of the furious bombing, the Lastochka transported residents from the city on fire to the left bank of the river. Volga. Working at the Stalingrad crossings, the Lastochka transported 18 thousand people and towed 20 thousand tons of various cargo.
On September 12, at a meeting at the headquarters of the Wehrmacht near Vinnitsa, Hitler resolutely demanded that Stalingrad be captured at any cost and as soon as possible. To storm the city, the troops of Army Group "B" were significantly strengthened by the transfer of formations from the Caucasian direction Western front. As a result, only during the first half of September, nine divisions and one brigade were sent to the region of Stalingrad.
Fact: from the memoirs of Zhukov: “September 13, 14, 15 were difficult, too difficult days for the Stalingraders. The enemy, regardless of anything, step by step made his way through the ruins of the city closer to the Volga. It seemed like people couldn't take it. But as soon as the enemy rushed forward, as our glorious fighters shot him point-blank, the ruins of Stalingrad became a fortress. However, the forces of the defenders of the city became less and less every hour. A turning point in these difficult days, and as it sometimes seemed last hours, the 13th guards army A.I. Rodimtsev. After crossing to Stalingrad, she immediately counterattacked the enemy. Her blow was completely unexpected for the enemy. On September 16, Rodimtsev's division, along with other units of the 62nd Army, recaptured Mamaev Kurgan. The defenders of Stalingrad were greatly helped by their strikes against the enemy by A.E. Golovanov and S. I. Rudenko, counterattacks of the troops of the Stalingrad Front from the north.
The names of the soldiers of the garrisons of the House of Sergeant Ya.F. Pavlov and the House of Lieutenant N.E. Zabolotny, whose exploits have become a symbol of great courage and mass heroism of the soldiers of the Soviet army. On the night of December 27, 1942, the reconnaissance group of the 7th company of the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, consisting of Sergeant Ya.F. Pavlova knocked out the enemies from a four-story building on Penzenskaya Street and held him for almost three days.
The defense of the legendary house, which went down in the history of the Great Patriotic War as an immortal monument of military glory, lasted 58 days. And this is not the only case of heroism in the history of the city of Stalingrad. The defenders of this proud fought not only with amazing courage and self-sacrifice, but also with increasing skill.
In preparation for the general assault, the German command mobilized all possible forces. Almost all the reinforcements that arrived on the Soviet-German front were sent to the city of Stalingrad. It was intended to inflict the main blow of the enemy on the Tractor Plant and the Barrikady and Krasny Oktyabr plants. Their actions were supported by up to 1 thousand aircraft.
On October 10, the Nazis launched violent attacks against the units defending the Tractor Plant. The attacks followed one after another, the German command planned to capture the Tractor Plant and, having dismembered the 62nd Army, destroy it. Having suffered heavy losses, on October 15 the enemy captured the Tractor Plant and broke through to the river on a narrow 2.5-kilometer section. Volga. The position of the troops of the 62nd Army deteriorated significantly. Colonel Gorokhov's group was cut off from the main forces of the army. And yet, the Nazi generals and their divisions did not comply with the Fuhrer's order. Soviet soldiers thwarted the plan to capture the city.
On the final stage During the defensive battle, a struggle broke out for the Krasny Oktyabr and Barrikada factories, as well as in the area of the Rynok village. The Soviet units lacked manpower, firepower, people were tired of continuous battles. The maneuver by the forces and means of the defending troops was limited. The Nazis captured the dominant heights and shot through the area not only with artillery, but also with rifle and machine-gun fire to the entire depth of the defense. Thousands of aircraft stormed the positions of Soviet soldiers from the air. But the defenders of Stalingrad steadfastly held the line.
The whole world followed with great attention the course of the battle on the river. Volga. The word "Stalingrad" did not leave the pages of the press, it spread over all continents on the air. Everywhere people felt and understood that the outcome of the war was being decided in Stalingrad.
The defense of the city lasted more than two months and ended in the collapse of enemy plans. Hitler did not achieve his goal. The heroic city was held. The offensive capabilities of the fascist German army dried up in bloody battles on the outskirts of Stalingrad and in the city itself. The losses of the Nazi troops over the entire defensive period were very impressive: about 700,000 soldiers and officers were wounded and killed, more than 1,000 tanks and assault guns, over 2,000 guns and mortars, over 1,400 combat and transport aircraft.
The heroic defense of the Soviet troops near the city of Stalingrad demonstrated to the whole world the high morale and combat qualities of the Soviet troops, their invincible stamina and mass heroism. The whole country came to the aid of the defenders of Stalingrad. New units and formations of all types of troops were formed. More military equipment of new models began to arrive. The combat skill of Soviet soldiers grew, having received severe hardening in the crucible of wars. As a result of the strengthening of the power of the Soviet state, the army exhausted and bled the fascist hordes. This created the conditions for the transition of the Soviet troops to the counteroffensive, the beginning of which marks a new period in the Great Patriotic War.
Thus ended the first half of the heroic epic of Stalingrad, unparalleled in history.
Stage 2 - November 19 - 30, 1942 - the operation of the Soviet troops "Uranus"- On November 19, the troops of the Southwestern and Don fronts, after a powerful artillery preparation, in which 3,500 guns and mortars took part, went on the offensive. "Right at 7 o'clock. 30 minutes. November 19 - Colonel-General I.M. Chistyakov - the silence of a frosty November morning was torn apart by a volley of guards mortars. And along with the Katyushas, all our guns and mortars hit. The God of War spoke at the top of his voice. An hour and twenty minutes of cannonade thundered. Hundreds of tons of metal fell on the head of the enemy.
Fact:“On November 19 at 7:30 am,” Zhukov describes, “the troops Southwestern Front with a mighty blow, they broke through the defenses of the 3rd Romanian army simultaneously in two sectors: the 5th tank army under the command of Lieutenant General Romanenko from the bridgehead southwest of Serafimovich and the 21st Army under the command of Major General Chistyakov from the bridgehead near Kletskaya. The Romanian troops could not withstand the blow and began to retreat or surrender. The enemy, with a strong counterattack by the German units, tried to stop the advance of our troops, but was crushed by the 1st and 2nd tank corps brought into action. The tactical breakthrough in the sector of the Southwestern Front was completed.
On November 20, the army of the Stalingrad Front, commanded by General A.I. Eremenko.
On November 23, in the Kalach region, the troops of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts met. From the north, units of the 26th tank corps of General A.G. Rodin and the 4th tank corps of General A.G. Kravchenko, and from the south - parts of the 4th mechanized corps of General V.T. Volsky. The encirclement of the enemy is complete. There were 22 divisions and 160 separate parts the sixth and fourth tank German armies with a total strength of over 300 thousand people.
By the end of November 25, the external and internal fronts of the encirclement were created. The first was formed by the troops of all three fronts that took part in Operation Uranus, the second was created by part of the forces of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts, which reached the line of the Krivaya and Chir rivers and further along the line of Suravikino, Abganerovo, Umantsevo.
By November 30, when Operation Uranus was basically completed, Soviet troops formed a 300-kilometer gap in the enemy's strategic front. His large grouping was squeezed into a dense ring of encirclement. The length of the encirclement front was 170 kilometers. The ratio of forces of the parties here was 1:1.5 in favor of ours. The Nazi command could not accept the fact that such a large group was surrounded. Hitler and his inner circle did not even allow the thought of withdrawing the 6th Army from the encirclement.
In order to restore the situation and unblock the encirclement of the troops, the fascist command began urgently transferring reserves from other sectors of the Soviet-German front and from Western Europe. From the troops operating near Stalingrad and the approaching reserves, it formed the Don Army Group, at the head of which was placed the experienced fascist Field Marshal E. Manstein. This grouping was supposed to strike at the city of Stalingrad, break through the outer front of the encirclement of Soviet troops and connect with the 6th Army. This plan was codenamed "Winter Storm". These actions were to begin on a special signal - "Thunderbolt".
The Soviet Supreme High Command unraveled the enemy and set the task for the troops of the Don and Stalingrad fronts to destroy the encircled group. The plan for the final defeat of the encircled enemy, developed by the Stavka representative together with the Military Council of the Don Front, was approved on January 4, 1943. It provided for a dissecting blow from west to east, simultaneously cutting off individual enemy units, and then destroying each of them separately.
On January 8, 1943, the Soviet command offered to surrender to the encircled enemy. The terms of surrender testified to the humane nature of the ultimatum and fully complied with international relations. After being taken prisoner, all soldiers and officers were guaranteed personal security, immediate provision with normal food, and the wounded and sick with medical care. The ultimatum expired at 10 a.m. on January 9th. By order of Hitler, the ultimatum was rejected.
On the morning of January 10, 1943, exactly one day after the expiration of the ultimatum, the Soviet troops began to liquidate the encircled group. After a powerful artillery and aviation preparation, the infantry and tanks went on the offensive. The last operation near the city of Stalingrad began, bearing the code name "Ring". Despite the stubborn resistance of the enemy, his defenses were broken through in all directions of the offensive of the Soviet troops. The ring of encirclement was shrinking every day. Doomed to death, the Nazi soldiers experienced hunger, even horses were eaten. Stocks of ammunition, fuel catastrophically melted. The hospitals were overflowing with the wounded and sick, and there was not enough medicine.
January 10 - February 2, 1943- Operation "Ring" to eliminate the enemy group - 113 thousand people were taken prisoner, including 2.5 thousand officers, 23 generals, led by Field Marshal F. Pauls. Exhausted, hungry, frostbitten German prisoners, despite the efforts of Soviet military doctors, were dying. No more than 6 thousand “Stalingraders” returned to Germany after the war. Later F. Pauls will write that "the doctors and the command of the Red Army did everything that was humanly possible to save the lives of the prisoners."
Fact: after the surrender in Stalingrad, Field Marshal Pauls was in Soviet captivity for 10 years. At the Nuremberg trials, he acted as a witness for the Soviet prosecution, in 1953 he was handed over to the authorities of the GDR; worked as an inspector public education. Died 1957
Results: the aggravation of the internal political situation in fascist Germany; activation of the resistance movement in the occupied countries; Japan refrained from entering the war against the USSR; Turkey remained neutral; Soviet troops, going on the offensive along the entire front, put out of action 43% of the Nazi troops on the Eastern Front, and ensured the beginning of a radical turning point in the war.
After fierce battles in the winter of 1942-1943. there was a lull on the Soviet-German front: the belligerents learned lessons from past battles; outlined plans for further action; accumulated reserves, regrouped; replenished with people and equipment.
The military-political situation of the USSR by the summer of 1943: authority in the international arena has grown, relations with other states have expanded; grew up military art and technical equipment of the army due to the development of military production.
Since March 1943, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (VGK) has been working on a strategic offensive plan, the task of which was to defeat the main forces of Army Group South and Center, to crush enemy defense at the front from Smolensk to the Black Sea. It was assumed that the Soviet troops would be the first to go on the offensive. However, in mid-April, based on information that the Wehrmacht command was planning to launch an offensive near the city of Kursk, it was decided to bleed the German troops with a powerful defense, and then go on the counteroffensive. Possessing a strategic initiative, the Soviet side deliberately began hostilities not on the offensive, but on the defensive. The development of events showed that this plan was correct.
Since the spring of 1943, Nazi Germany has launched intense preparations for the offensive. The Nazis organized the mass production of new medium and heavy tanks, increased the production of guns, mortars and combat aircraft compared to 1942. Due to the total mobilization, they almost completely made up for the losses incurred in personnel.
The fascist German command decided to carry out a major offensive operation in the summer of 1943 and once again seize the strategic initiative. The idea of the operation was to encircle and destroy the Soviet troops in the Kursk ledge with powerful counter strikes from the Orel and Belgorod regions to Kursk. In the future, the enemy intended to defeat the Soviet troops in the Donbass. To carry out the operation near Kursk, called the Citadel, the enemy concentrated huge forces and appointed the most experienced military commanders: 50 divisions, including 16 tank divisions, Army Group Center (commanded by Field Marshal G. Kluge) and Army Group " South "(Commander General - Field Marshal E. Manstein). In total, the enemy strike groupings included over 900 thousand people, about 10 thousand guns and mortars, up to 2700 tanks and assault guns and more than 2000 aircraft.
Battle of Kursk - July 5-August 23, 1943
It took place in two stages:
1. The offensive of the Nazi troops against the northern and southern faces of the Kursk ledge, which began on July 5, 1943, was opposed by the Soviet command with a strong active defense. The enemy, attacking Kursk from the north, was stopped four days later. He managed to wedge into the defense of the Soviet troops for 10-12 km. The group advancing on Kursk from the south advanced 35 km, but did not reach its goal.
2. On July 12, the Soviet troops, having exhausted the enemy, launched a counteroffensive. On this day in the area railway station Prokhorovka was the largest tank battle of World War II (up to 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns on both sides). Developing the offensive, the Soviet ground troops, supported from the air by strikes by the forces of the 2nd and 17th air armies, as well as by long-range aviation, by August 23 they pushed the enemy back 140-150 km to the west, liberated the cities of Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov.
conclusions: the counter-offensive of the Red Army near Kursk ended for us with an outstanding victory. Irreparable losses were inflicted on the enemy, all his attempts to hold strategic bridgeheads in the Orel and Kharkov regions were thwarted.
1. The success of the counteroffensive was ensured, above all, by the skillful choice of the moment for our troops to go on the offensive. It began in conditions when the main German strike groups suffered huge losses and a crisis was determined in their offensive. Success was also ensured by the skillful organization of strategic relations between groups of fronts advancing in the western and southwestern, as well as in other directions. This made it impossible for the fascist German command to carry out a regrouping of troops in areas that were dangerous to it.
2. A huge impact on the success of the counteroffensive was made by the large strategic reserves of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, which were previously created in the Kursk direction, used to develop the offensive of the fronts.
3. For the first time, Soviet troops solved the problem of breaking through the preparatory, in-depth defense of the enemy in advance and the subsequent development of operational success. This was achieved thanks to the creation of powerful groupings in the fronts and armies, the massing of forces and means in the breakthrough areas and the presence of tank formations in the fronts, and large tank (mechanized) formations in the armies.
4. Before the start of the counteroffensive, reconnaissance in force was carried out more widely than in previous operations, not only by reinforced companies, but also by forward battalions.
5. In the course of the counteroffensive, the fronts and armies gained experience in repulsing counterattacks by large enemy tank groupings. It was carried out with the close cooperation of all branches of the armed forces and aviation. In order to stop the enemy and crush his advancing troops, the fronts and armies part of the forces went over to a tough defense while delivering a powerful blow to the flank and rear of the enemy's counterstrike grouping. As a result of an increase in the number of military equipment and means of strengthening the tactical density of our troops in the counteroffensive near the city of Kursk, they increased by 2-3 times in comparison with the counteroffensive near the city of Stalingrad.
6. New in the field of offensive combat tactics was the transition of units and formations from one-echelon to deep-echelon battle formations. This turned out to be possible due to the narrowing of their sectors and offensive zones.
7. In the counteroffensive near Kursk, the methods of using military branches and aviation were improved. On a larger scale, tank and mechanized troops were used. The density of NPP tanks, compared with the counteroffensive near Stalingrad, increased and amounted to 15-20 tanks and self-propelled guns per 1 km of the front. However, when breaking through a strong defense in depth of the enemy, such densities turned out to be insufficient. Tank and mechanized corps became the main means of developing success combined arms armies, and tank armies of homogeneous composition - the echelon of the development of the success of the front. Their use to complete the breakthrough of a pre-prepared positional defense was a necessary measure, often leading to significant losses of tanks, to the weakening of tank formations and formations, but in the specific conditions of the situation this justified itself. For the first time, self-propelled artillery regiments were widely used near Kursk. Experience has shown that they were an effective means of supporting the offensive of tanks and infantry.
8. There were also peculiarities in the use of artillery: the density of guns and mortars increased significantly in the direction of the main attack; the gap between the end of artillery preparation and the beginning of attack support was eliminated; army artillery groups began to be divided into subgroups according to the number of first-echelon corps; in rifle regiment along with the infantry support group, a direct fire group was created.
9. The main tasks of the engineering troops were to blockade, restore and build roads and bridges, clear minefields, cover flanks, secure captured lines and ensure the formation of water barriers.
10. The Air Force finally won air supremacy and inflicted irreparable losses on enemy aircraft. They were used over the battlefield in close cooperation with ground troops.
Results: the battle near Kursk was the main event of the summer-autumn company of the second period of the Great Patriotic War.
1. Of the 70 enemy divisions that participated in this battle, the Red Army defeated 30 divisions, including 7 tank divisions, and destroyed over 3,500 aircraft. Conditions were created for our troops to go over to the general offensive along most of the Soviet-German front. The crushing defeat of the Nazi troops on the Kursk Bulge completed a radical turning point in the course of the war.
2. As a result of the battle near the city of Kursk, the Soviet troops broke the backbone of the fascist German army, thwarted its attempts to take revenge for the defeat at Stalingrad and forced it to finally switch to strategic defense. The Soviet Armed Forces firmly seized the strategic initiative. A radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War in favor of the USSR was completed.
3. The Battle of Kursk forced the German fascist command to remove large formations of troops and aviation from the Mediterranean theater of operations, which allowed the American-British troops to carry out an operation in Italy and ultimately predetermined the withdrawal of this country from the war. The defeat at Kursk undermined the morale of the Nazi army and aggravated the crisis within the Hitlerite aggressive bloc.
4. In the countries conquered by the fascist troops, the national liberation movement began to develop even more.
For courage and heroism shown in the Battle of Kursk, more than 100 thousand soldiers, officers and generals of the Red Army were awarded orders and medals, 180 especially distinguished soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Stage I - July 17 - November 19, 1942 - defensive battles, state of siege for 125 days, street fighting. It began on July 17, 1942 in difficult conditions for the Soviet troops: German troops outnumbered the Red Army in personnel by 1.7 times, in artillery and tanks - by 1.3 times, in aircraft - more than 2 times.
Order No. 227 of July 28, 1942 by the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I. Stalin, known as "Not a step back!" It required by any means to stop the offensive of the German troops and considered practical measures to strengthen the morale and discipline of the soldiers.
In the second half of August, the Nazis managed to break through to the Volga in the north of Stalingrad and cut off the troops that defended the city from the rest of the front forces. On September 13, 1942, stubborn battles began in the city. They fought for every street, every house. In mid-October 1942, in the Stalingrad direction, almost on a 900-kilometer front, the enemy went over to the defensive. The exception was Stalingrad, where the fighting continued with the same force. Here, the commander of the 6th German field army, General of the Tank Forces F. Paulus, deployed more than half of his forces, trying at any cost to fulfill Hitler's order to "finally capture" the city on the Volga.
Soon the German command realized that events were developing contrary to the plans. In the first half of November 1942, German air reconnaissance and other sources invariably confirmed that the Soviet command was not only reinforcing troops in Stalingrad, but was also concentrating large forces to the northwest and south of the city.
In connection with the current situation, the commander of the 6th Army, General Paulus, proposed to withdraw troops from the Stalingrad region beyond the Don, thus reducing the greatly extended front and using the released forces to create more powerful reserves. Instead of withdrawing the troops of the right wing of Army Group B beyond the Don, the 6th Army was ordered to capture the city as soon as possible. Hitler stated his credo with the utmost clarity in one of his appeals to the German people in October 1942: "The German soldier will remain wherever he sets foot."
Stage II - November 19, 1942 - the operation of the Soviet troops "Uranus" - the offensive of the South-Western and Don Fronts under the command of N. Vatutin and K. Rokossovsky northwest of Stalingrad.
November 20, 1942 - the armies of the Stalingrad Front under the leadership of General A. Eremenko south of the city attacked the enemy.
On November 23, the troops of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts, in cooperation with the Don Front, completed the encirclement of the enemy's Stalingrad grouping, uniting in the area of the Sovetsky farm and the city of Kalach. 330 thousand soldiers and officers turned out to be surrounded. Field Marshal Manstein receives an order to release the German group encircled near Stalingrad. From December 12-31, 1942 - the failure of the enemy's attempts to release his encircled grouping and the development of the Soviet counteroffensive on the outer front of the encirclement.
January 10 - February 2, 1943 - Operation "Ring" - to eliminate the enemy group. 113 thousand people were taken prisoner, including 2.5 thousand officers, 23 generals, led by Field Marshal F. Paulus. Hitler declared three days of mourning in Germany for the first time during the war.
The Battle of Stalingrad was the longest in the Great Patriotic War. 2 million people took part in it, 26 thousand guns and mortars, more than 2 thousand tanks and over 2 thousand aircraft were involved.
Outcomes: aggravation of the internal political situation in Nazi Germany; activation of the resistance movement in the occupied countries; Japan refrained from entering the war against the USSR; Turkey remained neutral; Soviet troops, going on the offensive along the entire front, put out of action 43% of the Nazi troops on the Eastern Front, and ensured the beginning of a radical change in the war.
After fierce battles in the winter of 1942-1943. there was a lull on the Soviet-German front: the belligerents were drawing lessons from past battles; outlined plans for further action; accumulated reserves, regrouped; replenished with people and equipment.
The military-political situation of the USSR by the summer of 1943: authority in the international arena grew, ties with other states expanded; the military art and technical equipment of the army grew due to the development of military production, the USSR outnumbered the enemy by 1.2 times in manpower and military equipment.
However, despite major defeats, Germany and its satellites launched preparations for Operation Citadel - the code name offensive operation Germany in the summer of 1943 in the area of the Kursk salient. “The victory at Kursk,” Hitler declared, “should be a torch for the whole world.”
From mid-April, the General Staff of the Red Army began to develop plans defensive operation near Kursk. It was planned, after exhausting the German strike groups in defensive battles, to go on a counteroffensive with the forces of five fronts - Western (commander V. Sokolovsky), Bryansk (commander M. Popov), Central (commander K. Rokossovsky), Voronezh (commander N. Vatutin) and Steppe (commander I. Konev). For the first time in the history of Soviet military art, a deliberate strategic defensive operation was carried out. The coordination of the fronts was carried out by the representatives of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command Marshals G. Zhukov and A. Vasilevsky.
The Battle of Kursk took place in two stages:
Stage II - June 12 - August 23, 1943 - counteroffensive, codenamed operation "Kutuzov". On the morning of July 12, a tank battle began near Prokhorovka. On both sides, over 1,100 tanks and self-propelled guns were involved in it. The battle lasted 18 hours.
In the Kursk defensive operation, the troops of the Central, Voronezh and Steppe fronts thwarted the plan of the Wehrmacht to encircle and defeat more than a million Soviet troops.
The Nazi command sought to hold its positions to the last soldier. However, it was not possible to stabilize the front. On August 5, 1943, Soviet troops liberated Orel and Belgorod. To commemorate this victory, an artillery salute of 12 volleys from 124 guns was fired in Moscow. On August 23, 1943, Kharkov was liberated, and the counteroffensive of the Red Army was completed, the Red Army reached the Dnieper.
After the defeat in the summer of 1943, the Nazi command gave the order to create a strategic defensive line - the "Eastern Wall" - which had the goal of preventing the Red Army from entering the territory of Belarus and Right-Bank Ukraine.
Outcomes: a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and World War II has been completed; undermined the morale of the Nazi army; the aggravation of the crisis within the Hitlerite bloc; favorable conditions were created for the opening of a second front.
The battles of Stalingrad and Kursk went down in history as the most significant military-political events World War II and Great Patriotic War. They marked a turning point in the war. During the Battle of Stalingrad, the strategic initiative was seized by the Red Army, marking the beginning of a radical turning point in the war. The Battle of Kursk marked the end of a radical turning point in the war and the beginning of the offensive of the Soviet Army. If at the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad the Red Army fought under the motto “Not a step back!”, Then after the Battle of Kursk, the words “Forward, to the West!” became its motto. These two battles created favorable conditions for the activation of the partisan movement and the resistance movement in the occupied part of Europe, for the offensive of the Anglo-American troops in North Africa and the opening of a second front in Europe, which became a decisive stage in the victory of the anti-fascist bloc.
Stalingrad battle. The counteroffensive near Moscow in January 1942 developed into an offensive along the entire front, which lasted until April 1942. During the offensive battles, Soviet troops completely liberated Moscow and Tula region, partially Kalinin, Smolensk, Oryol, Kursk and others. By the spring of 1942, the Nazi army was able to gain a foothold on new lines 150 km from Moscow. The army not only made up for the costs incurred, but also increased the number of its armed forces. The Nazi leadership decided to strike the main blow in the south. The Soviet command, planning military operations for the summer of 1942, believed that main blow will be inflicted on the Moscow direction, and concentrated the main forces here. Less attention was paid to the southwestern direction, which negatively affected the course of hostilities in the summer of 1942. During the battles in the spring and summer of 1942 (in the Crimea, in Sevastopol, near Kharkov, etc.), a significant number of Soviet troops were surrounded . Then the Nazi troops occupied the Donbass, captured the right bank of the Don and captured Rostov. The Hitlerite command decided to simultaneously attack Stalingrad and the Caucasus. (1, 532). Hitler believed that after numerous victories in the South-West direction, the German army would easily capture the Caucasus and Stalingrad, because "Russian resistance would be very weak." (2, 146). With the capture of the Caucasus, the enemy hoped to capture the bases of the Black Sea Fleet, the oil-bearing regions of Grozny and Baku, and in the future to enter the Middle East. The operation to capture the Caucasus received the code name "Edelweiss". The battle for the Caucasus lasted from July 25, 1942 to October 9, 1943. During this battle, the enemy was defeated. (3, 143)
The high command of the armed forces of Nazi Germany attached exceptional importance to the capture of Stalingrad, because this would cut the important artery through which bread and oil were delivered to the central regions of the country, and ensure the success of the Nazi offensive in the Caucasus. (1, 533) The German commanders said: “When we occupy this city, which is largest center connection between northern and southern Russia and which dominates the main transport artery of this country - the Volga, our most dangerous enemy will be dealt a blow from which he will never recover. Hitler hoped that this battle would end with a complete victory for the German troops. He declared: “Our war plan will be carried out with iron firmness. Where a German soldier stands, no one else will go there ... We will end this war with the greatest victory. (4, 26)
Military leadership took a number of measures to disrupt the strategic plans of the German Wehrmacht. To strengthen discipline and combat readiness, the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I. V. Stalin wrote Order No. 227 of July 28, 1942, better known as the order "Not a step back!" In this order, Stalin very accurately showed the situation on the Southern Front, but did not say about the mistake of the Soviet leadership in planning military operations for 1942. He saw the reason for the defeats of the Red Army in previous battles in the lack of discipline and order in companies, battalions, regiments, divisions, in tank units, in air squadrons: “... it turns out that the German troops have good discipline, although they do not have the lofty goal of defending their homeland, but there is only one predatory goal - to conquer a foreign country, and our troops, having the lofty goal of protecting their outraged Motherland , do not have such discipline and suffer defeat because of this. Stalin ordered a series of strict measures to improve discipline and order. In addition, he called for a bold and swift defense: “... it's time to end the retreat. Not one step back! This should be our main call now ... Fulfilling this call means defending our land, saving the Motherland, exterminating and defeating the hated enemy. Thus, the Soviet leadership also gave this battle crucial in the war. (5, 223 - 226)
In order to divert the German command from the Eastern Front, the leadership of the USSR negotiated with England and the United States on the opening of a second front in Europe. But the leadership of these countries put it off for the following reasons: difficulties in preparing landing operation large scale, fear for its success and unwillingness to incur heavy losses; unwillingness to divert large forces of the Western allies from other theaters of operations; the calculations of influential political circles in Western countries to weaken Germany and the USSR in mutual struggle. (6, 115)
Table 1.
Types of weapons of the USSR Germany
1941 1942 1941 1942
Aircraft 15,735 25,436 11,776 15,409
Tanks 6,590 24,446 5,200 9,300
Artillery 15,856 33,111 7,000 12,000
In late June - early July, in the strip between the Volga and the Don, the construction of the Stalingrad defensive contours, begun in the fall of 1941, was resumed. In the second half of July, the output of military products (especially tanks) was increased and measures were taken to strengthen the approaches to the Volga. Table 1 shows the ratio of military equipment produced in 1942 by Germany and the USSR. The table shows that the Soviet military industry in 1942 worked many times more intensively than the German one. The military industry began to produce the legendary T-34 tanks. On the distant approaches to Stalingrad on the Don and in its large bend, reserve armies were deployed in a 50-kilometer strip - the 63rd, 62nd and 64th. On July 12, on the basis of the field administration and troops of the Southwestern Front, the Stalingrad Front was created, headed by Marshal S.K. Timoshenko, which united these three reserve armies, as well as the 21st and 8th Air Armies of the Southwestern Front, which had retreated beyond the Don . On July 14 martial law was declared in the Stalingrad region. (2, 149 - 150)
The Battle of Stalingrad took place from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943. It is usually divided into two inextricably linked periods: defensive (from July 17 to November 18, 1942) and offensive (from November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943). The defensive period can be divided into three stages: 1) July 17 - August 10, 1942 (the attempts of the German army to break through the defenses of Stalingrad were unsuccessful); 2) August 11 - September 12, 1942 (some successes of the German army, the state of siege of Stalingrad); 3) September 13 - November 18, 1942 (fierce bloody battles for Stalingrad). In the offensive period, three operations of the Red Army can be distinguished - "Uranus", "Saturn" and "Ring".
Despite the intensive development of the Soviet military industry, by the beginning of the battle, the German troops were superior both in armament and in numbers.
The German command sent Army Group South to the Stalingrad Front. This group was divided into two groups: Army Group A, led by Field Marshal List, and Army Group B, commanded by von Bock. Hitler decided to lead the troops of both groups himself. July 16 headquarters of the supreme leadership and General base ground forces moved from East Prussia to the main apartment near Vinnitsa. Group "A" was placed closer to the Don, and group "B" - on the Chir River. Soviet troops were stationed on the northern and northeastern sides. (2, 148)
The German leadership was confident of a quick victory. German troops tried several times to break through the defenses of the Stalingrad Front, encircle its troops on the right bank of the Don, reach the Volga and capture the city. But the troops of the Red Army fought off the offensive. During these battles, the time needed to organize a reliable defense of the city was won. From July 23 to August 10, a battle took place in the big bend of the Don. During these days, the enemy made several attempts to break through the defenses of the Soviet troops, encircle them on the right bank of the Don, and with a swift rush to reach the Volga and take Stalingrad on the move. However, this plan of the fascist command was thwarted by the heroic resistance of the soldiers of the Stalingrad Front. During this period, German troops were able to advance only 60-80 km and reach the outer defensive bypass of Stalingrad in the Kalach and Abganerovo regions. (2, 151)
In the second half of August, the Nazis were able to cross the Don, and on August 23, break through to the Volga north of Stalingrad and cut off the troops guarding the city from the rest of the front forces. On August 25, a state of siege was declared in Stalingrad. (3, 144; 2, 156) In the resolution of the Stalingrad Defense Committee of August 26, there is a call to fight for every street, for every house: “We will not give up our native city, native home, native family. We will cover all the streets of the city with impenetrable barricades! Let's make every house, every quarter, every street an impregnable fortress!” (7, 234)
The third stage of the Battle of Stalingrad (September 13 - November 18, 1942) was the most intense and took place in the city itself. The Soviet command entrusted the defense of Stalingrad to the troops of the 62nd Army, led by General V.I. Chuikov, and part of the forces of the 64th Army, commanded by General M.S. Shumilov. On September 13, German troops launched an assault on Stalingrad. From 13 to 26 September there was a struggle for central part cities. From September 27 to October 8, battles unfolded for factory settlements and in the Orlovka region, and from October 9 to November 18 - for the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, Barrikady and Krasny Oktyabr. (2, 158) Bloody battles were fought on the territory of the Krasny Oktyabr plant. German captain Helmut Welz recalls the fighting on November 11, 1942: “The enemy is holding certain parts of the territory of the Krasny Oktyabr plant with significant forces. The main center of resistance is the open-hearth shop. The capture of this shop means the fall of Stalingrad... Aviation bombed this plant for weeks... There was not a single place left here... Three hours (passed), but they advanced only seventy meters! At this very moment, a red rocket is just soaring above the workshop, followed by a green one. This means: the Russians are starting a counterattack ... I don’t understand where the Russians still get their strength from ... For the first time in the whole war, I am faced with a task that simply cannot be solved ... Now the workshop is again completely in the hands of the Russians ... ”(7, 236 - 237) At this time the troops of the Stalingrad Front continued to strike at the enemy north of Stalingrad, and the troops of the South-Eastern Front, operating south of the city, captured a number of important lines in the lake area. By mid-November, the third stage of the Stalingrad defensive operation was completed. The heroic city was held. The German command did not achieve its goal. The German army suffered huge losses. (2, 158 - 160)
By November 19, 1942, the strength of the Soviet and German troops were approximately equal, as shown in table 2. From this table, it can be seen that the number of troops is slightly larger among the Germans, and the superiority in weapons belongs to the Soviet troops. Only the Soviet troops had 1.9 times more calculated divisions than the German ones. But this superiority is insignificant and cannot be considered one of the reasons for winning the battle. Such large numbers are the result of serious preparations for the decisive stage of the battle by both the German and Soviet military commands. The production of the military industry in Germany at this time reached record levels. (2, 174)
Table 2.
Forces and means Soviet troops Nazi troops Correlation
Calculated divisions 94.5 50 1.9:1
Number of personnel 1,000,555 1,011,500 1:1
The number of personnel in combat troops 606,990 657,800 1:1.08
Guns and mortars 14,218 10,290 1.38:1
Tanks and assault guns 894,675 1.32:1
Combat aircraft 1,349 1,216 1.1:1
On November 19, 1942, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive in the Stalingrad region. A.M. Vasilevsky was one of the developers and executors of the offensive operation plan. He also coordinated the actions of the fronts during the Battle of Stalingrad. The shock groups of the Southwestern and Don Fronts were commanded by M.F. Vatutin and K.K. Rokossovsky, and the armies of the Stalingrad Front - by A.I. Eremenko. (3, 145)
The most fierce and bloody battles were fought on Mamaev Kurgan. Whoever took its top owned the district. During the Battle of Stalingrad, the steep slopes of the mound became sloping, and its surface was covered with fragments of shells.
In the Battle of Stalingrad, Soviet fighters and commanders fought heroically and showed military prowess. For example, on September 5, 1942, the Belarusian soldier A.S. Vashchenko repeated the feat of A. Matrosov. He closed the embrasure of the enemy bunker with his chest, for which he was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin. Second example. During the period of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Belarusian pilot Senior Lieutenant P.Ya.Golovachev made 150 sorties and shot down 8 enemy aircraft. For this, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class. Such feats are innumerable.
Soviet troops surrounded 22 divisions (up to 330 thousand people) of the enemy. An attempt made in mid-December to break the encirclement was thwarted, and by February 1943 the encircled group was defeated. About 100 thousand soldiers and officers were taken prisoner, led by Field Marshal Paulus. The total losses of Germany and its allies during this battle amounted to about 800 thousand people. Almost as much equipment was lost as in all previous battles on the Soviet-German front. Four days of mourning was declared in Germany. (8, 149 - 150)
It is known that Field Marshal Paulus, having been taken prisoner, joined the Free Germany movement, founded in the USSR, and called on the Germans over the radio to rise up against the Fuhrer. Such was the true background of the army of the Third Reich since 1943. (9, 176)
The Battle of Stalingrad ended with the victory of the Red Army and ended the second stage of the Great Patriotic and World War II. This victory is due, first of all, to the heroism and patriotism of the Soviet soldiers, a long stubborn struggle for every house and every street. Important role skillful tactics played in the victory Soviet generals– V.I. Chuikov, A.M. Vasilevsky, K.K. Rokossovsky, A.I. Eremenko and others.
The Battle of Stalingrad marked the beginning of a radical turning point in the war. During this battle, the German army and the armies of Germany's allies lost a quarter of all the forces operating at that time on the Soviet-German front. The ratio of the total human losses of the Soviet and German troops is shown in table 3. This victory contributed to a new upsurge in the liberation struggle in the countries of Europe, the strengthening of the anti-Hitler coalition, and the strengthening of the national liberation movement of the peoples of Europe. (2, 190) As a result of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army seized the strategic initiative from Germany and held it until the end of the war. The counteroffensive of the Soviet troops in early 1943 developed into a strategic offensive on almost the entire Soviet-German front. The defeat in the battle aggravated the internal political situation of Germany and its allies. Japan and Turkey refused to enter the war against the USSR. The situation on the Soviet-German front in the autumn of 1942 contributed to the intensification of the activities of the Anglo-American allies in northern Africa. (3, 147 - 148)
Table 3
Soviet troops German troops Ratio
Human losses 1,129,000 people. 1 500 000 people 1:1.33
Such Soviet commanders as V.I. Chuikov (Marshal of the Soviet Union), A.M. Vasilevsky, M.F. Vatutin, K.K. Rokossovsky, A.I. Eremenko, A.I. I.I. Yakubovsky, P.P. Korzun, Ya.S. Sharaburko, I.M. Bogushevich and others. For military exploits in the battle of Stalingrad, 125 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and 2 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of Russia. In the battles for Stalingrad, Belarusian generals K.A. Kovolenko, V.A. Penkovsky, S.A. Krasovsky and others (3, 145 - 146)
The victory of the Soviet troops further strengthened the position of the USSR in the world. Even before the Battle of Stalingrad, in his letter to General MacArthur, US President Franklin Roosevelt highly appreciated the role of the Soviet Union in the war: “From the point of view of grand strategy, a simple fact is clear: the Russians kill more enemy soldiers and destroy more of their weapons and equipment than the other 25 states of the United Nations put together." (7, 251) Progressive countries connected the future of mankind with the outcome of the Battle of Stalingrad. The Society of the United States, France and England closely watched the progress of the battle. After the start of the counteroffensive in a number of US cities, the weeks of Stalingrad passed, and in December 1942, the month of gratitude to Soviet Russia was declared throughout the country. (4, 28 - 29)
British Prime Minister W. Churchill, in a message to I. V. Stalin dated February 1, 1943, called the victory of the Red Army at Stalingrad amazing. And the king of Great Britain sent a gift sword to Stalingrad, on the blade of which in Russian and English the inscription is engraved: "To the citizens of Stalingrad, strong as steel - from King George VI as a token of the deep admiration of the British people."
The Battle of Stalingrad created favorable conditions for the development of the partisan movement and the underground struggle against the Nazi invaders on the territory of occupied Belarus. The attention of the German command was concentrated during the battle for Stalingrad. In Belarus, bodies were created to lead the partisan movement - the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement (May 30, 1942, headed by P.K. Ponomarenko) and the Belarusian Headquarters of the partisan movement (September 9, 1942, headed by P.Z. Kalinin). These bodies carried out measures to develop the partisan movement, coordinate and increase the effectiveness of the fighting of the partisans, and organize their interaction with the Red Army. The activation of the partisan movement led to the fact that at the end of 1942 the partisans steadily held 15 thousand square meters. km and controlled 50 thousand square meters. km, i.e. about 30% of the pre-war territory of Belarus. The power of partisan strikes against enemy garrisons and communications has increased significantly. In February 1942, 6 partisan sabotage was registered on railways, and in September - already 695. After the Stalingrad victory, there was a massive participation of the local population in supporting the partisan movement. Among the 96,000 people who joined the anti-fascist formations in 1943, 65% were locals. During this period, the underground movement also developed. The most significant underground groups were: the Mogilev underground, the "Committee for the Assistance of the Red Army" and the Obolsk Komsomol underground. (10, 313 - 319)
Battle of Kursk The counter-offensive near Stalingrad caused a series of offensive operations on the entire front. In the Caucasian direction, Soviet troops advanced to a depth of 500 - 600 km and by the summer of 1943 liberated most region. In the center of the Soviet-German front, after successful battles in January-February 1943, the Kursk ledge was formed, which was of great strategic importance. (8, 150)
The German leadership decided to launch a new offensive on this ledge in the summer of 1943. In the spring of 1943, the Citadel plan was developed. According to this plan, the German command planned to encircle and destroy the Soviet troops with two counter attacks from the north and south to Kursk, and then move to the rear of the Southwestern Front and defeat them there. After that, pressure was being prepared on the rear of the central group of Red Army troops, which would allow the German armies to launch an offensive against Moscow. This operation was carefully prepared. The German leadership was confident of success.
But the Citadel plan was unraveled in time. The Soviet leadership decided through a defensive operation to wear down, weaken the enemy strike groups, and then go on the offensive along the entire southern part of the front. The Stavka sent marshals G.K. Zhukov and A.M. Vasilevsky to the area of the Kursk Bulge. (3, 148 - 149)
The Battle of Kursk lasted from July 5 to August 23, 1943. It is divided into two periods: defensive (July 5 - 11) and offensive (July 12 - August 23). The battle included three major strategic operations of the Soviet troops: Kursk defensive (July 5-23); Orel (July 12 - August 18) and Belgorod-Kharkov (August 3-23) offensive.
The balance of forces and means at the beginning of the Kursk defensive operation is shown in table 4. As can be seen from the table, the preponderance of forces was on the side of the Red Army.
Table 4
Forces and means of the Red Army Wehrmacht
Personnel (thousand people) 1336 over 900 1.4:1
Guns and mortars 19100 about 10000 1.9:1
Tanks and self-propelled guns 3444 2733 1.2:1
Aircraft 2172 about 2050 1:1
On July 5, German troops began offensive operations on the Kursk salient. For a week, they tried, due to an unprecedented concentration of forces, to wedge into the Soviet defenses. In some sectors of the front, they managed to do this to a depth of 10 - 35 km. The battle, unprecedented in scope and cruelty, was fought both on land and in the air. The concentration of enemy troops in the breakthrough areas was so great that for every kilometer of the front there were up to a hundred tanks and assault guns. (4, 30) As a result of the hostilities of this period, the Citadel plan was thwarted, and the Red Army was able to go on the counteroffensive.
Table 5 shows the balance of forces and means by July 12. As can be seen from the table, in the first 7 days of the Battle of Kursk, the losses of the German army far exceeded the losses of the Soviet. The Red Army had even more planes, guns and mortars than before the start of the battle. This is a huge merit of the Soviet military-industrial enterprises, which maximized the pace of production. Soviet forces and means began to surpass the German ones by 2-3 times.
Table 5
Personnel (thousand people) 1288 over 600 2.1:1 48,300
Guns and mortars over 21,000 over 7,000 3.0:1 (1,900 appr.) 3,000
Tanks and self-propelled guns 2400 about 1200 2.0:1 1044 1533
Aircraft over 3000 over 1100 2.7:1 (828-approx.) 950
On July 12, in the area of the village of Prokhorovka, the largest tank battle took place, in which about 1200 tanks participated on both sides. Chief Marshal armored forces P.A. Rotmistrov recalls this battle as follows: “The vaunted Hitlerite “tigers”, deprived of their advantages in close combat, their weapons, were successfully shot from short distances by our T-34s ... The day of July 12, 1943 was the day of the crisis of the Nazi offensive , the day of the final failure of the plans of the German generals to conduct a summer offensive operation in the Kursk region ... "(7, 243) On this day, after the victory in the battle, the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops began in the Oryol direction.
In air battles, the Belarusian pilot A.K. Gorovets especially distinguished himself. The Soviet Information Bureau reported on his feat in an operational summary: “The pilot of the guard, Lieutenant Gorovets, met in the air with a group of German aircraft. Entering into battle with them, comrade. Gorovets shot down 9 German bombers. (7, 242) He is the only pilot in the world who shot down so many enemy planes in aerial combat. In this battle he died. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Senior Lieutenant P.I. Shpetny, a native of the Bragin district, distinguished himself in the battle
Gomel region. During the fighting on July 12-13, 1943. he personally knocked out several tanks from the PTR. When the cartridges ran out, with a bunch of anti-tank grenades, he rushed under an enemy tank and blew it up. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Table 6 shows the balance of forces and means by the beginning of the Belgorod-Kharkov operation (August 3). The table shows that from July 12 to August 3, the losses of both Soviet and German troops were huge. The Red Army lost a lot of planes, guns and mortars, but retained the number of tanks and self-propelled guns. The main losses of the Wehrmacht are tanks. The Red Army at this point had tanks and self-propelled guns, guns and mortars 4 times more than the German one.
Table 6
Forces and means of the Red Army Wehrmacht Correlation Losses of the Red Army Losses of the Wehrmacht
Personnel (thousand people) more than 980 about 300 3.2:1 308 300
Guns and mortars over 12000 over 3000 4.0:1 9000 4000
Tanks and self-propelled guns 2400 about 600 4.0:1 0 600
Aircraft around 1300 over 1000 1.3:1 1700 100
The Belgorod-Kharkov operation began on the morning of August 3. Having broken through the defense in depth and outflanked the centers of resistance, the Soviet troops advanced up to 20 km and liberated Belgorod on August 5. On the same day in the evening in Moscow, for the first time, an artillery salute was fired in honor of the troops who had liberated two ancient Russian cities - Orel and Belgorod. (4, 31) On August 23, 1943, the troops of the Steppe Front liberated Kharkov. The counteroffensive of the Red Army was over.
The victory of the Soviet Army in the Battle of Kursk was determined the following factors: 1) the victory at Stalingrad, thanks to which the Red Army seized the strategic initiative from the German army; 2) successes at the front, which raised the confidence of Soviet soldiers in their own strength; 3) the advantage of the strength and equipment of the Red Army; 4) the German plan "Citadel" was unraveled in time Soviet intelligence officers; 5) on the territory of occupied Belarus, a " rail war”, which did not make it possible to stably transport troops and move the necessary weapons and equipment from Germany to German troops; 6) courage and heroism of Soviet soldiers and military leaders; 7) skillful tactics of G. Zhukov and A. Vasilevsky in the conduct of battles.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union on the Kursk Bulge was awarded to more than 180 people, of which about 20 Belarusians. Most distinguished were such military leaders as G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, V.N. Dzhandzhgava, S.I. Rudenko, A.P. Maresyev and others.
During the Battle of Kursk a prime example friendship and anti-fascist solidarity of the peoples of the USSR showed Belarus. In its occupied territory, after the Stalingrad victory, the partisan movement. Belarusian partisans in the summer of 1943 began the so-called. "rail war". "Rail war" is the code name for operations Soviet partisans on the one-time massive destruction of railway communications in order to disrupt the military transportation of German troops. These operations took place in three stages. The first stage began on the night of August 3, 1943, during the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Kursk and lasted until mid-September 1943. During this period, over 120 thousand rails, 184 bridges were blown up on the railways of Belarus, 834 echelons were derailed, etc. .d. The "rail war" became one of the reasons for the defeat of German troops in the Battle of Kursk, as it destroyed entire groups German soldiers, as well as equipment and weapons that were transported from Germany to the front. In addition to this operation, the partisans inflicted significant blows on more than 600 German garrisons. (10, 316 - 320)
German and soviet army had a different strategy during these battles. Both sides attached decisive importance to them and, in connection with this, increased the production of the war industry. But the German leadership, unlike the Soviet one, overestimated the capabilities of its army. A plan was created for the lightning capture of Stalingrad and the Caucasus, and then the Kursk salient. This was due to numerous easy victories in the spring and summer of 1942. And the Soviet leadership corrected its mistake made when planning military operations for the summer of 1942. The best troops were sent to the Stalingrad region. At the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, after unsuccessful attempts by the German troops to capture the city, the German command sent many divisions from the Caucasian front here. The Soviet leadership tried to soberly assess the situation at the front. And the German leadership did not want to admit their defeats. Hitler put forward the motto: "I forbid capitulation!" Hitler rejected all Paulus' advice to capitulate, because he understood that capitulation in this battle is the same as the beginning of defeat. (2, 189)
The disadvantage of the German military command also consisted in incorrectly informing the authorities about the situation in the front, as well as in Hitler's personal negative qualities (rashness, immersion in thoughts about future possible victories as if they were real, cruelty). N. von Belov, Hitler's adjutant, recalled the beginning of the counter-offensive of the Red Army: “... Hitler ordered the immediate deployment of General Geim's 48th tank corps, which was in reserve, into battle. Hitler was misinformed about the fighting qualities of this corps. The German division of this corps was still being formed. The second division, the Romanian Panzer, could not resist the superior forces of the Russians and was defeated a few days later. Hitler was outraged and angered by the behavior of the commanding General Heim, who, of course, was in a stalemate due to conflicting orders and under the pressure of the enemy's power. Hitler ordered that Heim be immediately removed from his post and sentenced to death. Schmundt managed to prevent the execution of the sentence ... "(5, 271)
In the Battle of Kursk, G. Zhukov used well-thought-out tactics for the defense of the formed arc. On both the northern and southern sides of the arc, he deployed troops in numerous layers. When the first layers were defeated, the German troops met with the next. Exhausted in such battles, the German troops were able to capture only a few small areas in a week. So, having exhausted the enemy forces, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive within a week. In 1944, such tactics were tried to apply german army retreating to the west. But because of the rapid movement of the Red Army, she did not help her either.
The battles of Stalingrad and Kursk differed from other battles of the Second World War in their exceptional significance, cruelty and perseverance, because. the whole course of further events depended on them. If the defeat of the German army near Moscow meant for Nazi Germany a temporary disruption of the plan lightning war, then the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk completely deprived her of the hope of winning the Second World War.
The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people is a liberation and just war. Soviet poet V. Lebedev-Kumach called it popular and sacred. He wrote:
Like two different poles
We are hostile in everything:
We fight for light and peace
They are for the kingdom of darkness.
From the poem " Holy war", 1941
The poet very accurately showed the motives of both the Soviet and German peoples in the war. Hitler brought the German people into unbearable shame by seducing them with crazy Nazi ideas about "expanding living space”, about the “lower races”, about the “higher Aryan race”, etc. And the Soviet people defended not only their country, but the whole world from fascist tyranny. This "boiled noble rage" triumphed thanks to the Stalingrad and Kursk victories.
List of used literature
1. A manual on the history of the USSR for the preparatory departments of universities: Tutorial for preparatory departments of universities. - 3rd ed., revised. and additional - M .: Higher. school, 1987.
2. The Great Patriotic War: a short popular science essay. – M.: Institute military history Ministry of Defense of the USSR, 1970.
3. Vyalіkaya Aichynnaya vaina of the Savets people (among the Kanteksse Another real vaina): Vucheb. Dapam. For the 11th class. - Mn.: Ex. Center BDU, 2004.
4. B.I. Zverev. Historical victory: Prince. For students. – M.: Enlightenment, 1985.
5. 1418 days of war: From the memories of the Great Patriotic War. – M.: Politizdat, 1990.
6. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people (in the context of World War II): Materials for teachers. - Minsk: Aversev, 2007.
7. Vinogradov V.I. and others. History of the USSR in documents and illustrations (1917 - 1971). Reader for the teacher. Ed. 2nd, revised. and additional - M .: Education, 1973.
8. The World History: studies. allowance. At 3 o'clock, Part 3. The world since 1918 - the beginning of the 21st century. - Minsk: Unipress, 2006.
9. Raymond Cartier. Secrets of war: based on the materials of the Nuremberg trials. - M .: Posev, 1948 (Translated into Russian by E. Shugaev)
10. History of Belarus: Full course: A manual for high school students and university applicants. - Minsk: Unipress, 2006.
11. http://battle.volgadmin.ru - Site dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad (photos, tables).
12. http://www.bsu.edu.ru - Site dedicated to the Battle of Kursk (photos, tables).
Stage 1 - July 17 - November 19, 1942 - defensive battles, state of siege for 125 days, street fighting. The enemy forces were superior in personnel by 1.7 times, in artillery and tanks - by 1.3 times, in aircraft - by almost 2 times.
Stage 2 - November 19, 1942 - the operation of the Soviet troops "Uranus" - the offensive of the South-Western and Don fronts under the command of N.F. Vatutin and K.K. Rokossovsky northwest of Stalingrad.
November 20, 1942 - the armies of the Stalingrad Front under the leadership of General A.I. Eremenko south of the city struck at the enemy.
January 10, 1943 - operation "Ring" - to eliminate the enemy grouping - 113 thousand people were taken prisoner, including 2.5 thousand officers, 23 generals led by Field Marshal F. Paulus.
Outcomes: aggravation of the internal political situation in Nazi Germany; activation of the resistance movement in the occupied slings; Japan refrained from entering the war against the USSR; Turkey remained neutral; Soviet troops, going on the offensive along the entire front, put out of action 43% of the Nazi troops on the Eastern Front, and ensured the beginning of a radical change in the war.
After fierce battles in the winter of 1942-1943. there was a lull on the Soviet-German front: the belligerents were drawing lessons from past battles; outlined plans for further action; accumulated reserves, regrouped; replenished with people and equipment.
The military-political situation of the USSR by the summer of 1943: authority in the international arena grew, ties with other states expanded; the art of war and the technical equipment of the army grew thanks to the development of military production.
However, despite major defeats, Germany and its satellites launched preparations for the offensive; total mobilization from 15 to 50 years of age capable of bearing arms, conscripted about 1 million highly skilled workers into the army; the shortage of labor was replenished by 2 million foreign workers and prisoners of war; the necessary stocks of military products were created.
The balance of forces by the summer of 1943: the USSR outnumbered the enemy by 1.2 times in manpower and military equipment.
Operation Citadel is the code name for the German offensive operation in the summer of 1943 in the area of the Kursk salient. “Victory near Kursk. - Hitler said - should become a torch for the whole world.
The Battle of Kursk - July 5 - August 23, 1943. It took place in 2 stages: Stage 1 - July 5 - July 11, 1943 - defensive battles of the Soviet troops; Stage 2 - June 12 - August 23, 1943 - a counteroffensive, the success of which was ensured by: a skillful choice of the moment for the transition of our troops from defense to offensive; skillful organization of strategic interaction between groups of fronts did not give the enemy the opportunity to regroup troops; reconnaissance in force was practiced more widely than in previous operations; the tactical density of troops near Kursk was 2-3 times greater than near Stalingrad; transition to deep echeloned combat formations; the use of self-propelled artillery regiments for the first time; The air force gained air supremacy and was used over the battlefield in close cooperation with ground forces; "rail war" of Belarusian partisans.
Outcomes: a radical change in the Great patriotic war and in World War II; undermined the morale of the Nazi army; the aggravation of the crisis within the Hitlerite bloc; favorable conditions were created for the opening of a second front.