Starorusskaya operation 1943. Starorusskaya offensive operation

The Great Patriotic War

Debrecen strategic offensive operation troops 2nd Ukrainian Front (Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky), was carried out with the aim of liberating the eastern and southern regions of Hungary, was carried out in the fall during the period from October 6 to October 28, 1944. on the territory of Hungary and Romania. The main goal required the defeat of the German Army Group South in the area of ​​the city. Cluj – Oradea – Debrecen and assistance 4th Ukrainian Front in the defeat of the East Carpathian enemy group. The major Hungarian city of Debrecen was chosen as the main direction of attack.

After the defeat of the Nazi troops near Iasi and Chisinau ( Iasi-Kishinev offensive operation 1944), troops 2nd Ukrainian Front under the command Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky), continuing the offensive, at the end of September - beginning of October 1944 they entered the territory of Yugoslavia and the Romanian-Hungarian border, creating the preconditions for the development of an offensive against Budapest and Vienna. Hungary remained Germany's last ally in Europe. The current situation required the German military-political leadership to take urgent measures in order to increase defense efforts and prevent the loss of economically important regions of Hungary and Eastern Austria. A large number of military factories were located here and there were 2 sources of oil, for which the Wehrmacht was in dire need. Therefore, his command deployed a powerful group of forces and assets in Hungary - Army Group South.

The liberation of Hungary by the Soviet Army was carried out during the period from September 23, 1944 to April 4, 1945 Fighting on Hungarian territory continued 194 days. For more than six months of almost continuous fighting, two fronts took part in it from the Soviet side ( 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian), nine combined arms armies (of which three were guards), a guards tank army, two air armies, the Danube military flotilla, two cavalry-mechanized groups and the Budapest group of forces. In addition, two Romanian, one Bulgarian and one Yugoslav armies took part in the liberation of Hungary on the side of the Soviet Armed Forces.

The fighting to liberate the territory of Hungary resulted in three strategic offensives: ( Debrecen offensive 06 - 28 October 1944., Budapest Offensive October 29, 1944 - February 13, 1945., Vienna Offensive March 16 – April 15, 1945) and one defensive ( Balaton Defense March 6 - 15, 1945) operations of Soviet troops.

Commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front

Marshal of the Soviet Union

Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky

Malinovsky.In May 1944 Malinovsky was transferred by commander to 2nd Ukrainian Front , which together with 3rd Ukrainian Front(under the command of M Arshal of the Soviet Union F.I. Tolbukhin) continued the offensive in the southern direction, defeating the troops German Army Group "Southern Ukraine" during Iasi-Chisinau strategic offensive operation . After this, Romania left the alliance with Germany and declared war on the latter.

September 10, 1944, by submission Marshal of the Soviet Union S.M. Tymoshenko addressed Stalin, Malinovsky R.Ya. was awarded the military rank " Marshal of the Soviet Union ».

Continuing the offensive at the end of September, beginning of October 1944, the troops 2nd Ukrainian Front A entered the territory of Yugoslavia on the Romanian-Hungarian border at the line of Chop, Szolnok, Baia and further along the Danube to Monoštor. 1)

September 23, 1944Soviet troops reached the Romanian-Hungarian border near the village of Battonya in southern Hungary. 2)

The fighting to liberate the eastern and southern regions of Hungary took place in the fall of 1944 during Debrecen offensive operation.

Included in the troops 2nd Ukrainian Front included: 7th Guards Army, 40th, 27th, 53rd, 46th Armies, 6th Guards Tank Army, 5th Air Army, two cavalry-mechanized groups, 18th Tank corps, 1st, 4th Romanian armies, Romanian volunteer division named after. Tudora Vladimirescu, 1st Romanian Aviation Corps. 3) General grouping 2nd Ukrainian Front at the beginning of the operation there were: 84 divisions (40 rifle, 17 infantry (Romanian), 2 fortified areas, 3 tank, 2 mechanized and 3 cavalry corps). The total number of Soviet troops was 698,200, 4) Romanians 167,000 people, a total of 825 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 10,238 guns and mortars, 1,216 aircraft). 5)

From the air, the actions of the Soviet troops were supported by aviation of the 5th Air Army, which was operationally subordinate to the 1st Romanian Aviation Corps.

By the beginning of the offensive, Soviet troops outnumbered the enemy: in men - 3 times, in guns - 1.8 times, in mortars - 4 times, in tanks - 3 times, in self-propelled guns - 1.3 times and in aircraft - 3 times.

According to the plan of the Supreme High Command, the main goal of the further offensive on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front was to first of all take Hungary out of the war. She assigned the solution to this problem to 2nd Ukrainian Front, whose troops were led R.Ya.

Commander of Army Group South

Colonel General Hans Friesner.

2nd Ukrainian Front opposed the German troops Army Group South(German 8th and 6th field armies, 2nd Panzer Army, 3rd and 2nd Hungarian armies) and three divisions of Army Group F 6) under the command Colonel General Hans Friessner. The enemy group consisted of: 31 divisions (22 infantry, 4 tank, 2 motorized and 3 cavalry divisions), 3 infantry and 2 tank brigades. At the beginning of the operation, they were armed with 293 tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, about 3,500 guns and mortars, and 741 aircraft. In total there were 241,000 German troops, 190,000 Hungarians. 7)

2nd Ukrainian Front received the task: to defeat the enemy in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bCluj, Oradea, Debrecen and, developing an offensive from the south to the north of Hungary in the direction of Nyiregyháza, Chop, to assist 4th Ukrainian Front in the defeat of the East Carpathian group of enemy troops. The main blow was delivered by the 53rd Army and the 6th Guards Tank Army, the cavalry-mechanized group of Lieutenant General I.A. Pliev and the 1st Romanian Army in the direction of Debrecen. The 40th Army and the 7th Guards Army were to advance in the direction of Nyiregyhaza, the 27th Army and the 4th Romanian Army were to capture the Cluj area. Cavalry mechanized group of Lieutenant General S.I. Gorshkova received the task of capturing and liberating the cities Satu Mare and Karey. From the south, the offensive of the main forces of the front was ensured by the 46th Army, which was supposed to clear the enemy from the territory of Yugoslavia east of the Tissa River and seize bridgeheads on its right bank near the cities of Szeged, Senta and Becey.

On the eve of the Debrecen operation, back in the second half of September, at the direction of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, long-range aviation carried out attacks on large railway junctions and other important objects on the territory of Hungary, including Budapest, Debrecen, Miskolc and Satu Mare.

The offensive has begun October 6, 1944 The operation was carried out on a front 800 km long with an offensive zone of 120 km. As a result of intense battles, during which a counterattack by three enemy army and one tank corps in the Nyiregyházy area was repelled, the front forces inflicted a heavy defeat Army Group South».

October 20, 1944. Soviet troops captured the city of Debrnetsen. The troops who participated in the battles for the capture of Debrecen were thanked by order of the Supreme High Command of October 20, 1944, and a salute was given in Moscow with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns. 8)

Subsequently, the 1st session of the Provisional National Assembly took place in Debrecen, marking the beginning of the formation of the central bodies of the nascent “people's democratic” Hungary.

Behind 23 days continuous battles to October 28, 1944 Soviet troops advanced from 130 to 275 km, captured the river. Tisse, south of Szolnok, a large operational bridgehead and created favorable conditions for developing the offensive and defeating the enemy in the direction of Budapest. The plans of the German command to restore the situation on the line of the Transylvanian Alps were thwarted, and it was forced to withdraw troops to the Hungarian Plain.

According to Soviet data, in the period from October 6 to November 6, 1944, Soviet troops defeated 10 (out of 32) enemy divisions, more than 100,000 German-Hungarian soldiers were exterminated, 42,160 were captured, destroyed and captured 1,038 tanks and self-propelled guns. assault guns, 2,330 guns and mortars were destroyed or captured, 802 aircraft were reported destroyed or captured, and other military equipment was destroyed. 9)

Soviet troops lost: irretrievable losses amounted to 19,173 people (2.8%), medical losses 64,297 people. Total 84,010 people. Average daily losses amounted to 3,653 people, 10) about 500 tanks, 1656 guns. 11)

The successful conduct of the Debrecen offensive operation contributed to the withdrawal of troops 4th Ukrainian Front to the areas of Uzhgorod and Mukachevo.

The most important result of the Debrecen offensive operation was the liberation from the German occupiers of almost the entire left bank of the Tisza (29% of the territory and about 25% of the population of Hungary) and Northern Transylvania, which completed the liberation of the entire territory of Romania within its pre-war borders.

***
“The Starorussian-Novorzhevsk offensive operation was carried out by troops of the 2nd Baltic Front from February 18 to March 4, 1944 against the 16th Army of Army Group North. As a result of the fighting, units of the Red Army liberated almost the entire Leningrad, Novgorod regions, the main part of the Kalinin region and entered the territory Estonia.

Over 300 participants of military history clubs from Kolomna, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and St. Petersburg took part in the reconstruction of one of the episodes of the operation at Polygon-Che of the military-technical museum of the city of Chernogolovka.

+++podj kat....>>>
The Kampfgruppe of the retreating 16th Army entrenched itself in temporary positions. A light tracked all-terrain vehicle sent for reconnaissance detects an approaching column of the Red Army.

The column moves without military guard, assuming that it is in the rear, in liberated territory

The sudden frontal shelling leaves no chance of salvation...

The attempt to organize resistance fails...

Under dense artillery and machine gun fire, the Red Army soldiers are dying one after another.

At the sound of gunfire, a German motorized group appears from the right flank. Dismounting as they move, the soldiers prepare to support the defenders

However, the battle attracted the attention of not only the German units - suddenly a “thirty-four” with an airborne group emerged from the forest

The infantry is cut off by machine gun fire...

and a tank, after being fired from a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher...

Freezes in place in a cloud of black smoke.

Having requested artillery support, units of the Red Army deploy a machine-gun group to cover the repair of the damaged vehicle.

Now the soldiers of the German army have to press harder into the snow, and armored vehicles repeat the fate of the recently destroyed Soviet column

After artillery shelling, units of the Red Army rush to attack

A machine gunner covers the evacuation of a wounded man

Dense rifle and machine-gun fire does not allow the German soldiers who survived the shelling to raise their heads

Not many of them who survive capitulate.

After the fall of the “Luga line,” the main forces of the 18th German Army began to retreat in the direction of Pskov. Since for this reason there was a threat of Soviet troops entering the flank and rear of the 16th Army, Colonel General Walter Model was forced to give the order to begin a general retreat to the Panther line. For an organized retreat, units of the 18th Army had to hold the defense for some time on the line “Pskov Lake - Strugi Krasnye - Shimsk” and only after the withdrawal of units of the 16th Army to the west, gradually retreat to Pskov and Ostrov.

A particularly great threat to the German troops was the ongoing offensive of the 42nd Army, whose 123rd Rifle Corps was advancing on Pskov, and the 116th on Plyussa and Strugi Krasnye.
However, the offensive of the 42nd Army in different directions and on a wide section of the front led to the dispersion of forces, which allowed the German units to contain the Soviet offensive at the Lochkina River - Lyubotezh - Gridino line.
The formations of the 67th Army, although slowly but persistently moved forward, overcoming the resistance of the fascists. On February 18, the 46th Rifle Division, together with the 9th and 6th partisan brigades, liberated Plyussa after several days of fierce fighting, and on February 23, units of the 67th Army, together with the 6th and 11th partisan brigades captured the regional center of Strugi Krasnye.
After the liberation of Struga Krasnykh, the last intermediate line of defense of the German 18th Army in front of the Panther Line was broken through, and the enemy troops were forced to accelerate their retreat to Pskov and Ostrov.
On February 22, the Supreme High Command Headquarters set the task for the three armies of the left wing of the Leningrad Front to cross the Velikaya River and capture the Island, and then develop an offensive against Riga.
By the end of February, formations of our 67th Army had advanced 90 kilometers, crossed the Cherekha River and cut through the Pskov-Opochka railway.
At the same time, pursuing the retreating enemy, the troops of the 42nd Army liberated Seredka on February 24. On the same day parts
The 54th Army, joining forces with the troops of the 1st Shock Army of the 2nd Baltic Front, after two days of fierce fighting captured the city of Dno, and on February 26 liberated the city of Porkhov.
Developing the offensive, units of the Leningrad Front over the next three days advanced another 65 kilometers and reached the main defensive line of the enemy’s Pskov-Ostrov fortified area, where they were forced to suspend the offensive until July 1944...
By mid-February, the most favorable situation had been created for the offensive of the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front under the command of M.M. Popova.
Taking into account the current situation, the Supreme High Command Headquarters decided to undertake a large-scale operation with the forces of the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts at the junction of Army Groups “North” and “Center”. The 2nd Baltic Front was tasked with delivering the main blow in the direction of Opochka - Zilupe, and then, advancing on Karsava, together with the left wing of the Leningrad Front, defeat the enemy’s island group.
According to the offensive plan, the front's main attack was to be delivered
The 3rd shock and 10th guards armies, and the 1st shock and 22nd armies were tasked with pinning down enemy forces in secondary sectors. However, the beginning of the retreat of the 16th German Army forced the Soviet troops to go on the offensive ahead of schedule. On February 18, belatedly discovering the withdrawal of enemy troops, units of the 1st strike in the Staraya Russa area went on the offensive, and a day later - the 22nd Army in the Kholm area. The remaining armies, which had not yet completed the regrouping, joined the offensive later.
Pursuing the retreating enemy, units of the 1st Shock Army liberated Staraya Russa and, having established an elbow connection with the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front, continued the offensive. On February 29, Novorzhev was released.
At the same time, units of the 22nd Army liberated Kholm on February 21, and Dedovichi on February 25.
On February 26, part of the forces of the 10th Guards and 3rd Shock Armies joined the offensive, which, having moved forward up to 18 kilometers, liberated Pustoshka, but could not achieve more.
Thus, by the beginning of March 1944, the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front reached the Panther line. In total, in the second half of February, the 1st Shock Army advanced 180 kilometers from Staraya Russa to the Velikaya River, the 22nd Army - 125 kilometers from Kholm to Novorzhev, and units of the 10th Guards and 3rd Shock - 30 kilometers from Maev to Pustoshka. The Starorussko-Novorzhevsk operation ended in complete success...
Prepared
Vadim VELKOV.

Not far from Novgorod, south of Lake Ilmen, is the ancient town of Staraya Russa. He also waited for his liberation from the occupation in 1944.

In August 1941, refugees were leaving Staraya Russa along a sun-scorched road; seriously wounded soldiers were walking, exhausted from continuous fighting, stern, gloomy and stubbornly repeating: “We will be back.” And they returned.

By mid-February, only the 16th Army of the Wehrmacht managed to maintain previously occupied positions. All attempts of the 2nd Baltic Front under the command of Army General M.M. Popov to break through enemy defenses in the Staraya Russa area were unsuccessful. The successful offensive of the Leningrad Front created a threat to the rear of the 16th Army. Its commander, Artillery General Hansen, began withdrawing his troops to the Panther Line. This was the most favorable moment for a decisive strike along the southeastern flank of Army Group North.

On February 18, virtually without preparation, the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front went on the offensive, marking the beginning of the Starorussko-Novorzhevsk offensive operation. And on the very first day of the offensive, the city of Staraya Russa was liberated.

Under the attacks of our armies, the Germans hastily retreated further and further to the defensive line, where the key defensive outpost was the city and railway junction of Dno. Our troops left there on February 23. It was not possible to break through the defenses and liberate Dno right away. Only after a day of fierce fighting was the German defense broken through, and the city was liberated.

Building on their success, the forces of the 1st Shock Army on February 29, having cut the Pskov-Opochka railway, liberated the city of Novorzhev and went on the defensive. Thus ended two major operations: the Starorussko-Novorzhevsk and Leningrad-Novgorod offensive operations.

This campaign was later called "1st STALIN STRIKE" and became the beginning of a series of powerful offensive operations in 1944, known as "10 Stalinist blows".

The overall result of the offensive was the liberation of a vast territory of the USSR: the Leningrad and Novgorod regions, partially the Kalinin region and the eastern part of Estonia were completely liberated from the enemy. The total advance of our armies amounted to 280 kilometers. Large cities were liberated: Novgorod, Gatchina, Chudovo, Lyuban, Tosno, Luga, Kingisepp, Gdov, Porkhov, Staraya Russa, Novorzhev. Army Group North suffered a severe defeat; in total, the group lost about 30 divisions. Over 180 units of the Red Army received honorary names in honor of the cities they liberated. On the northwestern front a powerful springboard was created for the further liberation of Soviet land.

Staraya Russa offensive operation March 4 - 19, 1943 (offensive operation in the Staraya Russa region) - an offensive operation of the Soviet troops of the North-Western Front in the Great Patriotic War, an integral part of the larger failed Operation Polar Star to defeat the German Army Group North in March 1943.

On March 4, 1943, the implementation of the second stage of Operation Polar Star began, which received the name “offensive operation in the area of ​​​​Staraya Russa” or “Old Russian offensive operation.” The offensive was carried out in extremely unfavorable weather conditions: the early spring made dirt roads unsuitable for troop movement and opened up ice on numerous rivers and swamps. Due to the weather, 4 ski brigades formed in advance for the operation could not be used for their intended purpose and they were thrown into battle as ordinary infantry. The very concept of the operation was also unsuccessful - a repeated offensive in the same directions, without reinforcement means. Anticipating a resumption of the Soviet offensive, German troops significantly strengthened their defensive lines near Staraya Russa.
The offensive of the Soviet troops from the first day developed unsuccessfully, the advance of the troops was minimal and amounted to 10 to 15 kilometers, the troops suffered heavy losses. They only managed to break through the first line of defense along the Lovat River and occupy more than a dozen villages. Soviet troops approached the closest approaches to Staraya Russa.
Here the Soviet offensive stopped due to the need to regroup troops: the 1st Tank Army of M.E. Katukov was urgently removed from the special group and sent to the Kharkov direction, where events became threatening for the Soviet troops. The Special Group itself was disbanded. Front commander S.K. Timoshenko was relieved of his post as front commander and Colonel General I.S. Konev was appointed in his place. The direction of the main attack was entrusted to the 68th Army, bypassing Staraya Russa from the south.
The resumption of the Soviet offensive now with infantry forces alone did not lead to success. Using powerful defenses and better training of their troops, the enemy repelled Soviet attacks. By March 19, Soviet troops had advanced only up to 5 kilometers in places, reaching the next enemy defensive line along the Redya River. The final day of the operation is March 19. However, according to other sources, the decisive attacks directly on Staraya Russa were carried out on March 19-20 and 22. And only after their final failure the front went on the defensive at the end of March. The last message from the Sovinformburo about offensive battles on the North-Western Front (“south of Lake Ilmen”) is dated March 29, 1943.

The operation plan was not carried out. For advancing to a distance of less than 20 kilometers and occupying several small villages, the Northwestern Front paid a huge price: front troops lost 31,789 people in permanent losses and 71,319 people in sanitary losses during the period from March 4 to March 19 (a total of 103,108 people). , troop losses after March 20 are unknown. The degree of brutality of the battles and the level of losses is evidenced by the fact that daily troop losses amounted to 6,444 people killed and missing. Throughout 1943, this level was exceeded only once - during the Belgorod-Kharkov offensive operation on the Voronezh Front, where numerous oncoming tank battles were fought, but if near Belgorod Soviet troops crushed the opposing enemy forces and opened the way to the Dnieper, then near Staraya Russa only a few tens of square kilometers of occupied forests and swamps were paid for with such losses.

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