11/30/2023 0 Comments Ww2 soviet spy network![]() ![]() A victory would allow the German Army in the East to rebuild and shift units to the Mediterranean or France to meet anticipated Allied amphibious landings. Within the Kursk Salient, nine Soviet infantry armies and two tank armies were at stake, and if the Germans were successful any Soviet offensive action planned for the remainder of 1943 would be delayed or canceled. For the Germans, the unfortunate outcome of the victory was the formation of a bulge in the front line, 120 miles wide at its base, centered around the town of Kursk. Exhaustion and mud put an end to the German counteroffensive just in time for the reeling Soviets. Unfortunately for the Germans, the rainy season in Russia started in March and turned most of southern Russia into an ocean of mud in which most motorized movement was rendered nearly impossible. The fourth largest city in Russia, Kharkov, was recaptured, and the Soviet offensive was stopped with considerable losses. The plan, later to be known as Manstein’s Counterstroke, was very successful and indeed accomplished its goals. German cipher decryptions of Soviet operational codes had alerted Manstein of this fact, and he unleashed his panzer divisions in an attack on the weak Soviet flanks. The Soviets, believing that a huge victory was within reach, had pushed their armies to exhaustion and had outrun their supplies lines. Manstein immediately initiated a plan that deceived the Soviets into thinking that the German Army was in full retreat to the Dneiper River. Perhaps the fact that no German troops were between Hitler and a Soviet armored unit less than 25 miles away was also persuasive. Manstein finally convinced Hitler to rescind the no retreat order and allow operational freedom of the forces under his command. Manstein knew that order would lead to the destruction of the German armies in southern Russia and argued vehemently with Hitler. In what was becoming a common theme of Hitler’s hands-on approach to managing the army, he directed Manstein that no further retreats would be permitted and that the German soldiers would stand and fight. On February 17, Adolf Hitler flew to Manstein’s headquarters near the town of Zaporozhye on the Dneiper River to discuss the predicament of Army Group South. ![]() The task of stopping the Soviets and restoring the front was placed in the hands of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, a master of mobile tank warfare who some consider the best German general of World War II. If the Soviets succeeded, the German Army would be defeated on the Russian Front. The loss of nearly 225,000 men at Stalingrad left little for the Germans to stop the Soviets, who were trying to encircle the remaining armies of Army Group South. The Soviet encirclement of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad ended on February 2, 1943, with the destruction of more than 20 German divisions and much of the Romanian, Hungarian, and Italian armies guarding the flanks of the Sixth Army. The Karteschewka-Prokhorokva road was the closest the German’s got to Kursk, and it was also the last gasp of the last major German summer offensive on the Russian Front in World War II. In fact, all the German forces participating in the offensive were in the same situation. Coupled with sheer exhaustion, mounting personnel losses, and the arrival of massive Soviet reinforcements, the panzer group could go no farther. The attack toward the Karteschewka-Prokhorokva road had cost Bachmann’s panzer group 45 tanks destroyed or damaged, nearly 50 percent of its total strength. Would one last successful German attack toward Prokhorokva unhinge the extensive Soviet defenses? Success would mean the death or surrender of thousands of Soviet soldiers, and Operation Citadel had reached a critical stage. The Soviets would either be encircled or forced to retreat, and the Germans would break through one of the last major defensive belts protecting the Russian town of Kursk, the objective of Operation Citadel, the effort to encircle a large number of Red Army troops that occupied a salient, or bulge, deep in the German front line. The plan for the next day was to attack the rear of the Soviet forces defending the town of Prokhorokva, just three miles to the east. The Germans drove north toward the east-west road connecting the towns of Karteschewka and Prokhorokva.Īfter fighting through several Soviet defensive positions and advancing nearly five miles, the panzer group reached the road around midnight. At daybreak on Monday, July 12, 1943, SS Sturmbannführer Christian Bachmann, the panzer group commander of the 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division, ordered his unit to cross the Psel River and attack. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |