On July 5, 1943, the Battle of Kursk began. On July 12, 1943, near Prokhorovka, the Germans suffered a heavy defeat during the largest tank battle in the history of World War II.
On July 23, the German offensive was stopped along the entire front, and on August 3, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive along the Orel-Kursk-Belgorod line. By August 23, Oryol, Belgorod, and Kharkov were liberated. During the Kursk operation, 500 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers, 1.5 thousand tanks and other military equipment were destroyed.
Historical significance of the Battle of Kursk:
The best German divisions were defeated;
The strategic initiative passed to the Red Army, and a general offensive of Soviet troops began along the entire front;
The preconditions were laid for the landing of Anglo-American troops and the collapse of the German bloc.
As a result of the victory at Kursk, Soviet troops reached the Dnieper. From August to December 1943, the battle for the Dnieper continued, which ended with the breakthrough of the German defense - the "Eastern Wall", the liberation of Kyiv on November 6, 1943 and the beginning of the liberation of Right Bank Ukraine.
In 1944, Soviet troops attacked the Nazis along the entire Soviet-German front. From January 14 to March 1, 1944, German troops near Leningrad were completely defeated. The 900-day blockade of the legendary city ended, with the loss of at least 800 thousand people.
The main blow to the enemy in the winter and spring of 1943 was delivered in Right Bank Ukraine and Crimea. From January 24 to February 17, 1944, the forces of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts carried out the Korsun-Shevchenko operation. During the fighting here, 55 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were surrounded and destroyed. Based on the tactics and military art of encircling and destroying the German group in the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky area, it was called the “second Stalingrad.”
Following the offensive in Right Bank Ukraine on April 8, the Crimean operation of the 4th Ukrainian Front began. It ended on May 12, 1944 with the complete defeat of the Nazi group and the liberation of Crimea. Despite fierce enemy resistance, Sevastopol was liberated on May 9, 1944. In these battles, the enemy lost 100 thousand killed and wounded, as well as military equipment.
In the summer, a powerful blow was dealt to the Finnish army on the Karelian Isthmus. On September 2, 1944, the Finnish government signed an armistice with the USSR. The Soviet Union retained the territory, which was transferred to it in 1940. In October 1944, with the consent of the Norwegian government, the Soviet army entered Norwegian territory.
The significant victories of the Soviet army prompted the Allies to open a Second Front in Europe.
Developing the success of the allied states, in the summer of 1944, Soviet troops carried out two strategic operations - the Belarusian "Bagration" (June 23 - August 29) and Lvov-Sandomierz (July 13 - August 29).
As a result of these operations, the German Army Group Center suffered a new defeat. The Soviet army liberated Belarus, part of Lithuania and Latvia, approached the borders of East Prussia, crossed the Narev and Vistula rivers. During 1944, 3 more German groups were defeated.
The Iasi-Kishinev and Baltic operations were of great importance for the Soviet-German front and the successes of the allies. In October 1944, as a result of the Carpathian-Uzhgorod operation, the territory of Ukraine was completely liberated. In the fall of 1944, the enemy was almost completely expelled from the territory of the USSR; Soviet troops entered the territory of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Norway.
20. Soviet-German. the front remained the most significant in WWII. The second most important theater of war in 1942 was North Africa (June 10, 1940 - May 13, 1943). Here military operations took place between Anglo-America. and Italian-German. troops in the North. Africa. In September 1940 - October 1942. the battles went on with varying degrees of success. In the summer of 1942, Italian-German troops invaded areas of Egypt, where enemy losses amounted to: 55 thousand people. killed, wounded and captured, 320 tanks and about 1,000 guns destroyed. The victory at El Alamein changed the balance of forces in this region in favor of the Western allies.) By the end of November, the landing forces of northwestern Africa occupied Morocco and Algeria, entered Tunisia and Germany. and Italian troops in the North Africa were doomed. On May 13, 1943, the surrounded Italian-German troops capitulated. Military operations in the North. Africa are over. On July 25, 1943, Mussolini's regime was overthrown, Italy concluded a truce with the allies, and on October 13, 1943, declared war on Germany. The third theater of war was the Asia-Pacific. In mid-1942, Japan dealt a serious blow to the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain. At the same time, Japan held the occupied part of China, Hawaii, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Australia. BUT exorbitant conquests only complicated the position of the aggressor. The Japanese troops scattered on numerous fronts were exhausted. Hopes for the complete conquest of China were fading. Since July 1942, the United States has intensified the fight against it. submarines off the coast of North America, cat. tried to strike important coastal targets. By the beginning of the winter of 1942–1943. the situation was complex and contradictory. The overall superiority in armed forces and combat equipment passed to the side of the USSR and its allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. The enemy was stopped and experienced great difficulties at the front and in the rear. Tehran: Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed on the opening of a “Second Front”, on the creation of the UN after the war, on the fate of Germany after its military defeat. The USSR promised to enter the war against Japan after the end of the war in Europe
21. The defeat of the mute. armies in the summer of 1943 on the Kursk Bulge allowed the Red Army to go on the offensive and in September 1943 begin an operation to liberate Ukraine and Belarus. On September 23, 1943, the first city was liberated. Pos. Komarin. 20 soldiers were awarded the title. Hero of the SS. On November 26, Gomel was liberated. However, defeat him. The army group "Center" and liberating the entire territory of Belarus from the enemy failed. It was believed that the Wehrmacht had suffered heavy losses in the summer of 1943 and would not be able to hold back the advance of the Red Army. But the Wehrmacht showed that it had not yet lost its combat effectiveness. From September 27, 1943 to February 24, 1944, Red Army units completely or partially liberated 36 districts of our republic, 36 regional centers and two regions. center - Gomel and Mozyr. They took up convenient positions from which the White offensive Operation Bagration began in the summer of 1944. The offensive of the owls. troops in white land took place in conditions of universal support and assistance from the partisans and the entire population of the republic.
Plan for the defeat of the German-fascist group. armies “Center” was developed at Headquarters and approved at the end of May 1944. This operation went down in history under the name “Bagration” and consisted of 2 stages. According to the plan, it was planned to break through the defense there. armies to the center. section of the Soviet-German front, dismember Army Group Center into parts and defeat them separately. Troops from four fronts were involved in Operation Bagration. 1st Baltic Front: advanced from the Vitebsk region, 3rd Belorussian Front: south of Vitebsk towards Borisov. The 2nd Belorussian operated in the Mogilev direction. The 1st Belorussian Front (commander - K. Rokossovsky) was aimed at Bobruisk and Minsk. Their actions were coordinated by Marshals G. Zhukov and A. Vasilevsky. The total number of Soviet armies was 2.4 million soldiers, 36.4 thousand guns and mortars, 5.2 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units and 5.3 thousand aircraft.
Stage I - June 23 – July 4, 1944. As a result of the operation, Vitebsk and Mogilev were liberated on June 26, and Minsk on July 3. The tank of junior lieutenant D. Frolikov was the first to burst into Minsk. Private Suvorov from the 1315th Infantry Regiment planted the state flag over the Government House.
With the liberation of Minsk, the first stage of Operation Bagration ended. The main forces of Army Group Center were defeated.
Stage II - July 5 – August 29, 1944 Liberated: Baranovichi, Pinsk, Grodno, Brest. During the implementation of the second stage of the Belarusian operation, Army Group Center was completely destroyed, which became no less a disaster for the Nazis than the defeat at Stalingrad. Total losses The armies consisted of about 500 thousand soldiers and officers. The damage on the Soviet side was also significant. The Red Army lost 765,815 soldiers.
As a result of Operation Bagration, the Red Army liberated Belarus, part of Lithuania and Latvia, Poland (reached the Warsaw suburb of Prague) and approached the borders of East Prussia.
More than 1,600 soldiers in the battles for the liberation of Belarus were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In memory of the heroic deeds of soldiers of four fronts, the majestic Mound of Glory (opened in 1969) was erected at the 21st kilometer of the Minsk-Moscow highway.
22 . The opening of a second front in Europe by the United States and Great Britain occupied a central place among political. tasks facing the fight against the fascist bloc. Operation Overlord - June 6, 1944 landing of American, British and Canadian troops on the coast of Northern France and Normandy. The second front operated for 11 months. During this time, troops under the command of Eisenhower liberated France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, entered Germany and advanced to the Elbe. In order to change the situation on the Western Front and defeat the Anglo-American forces in Belgium and the Netherlands, the Germans carried out an offensive operation on the Western Front in the Ardennes from December 16, 1944 to January 29, 1945. The Allies were on the verge of defeat. To save the Anglo-American troops in the Ardennes from defeat, W. Churchill asked I. Stalin to provide assistance. On January 12, 1945, a week before the scheduled date, the Red Army launched a powerful offensive along almost the entire sector of the front from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians. The Second Front played an important role in accelerating the victory over Nazi Germany. Having liberated the territory of the USSR from Nazi Germany. invaders, the Red Army fulfilled its liberation mission - it returned freedom to 11 countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe.
23. Having liberated the territory of the USSR from Nazi Germany. invaders, the Red Army fulfilled its liberation mission - it returned freedom to 11 countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe with a population of 113 million people (Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany). As a result of the successful actions of the Red Army, the position of Hitler's Germany became catastrophic, its isolation grew. But even after the opening of the second front. The theater of war remained Soviet-German. front.
The Yalta (Crimean) Conference of the Allied Powers (February 4–11, 1945) is the second of 3 meetings of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, dedicated to the establishment of the post-war world order.
The “Big Three” (J.V. Stalin, F. Roosevelt, W. Churchill) approved the agreement developed by the European Advisory Commission “On the zones of occupation of Germany and on the management of Greater Berlin”, “On the control mechanism in Germany” and made the following decisions:
1) on the disarmament of Germany. troops, demilitarization of the German economy, the destruction of Nazism, the punishment of war criminals, the creation of a democratic Germany;
2) the decision on the occupation and division of Germany into occupation zones and on the allocation of its zone to France;
3) on collecting reparations from Germany for the damage suffered (the protocol was signed only in 1947). However, the Allies were never able to finally determine the amount of compensation. It was only decided that the USA and Great Britain would give the USSR 50% of all reparations;
4) about the eastern border of Poland (Curzon line);
5) The USSR confirmed its agreement to enter the war with Japan, subject to the return of the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin to the USSR 2-3 months after the surrender of Germany;
6) on the creation of the United Nations (UN).
The Crimean Conference demonstrated the strength and unanimity of the anti-Hitler coalition.
24. The Berlin strategic offensive operation was the last strategic operation of Soviet troops in the European Theater of Operations, during which the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany and victoriously ended the Second World War. The operation lasted 23 days: from April 16. - May 8, 1945
The idea of the Berlin operation was: to break through the enemy’s defenses on the Oder and Neisse rivers with strikes from the 1st Belorussian, 2nd Belorussian, and 1st Ukrainian fronts; surround and destroy the main forces of the Berlin group, and reaching the Elbe, connect with the Allied troops advancing from the west. Having approved the plan, Stalin demanded that the operation begin on April 16, and be completed in 12–15 days, because he feared that the allies would get ahead of the Soviet troops.
The German command sought to contain the advance of the Red Army at all costs in the hope of gaining time to conclude a separate peace with the Western powers. At 12 noon on April 25, the ring closed around Berlin and it was on April 25, 1945 on the river. The first meeting of the allies took place in the Elbe region of Torgau. The assault on Berlin began.
Sergeants M. Egorov and M. Kantaria hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag on the night of May 1, for which they were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. About 2 hours after this, Hitler shot himself in the underground bunker of the Reich Chancellery; on May 2, the Berlin garrison stopped resisting.
On May 7, in Reims, the Germans signed an act of unconditional surrender with Western countries. This displeased Stalin, and at his request, on May 9, 1945, at 0:43 a.m. in Karlshorst, in the presence of representatives of the command of all allied armies, an act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed. On the USSR side, the act was signed by Marshal G. Zhukov.
On June 9, the medal “For the Capture of Berlin” was established. It was presented to the direct participants in the assault on the city - 1,082 thousand soldiers, sergeants and officers of the Red Army and the Polish Army. G. Zhukov became a Hero of the Soviet Union three times, I. Konev and K. Rokossovsky were awarded a second Gold Star.
The Potsdam Conference (near Berlin) was held from July 17 to August 2, 1945, with the participation of the leadership of the 3 largest powers of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II (Truman, Serchel, Stalin) in order to determine further steps for the post-war structure of Europe. Conference decisions:
1) confirmed the decisions of the Crimean Conference regarding Germany. The goals of the Allied occupation of Germany were denazification, demilitarization, democratization, decentralization and decartelization. The Allies agreed to preserve the unity of Germany;
2) considered the issue of the borders of Poland. Most of the eastern territories separated from Germany became part of Poland;
3) Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) was transferred to the USSR;
4) created the Council of Foreign Ministers to prepare treaties with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland;
5) Stalin confirmed his commitment to declare war on Japan no later than 3 months after the surrender of Germany.
During the meetings, Truman received the famous news about the creation of American nuclear weapons: “The baby is born.” On July 24, 1945, in Potsdam, Truman casually informed Stalin that the United States “now has weapons of extraordinary destructive power.” That same evening, Stalin ordered Molotov to talk with Kurchatov about accelerating work on the atomic project.
Zhukov and Vasilevsky immediately began implementing the second part of the plan conceived in the Oryol-Kursk arc area. In a certain sense, the main significance of the battle on the Oryol-Kursk Bulge is not even in repelling Hoth and Model, but in creating effective preconditions for the subsequent offensive operations. Two such operations began immediately, in mid-July 1943. The reversal of fate was already noticeable on July 14th. The right flank of the Central Front prepared to attack.
In the north of the Kursk salient, the implementation of Operation Kutuzov began - a strike against a group of German troops in the area of Orel and Bryansk. The Soviet shock troops concentrated on a very narrow offensive zone and managed to break the German front. Despite the unprecedentedly stubborn resistance of the German troops, this operation brought success. Using the best tactics of the Second World War - combining the actions of infantry, tanks and aircraft, Soviet troops opened up the German front and launched an entire tank army into the breakthrough. On the night of July 20, the situation around Orel, desperately defended by the Germans, was studied by Zhukov and Vasilevsky. North of Orel, Bagramyan's 11th Guards Army advanced a record seventy kilometers. To the left, to the south, the Bryansk Front fought in desperate frontal attacks. From the south, Rokossovsky's Central Front, reinforced by Romanenko's tanks, was advancing on the Oryol ledge. The partisans launched a desperate assault on the railways, the most important among which for the Germans were the Bryansk-Mikhailovsky highway and the road leading from Kharkov to Belgorod. More than 10 thousand acts of sabotage on roads were recorded. On July 17, the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement “distributed” sections of the railways between individual detachments and the so-called “rail war” began. The main one among the assigned tasks was to destroy the lines of communication with the German 2nd Panzer and 9th Armies, which had advanced far forward in the Oryol salient.
The German command attached special importance to the Oryol salient; four tank divisions were sent here after July 20, 1943. They stopped the advance of Soviet troops. Now the Germans were burying their tanks, blocking the enemy’s advance on the approaches to Orel. It was at this time that Badanov came to the aid of the advancing Bagramyan with
4th Tank Army. Badanov had brand new 500 tanks, it was a formidable force. Two days of desperate travel to Bolkhov gave Badanov only two kilometers. And a lot of losses.
The 30th Ural Volunteer Corps did not know the fear of death, but the positions under fire from the Germans were an almost insurmountable obstacle. And yet, desperate courage justifies itself; the Germans began to withdraw their troops from the Bolkhov pocket. The result was the release of Orel on August 5. And on August 18, Soviet tanks entered Bryansk.
“Operation Rumyantsev” began, which was directly supervised by Zhukov. From the north, from the Bryansk Front, four artillery divisions were transferred to Konev's Steppe Front, the troops received ammunition and food for independent combat operations for a period of up to twelve days. Zhukov concentrated 230 guns in the direction of the main attack, up to 70 tanks per kilometer. The joint attack of the 1st and 5th Guards Tank Armies made an impression by reaching Belgorod from the north and northwest, and from the south by entering the rear of Kharkov. The encirclement of Kharkov was carried out by three fronts - Voronezh, Stepnoy and
South-Western against the German 4th Panzer Army and the Kempf Group.
On the Steppe Front, the Germans, despite the preliminary artillery hell, managed to delay the advancing columns. But Konev’s Steppe Front corrected the mistakes of the first days and approached Belgorod. The 7th Guards Army crossed the Northern Donets south of Belgorod, cutting the already mentioned railway connecting Belgorod with Kharkov. And to the north, the 69th Army approached Belgorod, and Konev was already able to storm the city. Zhukov, seeing a gap that had opened in the German front on the line of confrontation with Konev, introduced
27th (Trofimenko) and 40th (Moskalenko) armies. This bold maneuver made it possible to threaten the encirclement of two tank and three infantry divisions.
Zhukov's maneuver significantly separated the 4th Panzer Army from the Kempf Group (which would soon become the 8th German Army). Soviet troops, heading south and west, struck the line of separation of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht and the “Army Group Kempf”. The fourth battle for Kharkov was also the last, although Hitler ordered to fight for it to the end. On August 19, 1943, General Managarov's 53rd Army emerged from the dense forests northwest and west of Kharkov. She was the first to enter the suburbs. Rotmistrov's heroic tank army, in which only 150 tanks remained, repelled the attacks of the elite SS tank units sent by Hitler from the south. The good news spread on August 22 - reconnaissance planes reported that a (so far insignificant) flow was rushing out of the city in a southwestern direction. The artillery of the 5th Guards Tank Army was quickly brought to these retreat routes, and Soviet attack aircraft took off into the air. The assault on Kharkov began at night; the center of the beautiful city, once built in such an unusual style, was burning. By dawn on August 23, Soviet troops reached the city center, and a red flag was hoisted over the Gosprom building, the central point of the city. At noon, the official announcement of the liberation of Kharkov, the largest of the hitherto liberated cities, was made.
A new picture on the Soviet-German front emerged in August 1943. From Velikie Luki in the north to the Black Sea coast in the south, fierce battles took place along the entire front, and this was the largest offensive of the Soviet army against the German army to date. In the center against the three Soviet fronts (Kalinin, Western, Bryansk), the German Army Group Center had fifty-five divisions. To the south, 68 German divisions fought against five Soviet fronts (Central, Voronezh, Stepnoy, South-Western, Southern). In total, Germany fielded 226 divisions and 11 brigades on the Eastern Front in the summer of 1943. There were 157 German divisions on a straight line from Velikiye Luki to the Black Sea. The submissive allies also supplied armed forces. The Germans had a high opinion of the Finnish army and a low opinion of the other Allied armies.
In terms of the number of divisions, the Soviet army, having mobilized almost the entire adult population of the country, begins to significantly surpass the Wehrmacht, but seven weeks of continuous battle in July 1943 cost the Soviet troops enormous losses. In the largest Soviet tank army - the 2nd - on August 25, there were only 265 combat vehicles. Katukov’s army had 162 tanks, Rotmistrov’s had 153.
On the evening of August 5, 1943, Moscow saluted with 120 guns in honor of the liberation of Orel and Belgorod. What is gratifying to note is that this great victory was achieved with less bloodshed than the previous ones. If Stalingrad claimed the lives of 470 thousand of our soldiers and officers, then 70 thousand people died in the Battle of Kursk. The subsequent (double) breakthrough of the German front cost the lives of another 183 thousand of our soldiers. By this time, the USSR had lost more than 4 million 700 thousand people killed, wounded, captured and missing in the war. Instead of men, women are entering industry.
| Material index |
|---|
| Course: World War II |
| DIDACTIC PLAN |
| INTRODUCTION |
| End of the Treaty of Versailles |
| German rearmament |
| Industrial growth and armament of the USSR |
| Absorption (Anchlock) of Austria by the German state |
| Aggressive plans and actions against Czechoslovakia |
| The fundamental difference between the positions of Great Britain and the USSR |
| "Munich Agreement" |
| The fate of Poland in the tangle of global contradictions |
| Soviet-German Treaty |
| Collapse of Poland |
| German advance in Scandinavia |
| Hitler's new victories in the West |
| Battle of Britain |
| The action of the plan "Barbarossa" |
| Fighting in July '41 |
| Battles of August-September 1941 |
| Attack on Moscow |
| Counter-offensive of the Red Army near Moscow and the formation of the Anti-Hitler Coalition |
| Changing Soviet capabilities at the front and in the rear |
| Germany to the Wehrmacht in early 1942 |
| Escalation of World War II in the Far East |
| A chain of Allied failures in early 1942 |
| Strategic plans of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht for the spring-summer of 1942 |
| The offensive of the Red Army in Kerch and near Kharkov |
| Fall of Sevastopol and weakening of Allied aid |
| The disaster of the Red Army in the south in the summer of 1942 |
| Defense of Stalingrad |
| Development of the Uranus strategic plan |
| Allied landings in North Africa |
| Operation Uranus begins |
| Strengthening the external defense of the “ring” |
| Manstein's counteroffensive |
| "Little Saturn" |
| The final defeat of the encircled Stalingrad group |
| Offensive Operation Saturn |
| Offensive in the northern, central sectors of the Soviet-German front and in the Caucasus |
| End of the Soviet offensive |
| Kharkov defensive operation |
| Operation Citadel |
| Defense of the northern front of the Kursk ledge |
On June 10, 1944, the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation began. The offensive of Soviet troops in Karelia in 1944 became the fourth “Stalinist blow”. The strike was carried out by troops of the Leningrad Front on the Karelian Isthmus and troops of the Karelian Front in the Svir-Petrozavodsk direction with the support of the Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega military flotillas.
The strategic operation itself was divided into the Vyborg (June 10-20) and Svir-Petrozavodsk (June 21 - August 9) operations. The Vyborg operation solved the problem of defeating Finnish troops on the Karelian Isthmus. The Svir-Petrozavodsk operation was supposed to solve the problem of liberating the Karelo-Finnish SSR. In addition, local operations were carried out: the Tuloksa and Bjork landing operations. The operations involved troops of the Leningrad and Karelian fronts, which had 31 rifle divisions, 6 brigades and 4 fortified areas. The Soviet fronts consisted of more than 450 thousand soldiers and officers, about 10 thousand guns and mortars, more than 800 tanks and self-propelled guns, more than 1.5 thousand aircraft.
The fourth “Stalinist blow” solved several important problems:
The Red Army supported the allies. On June 6, 1944, the Normandy operation began and the long-awaited second front was opened. The summer offensive on the Karelian Isthmus was supposed to prevent the German command from transferring troops to the west from the Baltic states;
It was necessary to eliminate the threat to Leningrad from Finland, as well as the important communications that led from Murmansk to the central regions of the USSR; liberate the cities of Vyborg, Petrozavodsk and most of the Karelo-Finnish SSR from enemy troops, restoring the state border with Finland;
The headquarters planned to inflict a decisive defeat on the Finnish army and bring Finland out of the war, forcing it to conclude a separate peace with the USSR.
Background
After the successful winter-spring campaign of 1944, the Headquarters determined the tasks of the summer campaign of 1944. Stalin believed that in the summer of 1944 it was necessary to clear the entire Soviet territory of the Nazis and restore the state borders of the Soviet Union along the entire line from the Black to the Barents Sea. At the same time, it was obvious that the war would not end on the Soviet borders. It was necessary to finish off the German “wounded beast” in his own lair and free the peoples of Europe from German captivity.
On May 1, 1944, Stalin signed a directive to begin preparing the troops of the Leningrad and Karelian fronts for an offensive. Particular attention was paid to the need to conduct an offensive in the specific conditions of the terrain, in which the Red Army had already had to wage a difficult and bloody struggle during the Winter War of 1939-1940. On May 30, the commander of the Karelian Front, K. A. Meretskov, reported on the progress of preparations for the operation.
On June 5, Stalin congratulated Roosevelt and Churchill on their victory - the capture of Rome. The next day, Churchill announced the start of the Normandy operation. The British Prime Minister noted that the start was good, obstacles had been overcome, and large landings had successfully landed. Stalin congratulated Roosevelt and Churchill on the successful landing of troops in Northern France. The Soviet leader also briefly informed them about the further actions of the Red Army. He noted that, according to the agreement at the Tehran Conference, an offensive would be launched in mid-June on one of the important sectors of the front. The general offensive of the Soviet troops was planned for the end of June and July. On June 9, Joseph Stalin additionally informed the British Prime Minister that preparations for the summer offensive of the Soviet troops were being completed, and on June 10 an offensive would be launched on the Leningrad Front.
It should be noted that the transfer of the military efforts of the Red Army from the south to the north came as a surprise to the German military-political leadership. In Berlin it was believed that the Soviet Union was capable of carrying out large-scale offensive operations in only one strategic direction. The liberation of Right Bank Ukraine and Crimea (the second and third Stalinist attacks) showed that the main direction in 1944 would be the south. In the north, the Germans were not expecting a new big offensive.
Strengths of the parties. THE USSR. To carry out the Vyborg operation, troops of the right wing of the Leningrad Front under the command of Army General (Marshal from June 18, 1944) Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov were involved. The 23rd Army was already on the Karelian Isthmus under the command of Lieutenant General A.I. Cherepanov (in early July the army was led by Lieutenant General V.I. Shvetsov). It was strengthened by the 21st Army of Colonel General D.N. Gusev. Gusev's army was to play a major role in the offensive. Considering the power of the Finnish defense, over three years the Finns built powerful defensive fortifications here, strengthening the “Mannerheim Line”; the Leningrad Front was significantly strengthened. It received two breakthrough artillery divisions, an artillery-cannon brigade, 5 special artillery divisions, two tank brigades and seven self-propelled gun regiments.
The 21st Army, under the command of Dmitry Nikolayevich Gusev, included the 30th Guards, 97th and 109th Rifle Corps (a total of nine rifle divisions), as well as the 22nd fortified area. Gusev's army also included: the 3rd Guards Artillery Breakthrough Corps, five tank and three self-propelled artillery regiments (157 tanks and self-propelled artillery units) and a significant number of individual artillery, sapper and other units. The 23rd Army under the command of Alexander Ivanovich Cherepanov included the 98th and 115th Rifle Corps (six rifle divisions), the 17th fortified area, one tank and one self-propelled artillery regiment (42 tanks and self-propelled guns), 38 artillery divisions. In total, both armies had 15 rifle divisions and two fortified areas.
In addition, the front reserve included the 108th and 110th rifle corps from the 21st Army (six rifle divisions), four tank brigades, three tank and two self-propelled artillery regiments (in total the front tank group consisted of more than 300 armored vehicles) , as well as a significant number of artillery. In total, more than 260 thousand soldiers and officers (according to other sources - about 190 thousand people), about 7.5 thousand guns and mortars, 630 tanks and self-propelled guns and about 1 thousand aircraft were concentrated on the Karelian Isthmus.
From the sea, the offensive was supported and provided by the coastal flanks: the Red Banner Baltic Fleet under the command of Admiral V.F. Tributs - from the Gulf of Finland, the Ladoga Military Flotilla of Rear Admiral V.S. Cherokov - Lake Ladoga. From the air, the ground forces were supported by the 13th Air Army under the leadership of Lieutenant General of Aviation S. D. Rybalchenko. The 13th Air Army was strengthened by the reserves of the Supreme High Command and consisted of about 770 aircraft. The air army consisted of three bomber air divisions, two attack air divisions, the 2nd Guards Leningrad Air Defense Fighter Air Corps, a fighter air division and other units. The Baltic Fleet aviation consisted of about 220 aircraft.
Plans of the Soviet command. The terrain was difficult to navigate - forests and swamps, which made it difficult to use heavy weapons. Therefore, the command of the Leningrad Front decided to deliver the main blow with the forces of Gusev’s 21st Army in the coastal direction in the area of Sestroretsk and Beloostrov. Soviet troops were to advance along the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Finland. This made it possible to support the offensive of ground forces with naval and coastal artillery, and amphibious landings.
Cherepanov's 23rd Army was supposed to actively defend its positions in the first days of the offensive. After the 21st Army reached the Sestra River, Cherepanov’s army also had to go on the offensive. The remaining three armies of the Leningrad Front, concentrated in the Narva section of the Soviet-German front, had to intensify their actions at this time in order to prevent the transfer of German divisions from the Baltic states to the Karelian Isthmus. In order to misinform the German command, a few days before the Vyborg operation, the Soviet command began to spread rumors about the imminence of a major offensive by the Red Army in the Narva region. To achieve this, a number of reconnaissance and other activities were carried out.
Finland. Soviet troops on the Karelian Isthmus were opposed by the main forces of the Finnish army: parts of the 3rd Corps under the command of Lieutenant General J. Siilasvuo and the 4th Corps of General T. Laatikainen. The reserve of Commander-in-Chief K. G. Mannerheim was also located in this direction. On June 15, they were united into the Karelian Isthmus task force. The group included: five infantry divisions, one infantry and one cavalry brigade, a single Finnish armored division (located in the operational reserve in the Vyborg area), as well as a significant number of individual units. Three infantry divisions and an infantry brigade occupied the first line of defense, two divisions and a cavalry brigade occupied the second line. In total, the Finns had about 100 thousand soldiers (according to other sources - about 70 thousand people), 960 guns and mortars, more than 200 (250) aircraft and 110 tanks.
The Finnish army relied on a powerful defensive system that was created on the Karelian Isthmus over three years of war, as well as on the improved “Mannerheim Line”. The deeply-echeloned and well-prepared defense system on the Karelian Isthmus was called the “Karelian Wall”. The depth of the Finnish defense reached 100 km. The first line of defense ran along the front line, which had been established in the fall of 1941. The second defense line was located approximately 25-30 km from the first. The third line of defense ran along the old “Mannerheim Line,” which was improved and further strengthened in the Vyborg direction. Vyborg had a circular defensive belt. In addition, outside the city there was a rear, fourth line of defense.
In general, the Finnish army was well equipped and had extensive experience in fighting in wooded, swampy and lake areas. Finnish soldiers had high morale and fought hard. The officers supported the idea of “Greater Finland” (due to the annexation of Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula and a number of other territories) and advocated an alliance with Germany, which was supposed to help Finnish expansion. However, the Finnish army was significantly inferior to the Red Army in terms of guns and mortars, tanks and especially aircraft.
Finnish soldiers in hiding, June 1944
Advance of the Red Army
The beginning of the offensive. Breakthrough of the first line of defense (June 9-11). On the morning of June 9, the artillery of the Leningrad Front, coastal and naval artillery began to destroy previously discovered enemy fortifications. On a 20-kilometer section of the front in front of the positions of Gusev’s 21st Army, the density of ground artillery fire reached 200-220 guns and mortars. The artillery fired non-stop for 10-12 hours. On the first day, they tried to destroy the enemy’s long-term defensive structures to the entire depth of the first line of defense. In addition, they conducted an active counter-battery fight.
At the same time, Soviet aviation launched a massive attack on enemy positions. About 300 attack aircraft, 265 bombers, 158 fighters and 20 reconnaissance aircraft of the 13th Air Force and Naval Aviation took part in the operation. The intensity of airstrikes is indicated by the number of sorties per day - 1100.
The air and artillery strike was very effective. The Finns later admitted that as a result of Soviet fire, many defensive structures and barriers were destroyed or severely damaged, and minefields were blown up. And Mannerheim wrote in his memoirs that the thunder of Soviet heavy guns was heard in Helsinki.
Late in the evening, the reinforced forward battalions of the 23rd Army began reconnaissance in force, trying to break into the Finnish defense system. There was some minor success in some areas, but in most areas there was no progress. The Finnish command, realizing that this was the beginning of a major offensive, began to tighten the battle formations.
In the early morning of June 10, Soviet artillery and aviation resumed attacks on Finnish positions. Baltic Fleet ships and coastal artillery played a major role in the attacks in the coastal direction. 3 destroyers, 4 gunboats, batteries of the Kronstadt and Izhora coastal defense sectors, and the 1st Guards Naval Railway Brigade took part in the artillery preparation. Naval artillery attacked Finnish positions in the Beloostrov area.
The effectiveness of the artillery barrage and airstrikes on June 9-10 is evidenced by the fact that in a small area in the Beloostrov area alone, 130 pillboxes, armored caps, bunkers and other enemy fortifications were destroyed. Almost all the wire barriers were demolished by artillery fire, anti-tank obstacles were destroyed, and minefields were blown up. The trenches were badly damaged and the Finnish infantry suffered heavy losses. According to the testimony of prisoners, Finnish troops lost up to 70% of the units that occupied the forward trenches.
After three hours of artillery preparation, units of the 21st Army went on the offensive. Artillery, after the completion of artillery preparation, supported the advancing troops. The main blow was delivered on the front section of Rajajoki - Old Beloostrov - height 107. The offensive began successfully. The 109th Rifle Corps, under the command of Lieutenant General I.P. Alferov, advanced on the left flank - along the coast, along the railway to Vyborg and along the Primorskoye Highway. In the center, along the Vyborg Highway, the 30th Guards Corps of Lieutenant General N.P. Simonyak was advancing. On the right flank, in the general direction towards Kallelovo, the 97th Rifle Corps of Major General M. M. Busarov was advancing.
On the very first day, Gusev’s army broke through the enemy’s defenses (in Moscow this success was celebrated with fireworks). The 30th Guards Corps advanced 14-15 km during the day. Soviet soldiers liberated Stary Beloostrov, Maynila, and crossed the Sestra River. In other areas, progress was not as successful. The 97th Corps reached Sestra.
To develop success, the command of the Leningrad Front created two mobile groups from tank brigades and regiments; they were assigned to the 30th Guards and 109th Rifle Corps. On June 11, Soviet troops advanced another 15-20 km and reached the second line of enemy defense. Near the village of Kivennape, which was a key hub of the Finnish defense, a Finnish tank division launched a counterattack on the Soviet troops. Initially, her attack had some success, but the Finns were soon driven back to their original positions.
On the same day, Cherepanov's 23rd Army began its offensive. The army struck with the forces of the 98th Rifle Corps under Lieutenant General G.I. Anisimov. In the afternoon, the right-flank 97th Corps of the 21st Army was transferred to the 23rd Army. In exchange, Gusev's 21st Army was transferred from the front reserve to the 108th Rifle Corps.
The Finnish 10th Infantry Division, which held the defense in the direction of the main attack, was defeated and suffered heavy losses. She ran to the second line of defense. On June 11, it was taken to the rear for reorganization and replenishment. The Finnish command was forced to urgently transfer troops from the second line of defense and from the reserve (3rd Infantry Division, Cavalry Brigade - they stood in the second line of defense, a tank division and other units) to the defense line of the 4th Army Corps. But this could no longer radically change the situation. Realizing that it would not be possible to hold the first line of defense, by the end of the day on June 10, the Finnish command began to withdraw troops to the second line of defense.
In addition, Mannerheim began to transfer troops to the Karelian Isthmus from other directions. On June 10, the Finnish commander ordered the transfer of the 4th Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Brigade from eastern Karelia. On June 12, the 17th division and 20th brigade were sent to the Karelian Isthmus. Mannerheim hoped to stabilize the front in the second line of defense.
To be continued…
Did the general offensive undertaken by the Red Army at the beginning of 1942 mark the end of the difficulties caused by the unfavorable outcome of the summer-autumn campaign of 1941?
The counteroffensive of the Red Army in the Battle of Moscow and the general offensive that began in January 1942 testified, first of all, that the Soviet people overcame the most difficult and most dangerous stage of the war, managed to repel a sudden insidious attack by the strike forces of international imperialism, crushed the plans of the Nazis and the world reactions to the lightning defeat of the world's first socialist country.
The Soviet people and their army in 1941 coped with many serious, one might say, cardinal, difficulties. Such complex tasks as overcoming the negative impact of the surprise factor were successfully solved; conducting general mobilization and strategic deployment in a situation where intense defensive operations were already underway; repeated restoration of a strategic front broken through by the enemy; evacuation of millions of people and a huge number of enterprises, material and cultural assets; a decisive restructuring of the entire life of the country on a military basis; a change in the general balance of forces on the Soviet-German front towards the elimination of the enemy's overwhelming quantitative and military-technical superiority. The moral and political state of the Soviet people and their confidence in victory over the fascist aggressors also strengthened. However, this did not mean that the enormous difficulties caused by the war were already behind us by the beginning of 1942. There were still a lot of them.
The enemy occupied vast, economically and strategically very important regions of the USSR. In connection with this, the country's human and material resources were significantly reduced, the production of electricity, metals, and food dropped sharply, and coal production decreased by half. Mobilization reserves were exhausted, and the military industry did not have time to make up for the losses of weapons and military equipment incurred at the front. The national economy in general and the defense industry in particular experienced an acute need for labor.
The Soviet people and their Armed Forces faced a long, intense struggle with a strong, experienced and cruel enemy who was striving at all costs to get out of the crisis situation that developed in the winter of 1941/42 on the Soviet-German front. Nazi Germany still had large economic and military resources and was able to create new threats, taking advantage of the absence of a second front in Europe. In order to victoriously fight against Hitler's Reich and his allies, the Soviet people needed to quickly increase fuel production, smelting of the necessary types and grades of metal, and production of various industrial products in the eastern regions of the country; restore and multiply the production of weapons, military equipment, ammunition, and military equipment; provide the front and rear with food; organize uninterrupted operation of transport.
Huge efforts and expenses were also required by the urgent work to restore industry and agriculture, to revive life in the liberated areas.
There is also an urgent need to resolve some of the problems of military art and organization of the Soviet Armed Forces, which were put on the agenda by the harsh practice of operations and battles in 1941. The Communist Party clearly saw all these difficulties. Mobilizing the Soviet people to overcome them, instilling in them confidence in the inevitability of victory over fascism, she emphasized that the path to victory would be long and would require perseverance and heroism from the Soviet people.
The victory on the Volga decisively changed the strategic situation on the entire Soviet-German front, and especially on its southern wing. The Soviet Supreme High Command decided to expand the front of the strategic offensive by introducing new forces.
The development of the counteroffensive into a general offensive began even before the liquidation of the German group encircled on the Volga. In total, more than 70% of all forces and means of the active army were used to carry out the general offensive in the winter campaign of 1942/43.
The strategic offensive unfolded at a front of up to 3000 km and to a depth of 600-700 km. The mass expulsion of the occupiers from Soviet soil began. The headquarters approved an offensive plan for the troops of the Southern and Transcaucasian fronts with the goal of encircling and destroying the enemy group operating in the Caucasian direction.
In accordance with this plan, the troops of the Southern Front under the command of Colonel General D.I. Eremenko were supposed to advance to the Rostov region and cut off the retreat routes of the North Caucasian enemy group. The left wing of this front was supposed to attack Tikhoretsk through the Salsky steppes in order to prevent the enemy from retreating to the Taman Peninsula.
The troops of the Transcaucasian Front under the command of Army General I.V. Tyulenev were to strike with the forces of the Black Sea Group on Krasnodar and further on Tikhoretsk and, in cooperation with the troops of the Southern Front in this area, encircle the main forces of the enemy’s North Caucasian group.
At the same time, the Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front was ordered, advancing with its right flank through Mozdok towards Armavir, to press the main forces of the 1st German Tank Army to the foot of the Main Caucasus Ridge and destroy them.
On January 1, 1943, the troops of the Southern Front began to implement the planned plan. When they, overcoming strong enemy resistance, advanced to the Manych River, Army Group “A” found itself in a deep pocket, and, in order not to be cut off, its troops began to quickly retreat to Rostov.
On January 3, the Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front began pursuing the retreating formations of the enemy’s 1st Tank Army. However, the pace of its advance was insufficient.
Following it, the Black Sea group of this front also went on the offensive, operating in very difficult conditions of winter thaw in the mountains without aviation support due to bad weather. During January, overcoming enemy resistance and mountain passes, the troops of this group liberated Nalchik, Stavropol, Armavir and many other settlements.
The partisans of the Stavropol region under the leadership of the Stavropol regional party committee provided great assistance to the troops. The partisans exterminated the Nazis, destroyed and captured their military equipment, bridges, warehouses, locomotives, carriages and liberated populated areas from the enemy.
The Northern Group of Forces of the Transcaucasian Front on January 24, 1943 was transformed into the North Caucasus Front under the command of Lieutenant General I. I. Maslennikov, who had previously headed the Northern Group. Overcoming enemy resistance, poor roads and bad weather, front troops reached the Sea of Azov in early February.
At the Kuban bridgehead, the 17th German Army was cut off, which could now maintain contact with the main forces only through the Crimea. Meanwhile, the armies of the Southern Front were already fighting on the approaches to Rostov. A significant part of the North Caucasus was liberated, but it was not possible to encircle the North Caucasian group, as envisaged by the plan.
With the arrival of Soviet troops at the end of January 1943 on the approaches to Rostov, enemy resistance increased even more. The fascist German command made desperate efforts to gain time to withdraw its forces from the North Caucasus. Fierce fighting took place in the area of the Bataysk railway station, 10 km from Rostov, through which the enemy transported people and equipment to Rostov.
The offensive of the Black Sea Group troops also developed. By February 4, they fought their way out to the Kuban River and the southern approaches to Krasnodar. In order to capture the Novorossiysk and Taman Peninsula, on the night of February 4, the command of the North Caucasus Front and the Black Sea Fleet began a major landing operation in the South Ozereyka area. However, having come under heavy enemy fire and suffering losses, some of the landing ships were forced to withdraw, and the wars that managed to land, due to the inequality of forces, managed to preserve the captured bridgehead 1.
The situation was more favorable for the landing of auxiliary landing forces under the command of Major Ts. L. Kunikov in the area of the village of Stanichki and Mount Myskhako, near the southern suburbs of Novorossiysk. This landing force, consisting of 800 marine infantry, soon reinforced by other units, captured and firmly held a small bridgehead.
Hitler's headquarters, assessing the danger looming over the Novorossiysk group, gave the order to throw the paratroopers into the sea at any cost. Units of five enemy divisions were concentrated against the Soviet landing. However, all their efforts were defeated by the fortitude and courage of the Soviet marines.
A seven-month chronicle of the heroic exploits of the Soviet people on the bridgehead near Myskhako, called “Little Land,” was opened. All this time, fierce battles with the enemy, who used tanks, artillery and aircraft, did not stop here. The defenders of “Malaya Zemlya” covered themselves with unfading glory and wrote a heroic page in the history of the Great Patriotic War.
Troops of the North Caucasus Front liberated Krasnodar on February 12 and, with heavy fighting, continued their offensive along the shores of the Kuban and Western Caucasus to the Taman Peninsula. Meanwhile, the troops of the Southern Front stormed the enemy defense covering Rostov. A fierce battle broke out on the approaches to the city. After several days of intense fighting, Rostov was liberated on February 14.
As a result of the offensive, Checheno-Ingushetia and North Ossetia were liberated. tiya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Stavropol Territory, most of the Rostov region and Krasnodar Territory. Before the war, 10 million people lived in these areas. Hitler's invaders caused enormous damage to the economy of the region and exterminated many thousands of Soviet people. In the Stavropol Territory alone they destroyed more than 30 thousand civilian Soviet citizens.
Simultaneously with the offensive of Soviet troops in the North Caucasus, the Ostrogozh-Rossoshansk and Voronezh-Kastornensk offensive operations were carried out. In the second half of January 1943, troops of the Voronezh Front under the command of Lieutenant General F.I. Golikov encircled and destroyed a large enemy group defending on the Don between Voronezh and Kantemirovka. The main blow was dealt to the 2nd Hungarian and 8th Italian armies, whose troops were defending in this area.
During the operation, more than 15 divisions were completely destroyed, and 6 divisions were defeated. Over 86 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were captured. Soviet troops, having advanced 140 km, reached the Oskol River.
Following this, attacks by troops of the right wing of the Voronezh and left wing of the Bryansk fronts on Kastornoye defeated the Voronezh-Kastornye enemy group. Only its remnants made it out of the encirclement. During this operation, 11 enemy divisions were defeated. Troops of the Bryansk and Voronezh fronts liberated most of the Voronezh and Kursk regions, the cities of Voronezh, Kastornoye, Stary Oskol, Tim.
As a result of these two operations on the upper Don, the German Army Group B was defeated. The armies of Germany's allies, Hungary and Italy, suffered especially heavy losses. The 2nd Hungarian Army was virtually destroyed, losing 135 thousand people. The same fate befell the Italian 8th Army.
Due to the complete loss of combat effectiveness, it was removed from the Soviet-German front. The death of the Hungarian and Italian armies made a grave impression in Hungary and Italy and contributed to the growth of anti-Hitler sentiment among the population of the German satellites.
Developing the offensive, Soviet troops captured Kursk on February 8, and Kharkov on February 16. At this time, the troops of the Southwestern Front under the command of Colonel General N.F. Vatutin delivered the main blow to Mariupol in order to cut off the retreat of the Donbass enemy group to the west.
The partial withdrawal of enemy troops from the lower reaches of the Don to the Mius and the regroupings they made were mistakenly assessed by the command of the Southwestern and Voronezh Fronts as the beginning of a general withdrawal of fascist German troops beyond the Dnieper. The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command agreed with this assessment.
As a result, despite the fact that the troops of these fronts were stretched thin and needed replenishment, their offensive was forced in every possible way. Meanwhile, the Nazi leadership planned to carry out a large counter-offensive here.
On February 13, the German Army Group Don was transformed into Army Group South, which was quickly reinforced with reinforcements from Western Europe, the Balkans, and other sections of the Soviet-German front. A meeting of the high command of the German army under the leadership of Hitler took place in Zaporozhye.
It adopted a counteroffensive plan, which included a strike on the troops of the Southwestern Front advancing towards the Dnieper in order to push them back beyond the Northern Donets.
Following this, the encirclement of Soviet troops in the Kharkov region was planned, and after their defeat, an exit to the rear of the Voronezh Front and an attack on Kursk. At the same time, an offensive was to begin from the area south of Orel to the rear of the Central Front in order to encircle the Soviet armies in the Kursk region.
By the beginning of the operation, Army Group South had 31 divisions, including 13 tank and motorized divisions, or half of all mobile formations operating on the Soviet-German front. True, the enemy divisions, especially tank divisions, were short-staffed in personnel and military equipment.
The counteroffensive against the right wing of the Southwestern Front began on February 19. Under pressure from superior forces, Soviet troops were forced to retreat to the Northern Donets. After this, the fascist German formations attacked the troops of the left wing of the Voronezh Front that had advanced forward. Soviet troops courageously defended every inch of land.
These days, on the Voronezh front, the Czechoslovak battalion under the command of Colonel L. Svoboda, formed in the USSR, received a baptism of fire. On March 16, the enemy again captured Kharkov and pushed the troops of the left wing of the Voronezh Front to Belgorod, creating a difficult situation not only for this front, but also for the rear of the Central Front.
The headquarters of the Supreme High Command deployed reserves to the threatened areas, with the help of which the German counteroffensive was stopped by the end of March. On the entire southern wing of the Soviet-German front from Belgorod to the Sea of Azov, both sides went on the defensive.
Hitler's leadership failed to achieve its goals, although during the offensive part of the northeastern and eastern regions of Ukraine was reoccupied. But these enemy successes were bought at a high price.
One of the important tasks that Soviet troops successfully solved in the winter campaign of 1942/43 was breaking the blockade of Leningrad. This operation to break through the heavily fortified enemy defenses was carried out by troops of the Leningrad Front under the command of Lieutenant General L. A. Govorov and the Volkhov Front, whose troops were commanded by Army General K. A. Meretskov.
For the offensive, a site was chosen south of Lake Ladoga in the area of the Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky protrusion of the enemy. The front troops attacked each other in the shortest possible directions.
Understanding the strategic importance of this area, the Nazis concentrated large forces here - five divisions, well trained in operations in wooded and swampy areas. For a long time, the Nazis created a deeply layered defense here.
The assault on these positions was an unusually difficult task. Having completed long and thorough preparations, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts went on the offensive on January 12, 1943.
The personnel of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet (commander Vice Admiral V.F. Tributs) and the Ladoga Military Flotilla (commander Rear Admiral V.S. Cherokov) took an active part in breaking the blockade. After persistent and fierce fighting, Soviet troops broke through the enemy’s defenses and on January 18 united in the area of Workers’ Villages No. 1 and No. 5.
The blockade of Leningrad was broken. A corridor 8-11 km wide was formed along the southern coast of Lake Ladoga, through which the city received land connections with the country. A railway was built here in a short time, which came into operation in February 1943. Leningraders called it “the road of victory.”
Breaking the blockade greatly eased the situation in Leningrad. For eighteen months, the courageous Leningraders, experiencing unheard-of hardships, were completely surrounded. Over 600 thousand inhabitants died from hunger and shelling, especially during the first winter of the siege. But the Leningraders survived. For the whole world, the defense of Leningrad became a symbol of the unbending will of the Soviet people to defeat the enemy.
F. Roosevelt, in a letter sent to Leningrad, wrote: “On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I present this letter to the city of Leningrad in memory of its valiant warriors and its faithful men, women and children, who, being isolated by the invader from the rest of their people and despite constant bombing and untold suffering from cold, hunger and disease, successfully defended their beloved city during the critical period from September 8, 1941 to January 18, 1943 and thereby symbolized the undaunted spirit of the peoples of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and all the peoples of the world, resisting the forces of aggression."
The exploits of the heroic defenders of the city of Lenin are forever imprinted in the memory of the peoples of the world.
During February and March 1943, offensive operations were carried out on the central and northwestern sectors of the front to eliminate two enemy bridgeheads that were deeply wedged into the location of Soviet troops.
On February 15, 1943, the troops of the North-Western Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko and the 3rd Shock Army of the Kalinin Front launched an offensive against the formations of the 16th German Army defending in the “Demyansk Pocket”.
But it was not possible to encircle and destroy the enemy troops. The enemy, having suffered losses, left the encirclement. In the battles north of Velikiye Luki on February 23, on the day of the anniversary of the Red Army, private nineteen-year-old Komsomol member Alexander Matrosov performed an immortal feat of the Guard.
With his body he covered the machine-gun embrasure of the enemy bunker and, at the cost of his life, ensured the success of the attacking unit. Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matrosov is forever included in the lists of the 1st company of the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, which bears his name.
In March, troops of the Western and Kalinin fronts launched an offensive in the Rzhev-Vyazma direction. Under the blows of Soviet troops and the threat of encirclement, the enemy retreated. As a result, the front line was not only moved another 130-160 km from Moscow, but also significantly shortened.