Battle of Voronezh (1942)
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| Battle of Voronezh (1942) | |
|---|---|
| Part of Russian SFSR | |
| Result | Axis victory |
Germany
Hungary
Romania
Italy
Slovakia
Soviet Union Fedor von Bock Maximilian von Weichs Wilhelm List Hermann Hoth Hans von Salmuth Friedrich Paulus Gusztáv Jány Ewald von Kleist Richard Ruoff Filipp Golikov Nikandr Chibisov Semyon Timoshenko Rodion Malinovsky Pavel Korzun Grigory Khalyuzin Nikolai Pukhov Mikhail Parsegov Fyodor Kharitonov Maksim Antoniuk Alexei Danilov Dmitry Ryabyshev Kirill Moskalenko Anton Lopatin Dmitry Nikishov Pyotr Kozlov Andrei Grechko Fyodor Kamkov Viktor Tsyganov Ilya Smirnov
200,000 killed and 80,000 captured[1]
197,825 wounded.[2]
568,347, thereof 370,522 killed or missing and 197 825 wounded.[3]
The Battle of Voronezh, or First Battle of Voronezh, was a battle on the
The battle was marked by heavy urban fighting, and ferocious street-fighting, showing what was to come at the Battle of Stalingrad.[4][5]
Battle
The German attack had two objectives. One was to seed confusion about the ultimate goals of the overall campaign. There was widespread feeling by almost all observers, especially Soviet high command, that the Germans would reopen their attack on Moscow that summer. By strongly attacking toward Voronezh, near the site of the German's deepest penetration the year before, it would hide the nature of the real action taking place far to the south. Soviet forces sent to the area to shore up the defenses would not be able to move with the same speed as the Germans, who would then turn south and leave them behind. The other purpose was to provide an easily defended front line along the river, providing a strong left flank that could be protected with relatively light forces.
The plan involved forces of
The city was defended by the troops of the
At this point they should have been relieved by the infantry forces, but they were still far from the city. Intense house-to-house fighting broke out, and Hoth continued to push forward while he waited. At one point the 3rd Motorized Division broke across the Don, but turned back. The Soviet command poured reserves into the city and a situation not unlike what would be seen at Stalingrad a few months later broke out, with the German troops clearing the city street by street with flamethrowers while tanks gave fire support.
The 2nd did not arrive for another two days, by which time the 4th was heavily engaged and took some time to remove from the line. The 2nd continued the battle until 24 July, when the final Soviet forces west of the Don were defeated and the fighting ended.
The Soviet forces recaptured the city in the
Notes
- ^ Army Group South was divided into Army Group A and B on 9 July
- ^ Army Group South was divided into Army Group A and B on 9 July
- ^ a b c Formed on 7 July
- ^ Transferred from the Bryansk Front on 7 July
- ^ Vatutin was born in the Voronezh area.
References
- ^ a b "ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА --[ Исследования ]-- Бешанов В.В. Год 1942 - "учебный"" (in Russian).
- ^ Glantz (1995)2,436 tanks, 13,716 guns and mortars and 783 aircraft were destroyed or captured, p. 295
- ^ David M. Glantz & Jonathan M. House, When Titans Clashed. How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, Revised and Expanded Edition, 2015 by University Press of Kansas. Table Q, p. 394.
- ^ Craig 1973, pp. 19, 157–158
- ^ Beevor 1998, pp. 74
- ISBN 0-306-80306-2
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-14-103240-5.
- ISBN 0-14-200000-0.
- Glantz, David M. & House, Jonathan (1995), When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, ISBN 0-7006-0899-0.