Panther–Wotan line
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The Panther–Wotan line, or Ostwall in German, was a defensive line partially built by the German Wehrmacht in 1943 on the Eastern Front. The first part of the name refers to the short northern section between Lake Peipus and the Baltic Sea at Narva. It stretched all the way south towards the Black Sea along the Dnieper.
Planning
After a number of strategic reverses on the Eastern Front in 1942, there were calls in early 1943 for the construction of fortifications and defenses-in-depth along the
A large portion of the line ran along the
When the order was signed for its construction on 11 August 1943, the Wehrmacht held positions sometimes hundreds of kilometers to the east of the proposed defensive line, generally along the
Defensive operations
The confidence in the effectiveness of the line was poor in Army Group North, with its commander, General Georg von Küchler, refusing to refer to the line by the "Panther Line" name for fear that it would instill false hope by his troops in its strength.[2] Construction had barely started when Manstein's Army Group South commenced to fall back on it as part of a general withdrawal ordered on 15 September 1943.[3]
The Red Army immediately attempted to break the line to deny the
The fighting afterward involved the gradual establishment of multiple Soviet bridgeheads across the Dnieper. While the crossing operations of the Dnieper were difficult, the Wehrmacht was unable to dislodge the Red Army from its positions once across the river. The bridgeheads and the Soviet forces deployed in them grew. By late December 1943,
The only part of the line to remain in Wehrmacht possession after 1943 was the extreme northern section, the Panther line between
The defensive positions along the Dnieper were able to slow but not to stop the Soviet advance. The river was a considerable barrier, but the length of the line made it difficult to defend. The inability of the Germans to roll back the Soviet bridgeheads after they were established meant that the line could not be held.[citation needed]
See also
- Battle of Smolensk (1943)
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Baxter, Ian (2006). Into the Abyss: The Last Years of The Waffen SS 1943–45, A Photographic History. Helion and Company. ISBN 978-1-874622-59-8.
- Krivosheev, G.F. (1997). Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-280-7.
- Noble, Alastair (2001). "The Phantom Barrier: Ostwallbau 1944–1945". War in History. 8 (4): 442–67. S2CID 143188450.