Voronezh–Kharkov offensive

(Redirected from Voronezh–Kharkov strategic offensive operation) Soviet strategy to push back the Nazis to central Ukraine in 1943

Voronezh–Kharkov offensive

Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

Eastern Front 1942-11 to 1943–03

Date	January 13 to March 3, 1943
Location	Voronezh Oblast, Kursk Oblast, Belgorod Oblast, Kharkov Oblast
Result	Soviet victory

Belligerents

Germany

Hungary

Italy

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Maximilian von Weichs

Units involved

Strength

30 divisions

502,400 men

Casualties and losses

321,000
246,000 killed and captured
75,000 wounded or sick, 3,400 artillery pieces, 578 tanks

153,561
55,475 killed or missing
98,086 wounded/sick

v t e Eastern Front
Naval warfare Baltic Sea Black Sea Arctic Ocean 1941 Barbarossa Brest Białystok–Minsk 1st Baltic Brody Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina 1st Smolensk Uman Odessa 1st Kiev Tallinn Leningrad Sea of Azov 1st Kharkov 1st Crimea Sevastopol Rostov Gorky Moscow Finland Kerch Chechnya Air war 1941 1942 Lyuban Barvenkovo–Lozovaya Rzhev Toropets–Kholm Demyansk Kholm Bamberg 2nd Kharkov Case Blue Caucasus Rzhev–Sychyovka Sinyavino Stalingrad Velikiye Luki Mars Little Saturn 1943 Iskra Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Voronezh–Kharkov Polar Star 3rd Kharkov Gorky Blitz Kursk 1st Donbas Belgorod-Kharkov 2nd Donbas 2nd Smolensk Lenino Dnieper Nevel 2nd Kiev 1944 Dnieper–Carpathian Leningrad–Novgorod Narva 2nd Crimea 1st Jassy–Kishinev Karelia Bagration Lvov–Sandomierz Doppelkopf 2nd Jassy–Kishinev Dukla Pass 2nd Baltic Belgrade Debrecen Petsamo–Kirkenes Courland Gumbinnen Budapest 1945 Vistula–Oder Western Carpathian East Prussia Silesia Breslau Solstice East Pomerania Lake Balaton Moravia–Ostrava Vienna Bratislava–Brno Berlin Prague Prague uprising

Eastern Front

Naval warfare

1941

Barbarossa
- Brest
- Białystok–Minsk
- 1st Baltic
- Brody
- Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
- 1st Smolensk
- Uman
- Odessa
- 1st Kiev
- Tallinn
- Leningrad
- Sea of Azov
- 1st Kharkov
- 1st Crimea
- Sevastopol
- Rostov
- Gorky
- Moscow
Finland
Kerch
Chechnya
Air war 1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

The Voronezh–Kharkov strategic offensive operation was a successful strategic offensive operation of the Red Army's Voronezh, Bryansk and South-Western fronts, carried out from January 13 to March 3, 1943 with the aim of defeating the German Army Group B and liberating a large territory and the important industrial and administrative centers Voronezh, Kursk, Belgorod and Kharkov.

Prelude

In the winter of 1942/43, the Red Army launched several large offensives on the southern part of the Eastern Front in the wake of the Battle of Stalingrad. In late December, at the same time as the German 6th Army was increasingly enclosed in Stalingrad by the troops of Konstantin Rokossovsky, the troops of the Southwestern Front defeated the Italian 8th Army as part of the Operation Little Saturn and reached the line Novaya Kalitwa – Markovka – Volozhin – Chernikovsky.

The Stawka planned in the course of these successes a major strategic operation, which aimed at cutting off all German forces in the Caucasus, by taking Rostov-on-Don. At the same time, the Voronezh Front, in cooperation with the left wing of the Bryansk Front and the right wing of the Southwestern Front, was tasked with a strong offensive towards Voronezh and Kursk, which aimed to retake Kharkov.

The Voronezh-Kharkov strategic offensive operation had three phases:

Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh offensive – from January 13 to January 27, 1943;
Voronezh–Kastornoye operation – from January 24 to February 2, 1943;
Kharkov offensive operation (operation "Star") – from February 19 to March 14, 1943.

The operation took 50 days. The width of the front of hostilities was between 250–400 km. The depth of advance of Soviet troops was between 360–520 km, or an average daily advance of 7–10 km.

Order of battle

USSR

Voronezh Front (Front commander – Filipp Golikov):
- 60th Army (Ivan Chernyakhovsky)
- 40th Army (Kirill Moskalenko)
- 69th Army (Mikhail Kazakov)
- 3rd Tank Army (Pavel Rybalko)
- 38th army (Nikandr Chibisov)
Bryansk Front (Front commander – Max Reyter)
- 13th Army (Nikolai Pukhov),
Southwestern Front (Front commander – Nikolai Vatutin)
- 6th Army (Fedor Kharitonov).

Air support
- 2nd Air Army (Konstantin Smirnov)
- 13th Air Army (Stepan Rybalchenko)

Nazi Germany

Army Group B (Field Marshal Maximilian von Weichs):

Results

The Voronezh-Kharkov Operation was a clear defeat for Army Group B. The 8th Italian Army and the 2nd Hungarian Army were almost completely destroyed.
Several large cities were liberated: Voronezh, Kursk, Belgorod, Kharkov, Rossosh, Valuyki, Ostrogozhsk, Kastornoye, Stary Oskol, Novy Oskol, Shchigry, Oboyan, Bogodukhov, Akhtyrka and Sevsk.

In the ensuing Third Battle of Kharkov, German troops recaptured Kharkov (March 16) and Belgorod (March 18) from the overstretched Soviet Army.

During the operation, the Soviets lost in total: 153,561 soldiers, of which 55,475 were killed and 98,086 people were wounded.

References

9 мая 1945 года – Воспоминания, Составители: В. Д. Вознесенский Д. Б. Рубежный. Под редакцией члена-корреспондента АН СССР А. М. Самсонова.— М.: Наука, 1970 – К. С. Москаленко, В боях рождалась Победа
Г. Ф. Кривошеев, Россия и СССР в войнах XX века – Потери вооруженных сил – Статистическое исследование, Москва, Олма, 2001
General-Lieutenant G.F.KRIVOSHEYEV (1993). "SOVIET ARMED FORCES LOSSES IN WARS,COMBAT OPERATIONS MILITARY CONFLICTS" (PDF). MOSCOW MILITARY PUBLISHING HOUSE. p. 164. Retrieved 2015-06-21.

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