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| |date=], ] – ], ] | |date=], ] – ], ] | ||
| |result=Axis victory | |result=Axis victory | ||
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| |strength1=80,000 | |strength1=80,000 | ||
| |strength2=260,000 | |strength2=260,000 | ||
| |casualties1= 11,900 |
|casualties1= 11,900 killed<br>6,662 missing<br>358 tanks<br>910 guns<br>247 mortars<br>1,954 vehicles | ||
| |casualties2=25,000 |
|casualties2=25,000 killed and missing<br>1,157 guns<br>2,312 vehicles | ||
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| {{Campaignbox Axis-Soviet War}} | {{Campaignbox Axis-Soviet War}} | ||
Revision as of 13:34, 13 April 2006
| Battle of Debrecen | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||
| File:Turan I - 1944.gif A Turan I tank of the 2nd Honved Armoured Division in action near Debrecen, 1944. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Germany Hungary | Soviet Union | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Johannes Freißner (Heeresgruppe Süd) Maximilian Fretter-Pico (6.Armee) |
Rodion Malinovsky (2nd Ukrainian Front) I.A. Pliyev (Group Pliyev) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 80,000 | 260,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
11,900 killed 6,662 missing 358 tanks 910 guns 247 mortars 1,954 vehicles |
25,000 killed and missing 1,157 guns 2,312 vehicles | ||||||
The Battle of Debrecen, was a battle on the Eastern Front of World War II. In October 1944 General der Artillerie Maximilian Fretter-Pico's 6.Armee encircled and destroyed three corps of Marshal Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky's Group Pliyev near Debrecen, Hungary.
Crisis in Hungary
In mid August 1944, Generaloberst Johannes Frießner's Army Group South-Ukraine was on the brink of collapse. To the north, the Soviet Operation Bagration was completing the destruction of Army Group Centre, and On 25 August 1944, Germany's former ally, Romania declared war. The subsequent drive of Soviet General F.I. Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front into Romania destroyed any semblance of an organised defensive line. On 8 September, Bulgaria, another of Germany's former allies, declared war. By this time, Tolbukhin, aided by the 2nd Ukrainian Front under R.Y. Malinovsky had anihilated 13 axis divisions, taking over 100,000 prisoners. Both Tolbukhin and Malinovsky were promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union.
The actions of Bulgaria and Romania had opened up a 650 kilometer gap in Frießner's Army Group. As Frießner desperately struggled to reform a defensive line, news filtered through to Berlin that the Hungarian leader, Admiral Miklós Horthy was preparing to sign a separate peace with the Soviet Union. If this happened, the entire southern front would collapse.
General der Artillerie Fretter-Pico's 6.Armee formed the nucleus of Frießner's force, which was redesignated Army Group South on 24 September. Seeing that the Hungarian allies were suffering from low morale, Frießner attached the Hungarian Second Army to Fretter-Pico's Army, which was redesignated Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico.
Respite - Plans
As Tolbukhin cleared the remaining resistance in Romania, Malinovsky began to move towards Hungary. Thankfully for Frießner, the Soviet advance slowed, allowing him enough time to establish a weak defensive line based on the Mureş River.
In early September, Maliovsky received orders from STAVKA to advance from Cluj towards Miskolc and Debrecen and the Tisza River, on flat expanses of the Great Hungarian Plain. Once on the plain, Malinovsky could exploit his overwhelming advantage in armour to destroy Freißner's army group, breakthrough to Budapest and drive into Czechoslovakia.
Freißner, fearing an envelopment by Malinovsky's 2nd Ukrainian Front and the 4th Ukrainian Front, flew to the Führer Headquarters and requested permission to withdraw to the Tisza and for freedom of movement to counter the Soviet attack. Hitler refused, instead promising additional forces for Freißner's Army Group and ordering the start of an offensive aimed at the destruction of two of Malinovsky's armies, the 27th and 6th Guards Tank Army, and the retaking of two vital passes in the Southern Carpathians, cutting Malinovsky's lines of communication.
The attack was to be launched from Cluj.
Malinovsky Attacks - Fresh Plans
On 16 September, Malinovsky launched his attack. Freißner had been massing his troops for the upcoming attack, and Malinovsky's forces ran into heavy resistance. After a week of fruitless attacks, he called off the attack and ordered the exhausted 6th Guards Tank Army, along with Mobile Group Pliyev and Mobile Group Gorshkov, to the area near Oradea. This heavy, highly mobile armored force would be used as the vanguard of future operations.
On 20 September, Soviet troops captured the Hungarian border town of Arad. The capture of this village threw the Hungarian General Staff into a panic. They activated the near useless Hungarian Third Army, a force of recruits and reservists, and both pro-German and pro-Allied factions began to attempt to take control. At the same time, Admiral Horthy's negotiations began in earnest. Freißner was forced to send several of the reinforcing units to Budapest to watch the situation under the premise of a period of rest and refit.
At the end of September, both Malinovsky and Freißner received new orders.
Malinovsky was to attack from the salient to the south around Arad towards Budapest, using two of his armies and with the support of Mobile Group Pliyev. The remainder of his forces, including the 6th Guards Tank Army and Mobile Group Gorshkov, were to attack from the north, near Oradea, towards Debrecen. The plan was for the two strike forces to link up, encircling the German forces and anihilating them.
Freißner was to attack from Oradea with Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico, slicing through the Soviet lines and capturing the Carpathian passes, which could be held until the following spring. Both sides were to attack at the same time and the same place, and both underestimated the forces opposing them.
The Battle Begins
The batte began on 6 October, with Malinovsky attacking near Arad and slicing through the Third Hungarian Army. The army caved quickly, many of its divisions simply disappearing in the assault. Within 24 hours, the southern spearhead, lead by Mobile Group Pliyev, had advanced almost sixty kilometers.
The attack by the northern pincer ran into difficulty quickly, slamming headlong into two panzer divisions of General der Panzertruppen Breith's III.Panzerkorps, 1.Panzer and 23.Panzer. By the end of the day, they had advanced only ten kilometers.
Reacting quickly, Fretter-Pico ordered the 76.Infanterie-Division into the line near Oradea, freeing up the 23.Panzer to move south to counter the breakthrough near Arad. Generalmajor Günther Pape's Panzergrenadier-Division Feldherrnhalle, refitting at Mezőkövesd, was moved into action to guard potentional crossing points on the Tisza from advancing Soviets.
By the evening of 7 October, the Soviet southern pincer had advanced further towards the Tisza, while the northern arm was still stalled near Oradea, where German-Hungarian forces had managed to halt several flanking attempts by the 6th Guards Tank Army.
Realising that his northern pincer was stuck, Malinovsky decided to turn the southern pincer northwards towards Debrecen in an attempt to pull Axis forces away from Oradea, allowing his northern force to breakthrough, crushing the German forces between Mobile Group Pliyev and the 6th Guards Tank Army.
Mobile Group Pliyev's Advance
Mobile Group Pliyev shifted its attack north-eastwards on 8 October, advancing quickly along the major highway between Szolnok to Debrecen. At Hajdúszoboszló, the lead corps of Mobile Group Pliyev, 9th Guards Mechanized and 6th Guards Cavalry, ran into elements of 23.Panzer moving south to halt the southern pincer. With overwhelming air support from the VVS, Mobile Group Pliyev managed to take the town on 9 October. 23.Panzer fell back to Debrecen, and began entrenching to the southeast of the city, repelling several heavy Soviet attacks.
As Mobile Group Pliyev shifted its attack southwards again, back towards Oradea. The advance was slowed by a fanatical defence by German and Hungarian forces. despite this defence, it was clear that Mobile Group Pliyev would be able to effect a linkup with 6th Guards Tanks Army, and Fretter-Pico's line would be shattered.
Confusion Reigns
On 10 October, Fretter-Pico ordered 1.Panzer to attack to the west, and 13.Panzer to attack to the east, cutting off the three corps of Mobile Group Pliyev. Not expecting this, Pliyev had left his flanks relatively lightly defended, and the two veteran panzer units quickly effected a linkup near the town of Püspökladány. What looked like a crisis point for Fretter-Pico had now been turned into a possible disaster for Malinovsky.
Malinovsky, realising the danger Mobile Group Pliyev was in, halted his attack in the south and focused all his forces on reaching the trapped group. Fretter-Pico ordered the Feldherrnhalle to Debrecen. The situation was greatly confused, with neither Mobile Group Pliyev nor Fretter-Pico's divisions realising who was surrounding who. By 11 October, elements of Pliyev's 4th Guards Cavalry Corps was fighting in the outskirts of Debrecen. Although cut off from the main Soviet force, Mobile Group Pliyev had avoided encirclement.
Under the 6th Guards Tank Army's ferocious attacks, the front line near Oradea was steadily pushed back, and by 14 October the line had fallen back 14 kilometers, with the town finally occupied by Malinovsky's forces. Further to the north, a new crisis threatened. The 4th Ukrainian Front had finally attacked, falling on General der Infanterie Otto Wöhler's 8.Armee, which was threatening to collapse.
On 15 October, Admiral Horthy announced that Hungary had accepted an armistice with the USSR. Reacting quickly, Hitler ordered Otto Skorzeny to launch Operation Panzerfaust. By the 16 October, Skorzeny and his SS Fallschirmjägers had averted disaster, blackmailing Horthy to resign and give control of the government to Ferenc Szalasi, a pro-German leader.
Malinovsky linked up with Group Pliyev, and ordered the advance to continue. He aimed at capturing Debrecen, then swinging north towards Nyíregyháza. If he could capture this city, he would sever 8.Armee's line of communications. The German-Hungarian forces effected a ferocious defence, turning each village and crossroads into a defensive position, however by 22 October, Mobile Group Pliyev had captured Nyíregyháza, and Wöhler's line of communications was severed. Frießner had ordered Wöhler to disengage and fall back northwest of Nyíregyháza and attempt to form a defensive line. This move was already in progress when Mobile Group Pliyev cut the lines of communications.
Encirclement
Frießner's chief of staff, Generalmajor Helmuth Grolman proposed a risky plan. Grolman believed that the encirclement of Mobile Group Pyilev had failed because of the confusion of the German-Hungarian forces and lack of enough forces to effect an encirclement. Grolman argued that now such an effort would be possible, and Frießner approved the plan.
23.Panzer and 1.Panzer, led by the Tiger II's of schwere-Panzer-Abt 503, would spearhead the attack to the east. Generalmajor Paul Klatt's 3.Gebirgs-Division, the 15.Infanterie-Division and 8.SS-Kavallerie-Division Florian Geyer formed the forces attacking to the west. The Feldherrnhalle, 13.Panzer and the German 46th Infantry Division would be held back to counter any Soviet breakout attempt.
The attack got underway on 23 October, quickly slicing through the infantry corps defending Mobile Group Pliyev's lines of communication. At 0200 on 24 October, forces of 23.Panzer reached Nagykalló, which was occupied by 3.Gebirgs-Division. the encirclement was complete. As the corps of mobile Group Pliyev began probing attacks to find an escape route, it quickly became clear that there was no way out. The German-Hungarian forces began closing in on the encircled Soviets.
Malinovsky sent forces north to break through to Mobile Group Pliyev, but these were met by a determined Axis resistance, and the advance soon stalled.
No Escape
Pliyev realised that the situation was now desperate, and ordered desperate attacks to break the encirclement, but the German-Hungarian lines held. By the evening of the 24 October, Pliyev realised that the only hope of escape was if Malinovsky could break through to him.
Malinovsky launched a major assault on 25 October, only to be halted by a fierce counterattack by 1.Panzer and Panzergrenadier-Regiment 128 from 23.Panzer. On the same day, Mobile Group Pliyev attempted to breakout through the positions of 3.Gebirgs-Division. The mountain troops held their ground against the soviet armour, inflicting many casualties.
On 26 October, 23.Panzer recaptured Nyíregyháza. The Soviet forces had raped, looted and killed during their occupation, leaving the mangled bodies of civilians lying in the streets. This steeled the resolve of the German and especially the Hungarian troops. When Malinovsky launched his next assault, he was met by the most ferocious defence yet encountered. Meanwhile, Wöhler began moving his 8.Armee out through the escape route created through Nyíregyháza. By 28, Wöhler's army had escaped encirclement, and the circle around Mobile Group Pliyev would not be broken.
On October 29, the suvivors of Pliyev's shattered Mobile Group destroyed their vehicles and heavy weapons and attempted to reach the Soviet lines on foot.
Three armoured corps of Malinovsky's front had been anihilated in the fighting. The Soviet lightning assault on Budapest had been halted, and Hungarian troops remained in the war as Germany's ally until the end of the war in Europe. This was the last time that German forces were to defeat a full-strength Soviet force on even terms.
Order of Battle for Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico (6.Armee), October 1944
- 6.Armee (General der Artillerie Maximilian Fretter-Pico)
- IV.Panzerkorps
- 24.Panzer Division
- LXXII.Armeekorps (Generalleutnant August Schmidt)
- III.Panzerkorps (General der Panzertruppen Hermann Breith)
- 2.Honvéd Army (Lieutenant-General Lajos Veress von Dalnoki)
References
- Buchner, Alex - Ostfront 1944, 336 pages, ISBN 3895551015
- Glantz, David M. - Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front 520 pages, ISBN 097176509X
- Hinze, Dr. Rolf - Mit dem Mut der Verzweifelung, 562 pages
- Hinze, Dr. Rolf - TO THE BITTER END : The Final Battles of Army Groups A, North Ukraine, Centre-Eastern Front, 1944-45
- Haupt, Werner - Die 8.Panzer-Division im Zweiten Weltkrieg
- Pierik, Perry - Hungary 1944-1945. The Forgotten Tragedy
- Mitcham, Samuel W. Jr - Crumbling Empire. The German Defeat in the East, 1944 336 pages, ISBN 0275968561