By the end of February 1945, Malinovsky's front, having completed the West Carpathian operation, crossed the Slovak Ore Mountains and occupied positions on the left bank of the Horn River. The collapse of the German front allowed the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front to begin implementing the order of the Headquarters. Malinovsky's front was faced with the task of liberating the eastern regions of Czechoslovakia. The troops had to attack in two main directions - towards Bratislava and Brno. Bratislava was the main city of Slovakia. Through it there was a shortcut to another large city, Brno, and beyond it to Prague.
At the beginning of the operation, which later received the name Bratislava-Brnovskaya, 5 combined arms armies were involved: the 40th, 53rd and 7th Guards armies, as well as the 1st and 4th Romanian armies. Air support was provided by the 5th Air Force. And assistance in crossing water barriers should be provided by the Danube military flotilla. It was planned to use the 1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Group under the command of I.A. Pliev as the front’s mobile forces.
In total, over 350,000 soldiers and officers, about 6,000 guns and mortars, about 250 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, and more than 630 aircraft were involved in the operation. Our forces were opposed by the German 8th Army from Army Group Center, which consisted of more than 200,000 people, 1,800 guns and mortars, 120 tanks and assault guns, and about 150 aircraft. The German group relied on a well-prepared defensive line and numerous natural barriers, such as the Hron, Nitra, Váh and Morava rivers.
On the night of March 25, assault battalions The 53rd Army of Colonel General I.M. Managarov and the 7th Guards Army of Colonel General M.S. Shumilov, unexpectedly for the German command, crossed the Horn River and captured several bridgeheads on its western bank. Thus began the Bratislava-Brnov operation.
On the morning of the same day, the main forces of the front went on the offensive, developing an attack on Bratislava and Brno. By the third day of the offensive, the armies of the first echelon had penetrated the German defense to its entire tactical depth, and the 1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Group was introduced into the resulting gap. As of the end of the day on March 27, our troops had advanced westward more than 40 kilometers, along a front almost 150 kilometers wide.
By March 30, the 7th Guards Army reached the outskirts of the capital of Slovakia, the city of Bratislava. The German military command prepared the city for defense in advance. All large buildings in the city were turned into strongholds. Having already had considerable experience in storming large cities, the Soviet command regrouped its troops. Front commander R.Ya. Malinovsky, in order to avoid destruction of the city, decided to abandon the frontal assault. Part of the forces of the 7th Guards Army began to bypass the Slovak capital from the north-west.
The tactic of extending guns for direct fire was used. Several guns fired at one building at once, which prevented the enemy from conducting effective return fire. If during the battle there was a need to transfer artillery to another place, then one or more guns remained in the old firing positions, which controlled the area that had just been fired upon. This provided the advancing infantry with continuity of fire support. The assault on Bratislava was carried out simultaneously from several directions.
The fighting reached its greatest intensity on the eastern and northeastern outskirts of the city. In these areas, the advancing units had to overcome the outer perimeter line, the most powerful along the entire defensive line of Bratislava, which consisted of three lines of trenches, machine gun and artillery pillboxes. Aviation and large-caliber artillery provided great assistance to the infantry storming the fortifications. With their fire support, the infantry crossed the trench lines, broke into the quarters of the chemical concern and began to advance to the winter piers, capturing the oil refinery.
By April 2, the city garrison was surrounded. And just two days later, the 25th Guards and 23rd Rifle Corps, with the support of ships of the Danube Flotilla, completely cleared Bratislava of enemy troops.
In the Brnov direction, where the forces of the 53rd Army and the 1st Romanian Army, as well as Pliev’s cavalry-mechanized group, operated, the offensive did not develop so successfully. Having lost Bratislava, the German command made every effort to hold the large industrial center of Brno. German forces entrenched themselves along the banks of the Morava River, having previously blown up all the bridges across it.
The hopes of the German command to hold the lines along the Morava River were not destined to come true. By April 12, Soviet troops crossed the river in several places. The enemy's desperate attempts to liquidate the captured bridgeheads with counterattacks were unsuccessful. By mid-April, the German defenses on the Morava River had been broken through for a long time. On April 16, the units advancing on Brno were reinforced by the 6th Guards Tank Army, transferred to this direction after the capture of Vienna.
Tanks and cavalrymen were the most important component in the operation to capture Brno. With rapid roundabout maneuvers, they cut off the communications of the enemy strongholds they encountered and, under the threat of complete encirclement and destruction of the enemy, forced the garrisons to hastily retreat. This tactic reduced losses and saved populated areas from destruction. On April 21, the advanced Soviet units were already 20 km from Brno.
Ukrainian Front is the name of operational strategic formations of armed forces. Ukrainian Front (World War I) (December 1917 March 1918) operational strategic unification of the armed forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic.... ... Wikipedia
Ukrainian Front is the name of several fronts of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. 1st Ukrainian Front 2nd Ukrainian Front 3rd Ukrainian Front 4th Ukrainian Front ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see Ukrainian Front. Ukrainian Front Ukr.F Emblem of the Revolutionary Military Forces of the RSFSR, 1918. Years of existence January 4, 1919 June 15, 1919 ... Wikipedia
See also: Ukrainian Front (meanings) Ukrainian Front 1939 Emblem of the Armed Forces Years of existence 1939 Country USSR Entry ... Wikipedia
Ukrainian Front 4th- UKRAINIAN FRONT 4th, created. Oct 20 1943 (as a result of the renaming of the Southern French) consisting of the 2nd and 3rd Guards, 5th Shock, 28th, 44th, 51st Combined Arms A and 8th VA. Subsequently, at different times, it included Primorskaya A and the 4th VA. In con. Oct. … Great Patriotic War 1941-1945: encyclopedia
See also: Ukrainian Front (meanings) 3rd Ukrainian Front 3Ukr.F Emblem of the Armed Forces Years of existence October 20, 1943 June 15, 1945 ... Wikipedia
See also: Ukrainian Front (meanings) 4th Ukrainian Front 4Ukr.F Emblem of the Armed Forces Years of existence October 20, 1943 May 31, 1944, August 6, 1944 ... Wikipedia
See also: Ukrainian Front (meanings) 1st Ukrainian Front 1Ukr.F Emblem of the Armed Forces Years of existence October 20, 1943 June 10, 1945 ... Wikipedia
See also: Ukrainian Front (meanings) The 4th Ukrainian Front is an operational strategic unification of Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War. Formed in the southwestern direction on October 20, 1943 based on the order of the Supreme High Command Headquarters dated 16... ... Wikipedia
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- War 2010. Ukrainian Front, Fyodor Berezin, “A cloudless sky over all of Ukraine...”. And NATO aviation rules this sky with impunity. And the world “liberal” press remains silent about the invasion that has begun. And there are no orders for... Series: War on the threshold Publisher: Yauza, Eksmo,
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2nd Ukrainian Front
Malinovsky R. Ya. – front commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Zhmachenko F.F. – commander of the 40th Army, lieutenant general.
Trofimenko S.G. – commander of the 27th Army, lieutenant general.
Managarov I.M. – commander of the 53rd Army, lieutenant general.
Shumilov M.S. – Commander of the 7th Guards Army, Colonel General.
Shlemin I.T. – commander of the 46th Army.
Kravchenko A.G. – Commander of the 6th Guards Tank Army, Colonel General of Tank Forces.
Pliev I.A. – commander of the cavalry-mechanized group, lieutenant general.
Gorshkov S.I. – commander of the cavalry-mechanized group, lieutenant general.
Goryunov S.K. – Commander of the 5th Air Army, Colonel General of Aviation.
From the book Berlin '45: Battles in the Lair of the Beast. Parts 4-5 author Isaev Alexey Valerievich1st Ukrainian Front The wooded areas near the Neisse favored the secret accumulation of troops for the offensive. But, like any major operation, the impending offensive of the 1st Ukrainian Front could not be completely kept secret. One of the sources of information
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From the book Encyclopedia of Misconceptions. War author Temirov Yuri TeshabayevichUkrainian nationalism and Nazism in the Second World War Perhaps the most pressing debatable issue in the history of the Second World War (at least for historians of the former Soviet Union, primarily Ukrainian and Baltic) remains the role played in it
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From the book Nuremberg: Balkan and Ukrainian genocide. The Slavic world is in the fire of expansion author Maksimov Anatoly Borisovich“Ukrainian Asphalt” Our front line ran along the high southwestern bank of the Seversky Donets River, while the Russians occupied much less advantageous positions in the low-lying and flat area on the other side of the river. Only in the area of the city of Izium, where
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April 29, 2015In 1943, military operations on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War gradually returned to the territory of modern Ukraine. In principle, it is already clear that the USSR will win the war against the fascist invaders. In this article we will talk about the 2nd Ukrainian Front, the battle path, the chronicle of which is very interesting.
The effectiveness of large combat formations
The outcome of ancient wars could be decided in one battle, when troops met head-on and a battle took place between them. With the development of military technology, this has become impossible. Victory in a global war (starting from the 1st World War) can only be won by an army that clearly coordinates the movements and actions of combat units on a large sector of the front. An example of such a successful military conglomerate is the 2nd Ukrainian Front, whose military path is very interesting. With the help of interaction between army groups, the command can simultaneously achieve success in different areas, and the enemy, accordingly, will not have enough human and technical resources to “repair the holes.”
Creation of the 2nd Ukrainian Front
At the end of 1943, the territory of Soviet Russia was practically liberated from the invaders. Therefore, many troops that participated in the liberation of Russian regions continued their battle path behind the enemy and crossed into the territory of modern Ukraine. In this regard, it became expedient to create a new front. The Commander-in-Chief's headquarters, by order of October 16, 1943, established the 2nd Ukrainian Front, the combat path of which lasted until 1945. On October 20 of the same year, the order came into force.
It was not difficult to form an effective combat unit, because the backbone of the group consisted of parts of the former Steppe Front, which already had experience interacting with each other.
2 Ukrainian Front: battle path (Dnieper and Central Ukraine)
Immediately after its creation, the front was tasked with liberating the central region of Ukraine as quickly as possible. At the end of September, troops at that time still on the Steppe Front crossed the Dnieper near Kremenchug. Despite the fact that the front did not have enough forces for a serious fight, the commander decided to continue the offensive. The main task at this moment was to prevent an attack by the enemy army from Dnepropetrovsk, so the military council of the front decided to advance along the Pyatikhatka-Apostolovo line.
This operation will later be called Pyatikhatskaya. The offensive after the concentration of forces began on October 15, 1943 and gradually bore fruit. After the fighting became protracted, the command changed its strategy.
Attack on Znamenka and Kirovograd
When the army got bogged down in battles in the Dnepropetrovsk region, it was necessary to change the direction and emphasis of military operations. For this purpose, reconnaissance was carried out. Based on the information available to the army, it became clear that few enemy forces were concentrated in the Znamenka area. To provide effective resistance to the enemy, you will have to transfer forces, which will take some time.
From the side of Znamenka, our army, namely the 2nd Ukrainian Front, whose combat path across Ukraine was long, struck the first blow on November 14, 1943. Until November 25, there was no particular dynamics in the actions of the troops. But success in these battles was ensured by the strong 2nd Ukrainian Front! The chronicle of the fighting is as follows:
From December 3 to 5, there were battles for the liberation of the city of Alexandria. For the Nazis, this was a fairly important point, because even now in this area there are large deposits of brown coal, which was used as fuel.
On December 6, fighting began for the liberation of a large railway junction - the city of Znamenka. The city was liberated within a few days.
Next, the troops headed towards Kirovograd. The distance from Znamenka to the regional center is only 50 kilometers, but the army was able to liberate Kirovograd only on January 8, 1944. The enemy built a strong line of defense, which held back the Soviet soldiers for a long time, but could not withstand the onslaught.
Uman-Batoshan operation
Where did the 2nd Ukrainian Front go next? The combat path of our troops continued to the west. It was necessary to liberate Right Bank Ukraine and Moldova. The offensive towards Uman from the Kirovograd region began on March 5, 1944. The Germans were unable to create a strong line of defense in this area of combat operations. In all elements, except aviation, the Red Army's forces were approximately 2 times superior to the enemy's capabilities. The army broke through the defense line of the Wehrmacht troops, approximately 8 kilometers wide, in 2 days. After this, a successful breakthrough began.
The city of Uman was liberated on March 10, 1944. Next, the troops crossed the Southern Bug and continued towards Dubno and Zhmerinka. On March 19, the city of Mogilev-Podolsky was liberated.
In fact, in 2 weeks, the Soviet troops succeeded in a small “blitzkrieg”. For example, the distance from Kirovograd to Uman is 197 km. From Uman to Mogilev is also not very close. We also need to take into account the factor of fighting.
At the end of March - beginning of April, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front were supposed to help the formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front near Kamenets-Podolsk. Mission: encirclement of the enemy's 1st tank army. The armies had to reach the Dniester and advance literally along the shore with the goal of encircling the enemy army. The ring was almost closed. On April 3, the spacecraft took the city of Khotyn, famous for its fortress.
2 Ukrainian Front: the battle path in the history of war abroad
The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front took an active part in the operations of the Red Army outside the borders of the USSR, aimed at the complete destruction of enemy troops. It is worth noting in this regard the events of August 1944. At this time, Soviet troops carried out the Iasi-Kishinev offensive operation, which later developed into a joint Bucharest-Arad operation with Romanian troops. The strategic goal of these operations was a change of power in Romania and the withdrawal of this state from the war against the USSR. Of course, the Red Army, which was no longer possible to stop at that time, completed its task.
Next, the 2nd Ukrainian Front (the combat path of the 922nd regiment and other formations is briefly described in the material) relocated to Hungary. In October, our army carried out a successful offensive against enemy troops in the Debrecen area. Army Group South, which operated in Hungary, was defeated as a result of the successfully planned actions of our troops. After this, the USSR troops headed towards Budapest, surrounded the enemy and entered the city.
The last combat operations of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front took place in Austria and the Czech Republic. The Prague offensive operation against individual units of German troops ended on May 12, 1945.
Conclusion
In the history of World War II, the Ukrainian Front (combat path - 1943-1945) left a noticeable mark. The troops of this particular front liberated strategically important regions of Central Ukraine, and also took part in battles in many European countries.
Europe, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus will not forget the exploits of Soviet soldiers!
Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front More than 40 settlements were liberated.
The troops of the 24th Rifle Corps of the 13th Army reached the approaches to the city of Kremenets. This city was a powerful natural fortress on the ridge of the Kremenets Mountains, reinforced by a developed network of artificial defensive structures. The 350th Infantry Division of G.I. Vekhin bypassed Kremenets, cutting off the roads leading to the city from the south. The 107th Infantry Division of P. M. Bezhko bypassed the city from the north. The enemy had only one exit left - to the northwest. At this time, units of I.P. Pankratov’s 287th Infantry Division attacked the city from the front. On March 19, Soviet troops liberated Kremenets, defeating the garrison that defended it.
Divisions of the 74th Rifle Corps of the 38th Army continued to bypass Vinnitsa and push back the enemy in the city itself. On March 19, the battalion of the 183rd Infantry Division L.D. Vasilevsky crossed the Southern Bug directly in Vinnitsa itself and occupied the suburb of Sadki. The 67th Rifle Corps fought in the suburbs of Brailov and in the western part of Zhmerinka, and the 101st completed the maneuver to the left flank of the army.
Troops 2nd Ukrainian Front liberated the city of Mogilev-Podolsky.
On the night of March 19, in the area of Serebria, Yaruga, infantry and part of the artillery of the advanced units of the 27th Army of S. G. Trofimenko and the 6th Tank Army of A. G. Kravchenko crossed the Dniester.
Early in the morning of March 19, V. S. Troshin’s 156th Tank Regiment of the 5th Mechanized Corps of the 6th Tank Army broke into the outskirts of Mogilev-Podolsk and began to push the enemy to the Dniester. Then other units of the 5th Mechanized Corps and the 35th Guards Rifle Corps of the 27th Army approached the city. By evening the entire city was in the hands of our troops. Despite the rapid actions of the forward detachments, it was not possible to capture the crossings. The enemy managed to blow up a bridge in Mogilev-Podolsky and destroy transportation facilities in this area.
In the zone of the 52nd Army on the night of March 19 and the day of March 19, sappers organized five landing-ferry crossings, one for each division. With the help of these crossings, engineering units completely transferred the forward detachments of the 52nd Army to the right bank on March 19 and began crossing the main forces of the army. By the end of March 19, a number of bridgeheads were occupied on the western bank of the Dniester. In the Soroki area, a special crossing for tanks was being prepared.
The 53rd Army crossed the Southern Bug in the Zavalye area with two divisions and fought in the Puzhaikovo and Osichki areas.
Units of the 394th Rifle Division of the 34th Rifle Corps of I. S. Kosobutsky of the 46th Army ( 3rd Ukrainian Front) on the night of March 19 crossed the Southern Bug River, captured a bridgehead and by 8 o’clock captured the settlement of Andreevka-Erdeleva located on the opposite bank.
| Return to date March 19 |
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