Rzhev battle in the days of the Great Patriotic War

When we hear the word "battle", before usmentally there is a battle in any field, where during the day it is decided which of the competitors will be the winner. This terminology is familiar and understandable. But the Rzhev battle was different. It covered a colossal time span and represented a series of battles for two years.

Rzhev-Vyazma operation

The generally accepted timeframe that the Rzhev battle took (January 8, 1942-31, March 1943). During these days, there were many periods of calm or positional war, when the troops did not commit offensives.

In early 1942, the Soviet army succeeded inthrow the Wehrmacht forces away from Moscow. But the counterattack, which was one of the turning points of the war, continued. The bid required as much as possible a result. In this region was the German army of the group "Center".

Soviet forces on the Western and Kalinin Fronthad to dismember, surround and destroy this force. In the first January days of the counter-offensive, starting from the 8th, everything went according to plan. It was possible to free Vera, Kirov, Mozhaisk, Medyn, Sukhinichi and Lyudinovo. There were prerequisites for splitting the "Center" into several isolated groups.

Environment

However, already on the 19 th of August by order of Joseph Stalinpart of the attacking forces was transferred to other fronts. In particular, Kuznetsov's 1st shock army was sent to the Novgorod region near Demyansk, and the 16th Rokossovsky army was relocated to the south. This markedly reduced the silt of Soviet troops. The remaining parts simply did not have enough resources to complete the operation. The initiative was lost.

At the end of January, Rzhev sent the 33rdarmy under the command of Ephraim. These units once again tried to break through the enemy's defense, but eventually they themselves were surrounded. In April, the 33rd was destroyed, and Mikhail Efremov committed suicide.

The Soviet operation failed. According to official statistics, the losses amounted to 776 thousand people, of which 272 thousand were irretrievable. Of the composition of the 33rd Army, only a few units broke out from the encirclement, that is, 889 soldiers.

Battles for Rzhev

In the summer of 1942, the Stavka set the task of seizingcities in the Kalinin region. First of all it was Rzhev. The armies of the two fronts - Kalinin (General Konev) and Western (General Zhukov) again took up the cause.

On July 30, another Soviet offensive began. It was extremely slow. Each passed and beaten off piece of land cost thousands of lives. Already in the first days of the operation, only 6 kilometers remained to Rzhev. However, it took almost a month to defeat them.

The city was only reached at the end of August. It seemed that the Rzhev battle had already been won. It was even allowed to admit to the front the official representatives of the American president, who were supposed to look at the Soviet triumph. Rzhev was taken on September 27. However, the Red Army stayed there for a few days. Immediately, German reinforcements were pulled up, which occupied the city on October 1.

The next Soviet offensive ended in nothing. Losses of the Rzhev battle during this period amounted to about 300 thousand people, that is, 60% of the personnel of the Red Army in this sector of the front.

Operation Mars

Already at the end of autumn – the beginning of winter was planned.another attempt to break through the defense of the “Center” group. This time it was decided that the offensive would take place in those areas where it had not yet been undertaken. These were places between the Gzhat and Osuga rivers, as well as in the area of ​​the settlement Young Tud. Here was the smallest density of German divisions.

At the same time, the command tried to misinform the enemy in order to divert the Wehrmacht from Stalingrad, where decisive days of battles were coming these days.

The 39th Army managed to force the Young Tud, and the 1stthe mechanized corps attacked enemy tank units in the Bely city area. But it was a temporary success. Already in early December, the German counter-offensive stopped the Soviet soldiers and destroyed the 20th army. The same fate awaited two corps: the 2nd Guards Cavalry and the 6th Tank.

Already on December 8 against the background of these events George Zhukovinsisted that Operation Mars (code name) be resumed with a new force. But none of the attempts to break through the line of defense of the enemy ended in success. Troops under the command of General Khozin, Yushkevich and Zygin failed. Many were again surrounded. According to various estimates, the number of dead Soviet soldiers for that period varies between 70 and 100 thousand. The battle of Rzhev in 1942 did not bring a long-awaited victory.

Operation Buffel

During the previous battles formed the so-calledRzhevsky ledge, which was occupied by German troops. It was a vulnerable part of the front — it was easiest to surround him. This became especially acute after the Soviet troops took the city of Velikie Luki in January 1943.

Kurt Zeitzler and the rest of the Wehrmacht commandthey began to ask Hitler for permission to withdraw troops. In the end, he agreed. The troops were to be withdrawn to the line near the town of Dorogobuzh. Colonel-General Walter Model was in charge of this important operation. The plan received the code name "Büffel", which is translated from German as "buffalo".

Capture of Rzhev

Competent withdrawal of troops allowed the Germans to leavethe protrusion is almost lossless. On March 30, the last soldier of the Reich left this area, which was attacked for over a year. The Wehrmacht left behind empty cities and villages: Olenino, Gzhatsk, Bely, Vyazma. All of them were taken by the Soviet army in March 1943 without a fight.

The same fate awaited Rzhev. He was released on March 3. The 30th Army was the first to enter the city, which spent a long time on this sector of the front and was manned from scratch after bloody battles. Thus ended the Battle of Rzhev in 1942 1943. Strategic success led to the fact that in World War II the initiative again went to the Soviet Union.

Pursuing the enemy

The Soviet army left Rzhev behind and beganaccelerated attack on the abandoned positions of the Germans. As a result, in March, it was possible to push the front line westward another 150 kilometers. Communications of the Soviet troops were stretched. Vanguard moved away from the rear and support. The advance was slowed by the onset of the thaw and poor road conditions.

When the Germans entrenched in the Dorogobuzh area,it became clear that an army of such density could not be defeated, and the Red Army stopped. The next significant breakthrough will occur in the summer, when the Battle of Kursk will end.

The fate of Rzhev. Cultural reflection

On the eve of World War II in the city56 thousand people lived. The city spent 17 months in the occupation, during which it was completely destroyed. The local population either fled the day before or did not survive the German authorities. When the Soviet army liberated the city on March 3, 1943, 150 civilians remained there.

With regard to estimates of the total losses of the Red Army for more than a year of battles, Marshal Viktor Kulikov called the figure more than 1 million people.

The Battle of Rzhev left about 300 surviving courtyards in the city, when there were 5.5 thousand of them before the battles. After the war, he was rebuilt literally again.

Bloody battles and huge losses foundreflected in the people's memory and many works of art. The most famous is the poem by Alexander Tvardovsky “I am killed under Rzhev”. Tver region has many monuments. The Battle of Rzhev, the museum panorama of this event - all this still attracts a large audience of visitors. In the same city there is also a memorable obelisk.