On November 19, 1942, in the south of the Soviet Union, the Battle of Stalingrad entered a critical moment, the Soviet army launched the "Uranus" counterattack on this day, this action will change the entire Soviet-German battlefield and even the entire World War II situation, and at this time in the middle of the Soviet-German battlefield, the Soviet army will also launch an attack on the German Army Group Center, and this attack will be the biggest defeat in the career of the famous Soviet general Zhukov.
Soviet infantry attacked
The Lezhev salient was the closest zone to Moscow in the areas controlled by the Germans after the Battle of Moscow in 1941. As the supreme leader of the Soviet Union who experienced the most dangerous days of 1941, Stalin did not want another Battle of Moscow, so he not only concentrated the strength of the three fronts on the front of Moscow, but also asked the front-line generals to find an opportunity to take the Lozhev salient and completely eliminate the German threat to Moscow.
On July 30, 1942, as the Germans were getting closer to Stalingrad, the Soviet Western Front and the Kalinin Front concentrated the strength of four armies and began to storm the Lezhev salient, resulting in fierce fighting until August 23, when the Soviet army failed to break through the German defense line after paying a huge price of more than 190,000 men, and was forced to stop the attack.
German machine gun positions
By November 1942, the total strength of the German Army Group Center had been reduced to about 1.2 million people in 77 divisions (including 2 Hungarian divisions) after many days of combat, and the total strength of the Soviet Western Front, kalinin Front and Moscow Defense Zone that confronted them had reached 1.89 million, if you consider the technical weapons of both sides, the gap is even greater, the Soviet Army is fully capable of launching an offensive, Stalin believes that while launching a counterattack at Stalingrad, the direction of Moscow should also echo each other. This would not only contain German reinforcements to Stalingrad, but also solve the threat to Moscow once and for all.
At Stalin's request, General Zhukov, who had now become deputy commander of the Soviet High Command, drew up a counter-offensive plan against the German Army Group Center, code-named "Mars", and after learning the lessons of the defeat of the offensive in August, Zhukov threw in the strength of up to 7 army groups, 6 of which attacked the northwest of the Lezhev salient and the 3rd Assault Army attacked Velikiy Luki, a transportation hub west of Lezhev. According to the plan, after eliminating the northwest of the Lezhev salient, the attacking Soviet army will also move south, together with the Soviet 3rd Tank Army and the 9th and 10th Tank Corps to the south, to encircle the German 3rd Panzer Army in Vyazma.
General Zhukov who studied the situation of the war
On the German side, responsible for the defense of the northwest of the Lezhev salient was the German 9th Army under the command of General Modell, although the number of German army groups was far more than that of a Soviet army group, the total strength of the attacking Soviet army's 6 armies still reached a staggering 580,000 people, while the 9th Army only had 14 divisions and more than 200,000 people at this time, and in terms of tank numbers, the Soviet army's superiority was more obvious, the Soviet army had 6 armies with a total of 1600 tanks, while the German 9th Army had only 265 tanks.
Modell at the airport (middle)
According to the plan, operation Mars was carried out a few days later than the great counteroffensive of Uranus, during which time the Germans were already waiting, and the Germans had predicted as early as early November that the Soviets might launch a large-scale attack on Army Group Center. German front-line troops were also increasingly aware of signs of the imminent start of Operation Mars, especially as many Soviet soldiers fled into German lines and confessed to their own forces' plans of action. Modell flew to the front every day to inspect the front and quickly received this information.
After analyzing this information, at 10:20 a.m. on 23 November, Modell issued an order to his troops: "According to the confessions of deserters, the Soviets will launch an offensive on November 25-26. "Several mobile units of the German army were ordered to be prepared for battle. In order to hold the Lezhev salient, the night before the start of the battle, Marshal Kruger, commander of the German Army Group Center, decided to transfer the 12th, 19th, and 20th Panzer Divisions to the northwest side of the salient for defense, of which the 19th and 20th Panzer Divisions could be reached quickly due to their short distance.
A corner of the German position at the Lezhev salient
Zhukov divided the 6 armies into 4 groups, with the 31st Assault Army and the 20th Army in the central Serchovka section of the eastern side of the salient, the 41st Army in the bere area in the central part of the western side of the salient, the 22nd Army north of the salient, and finally the 39th Army (west side) and the 30th Army (east side) north of the salient.
Mars" on the eve of Operation Lezhev's salient position
On November 25, 1942, Operation Mars officially began, because the offensive was carried out in extremely bad weather, resulting in the Soviet army not only could not count on air support, from the ground can not see the battlefield conditions at all, the Soviet artillery can only blindly shoot, although the shelling lasted 90 minutes, but the lethal effect was greatly weakened, and the German army is already quite familiar with the Soviet artillery tactics, can withdraw from the outpost position before the Soviets open fire, hide in the second-line position or the side of the bunker.
The Germans also knew that once the scream of the Soviet rocket launcher salvo came, it meant that the shelling would stop and the Soviet infantry was about to start a surprise attack. The Germans would then return to their outposts and use machine guns and artillery fire to meet the Soviet infantry. Using this tactic, the Germans could minimize casualties under heavy artillery fire and hold their positions with full combat. Zhukov also found that the Germans had built their positions on terrain that was difficult to observe, and that German officers and men could hide in the anti-slopes and canyons of the highlands. The Soviets had difficulty destroying this position system with artillery fire.
The Soviets were shelled by the Germans in the snowy fields
Although the shelling did not achieve the expected results, but the Soviet infantry and tanks still began to charge, the German army first with sporadic artillery and light weapons to shoot at the vanguard Soviet army, and when the large Soviet army arrived, then concentrated all the artillery fire fiercely, the shells fell into the Shape of the Soviet Army, suddenly blood and flesh, and many Soviet soldiers and tanks fell into the broken glacier, were frozen alive or drowned, but the Soviet Army, with its numerical superiority, gradually approached or even broke into the German position.
In the Serchovka area on the eastern side of the salient, the Soviet 20th Army managed to tear a hole in the German defensive line and even approached the command post of the German 78th Infantry Division, forcing the 5th Panzer Division to send 2 armored infantry battalions to reinforce, and Modell also authorized the 2nd Tank Battalion of the 1st Panzer Division to be used for combat. On the Soviet side, the commander of the Western Front, Admiral Konev, was eager to expand the results, and he put the 6th Tank Corps into the breakthrough point the next day, but because the breakthrough point was too small, the Soviet troops were crowded on two narrow roads, and the German artillery fire caused staggering casualties.
German 75 mm anti-tank heavy artillery
The attacking Soviets were caught in a dilemma, but Zhukov and Konev were unwilling to give up, and ordered the 6th Tank Army to continue to advance, and it was necessary to cut off the Lezhev-Sechovka road as soon as possible, but the situation was out of the control of the Soviets. On the morning of 27 November, the Soviet 6th Tank Corps reported that it could not proceed with the next operation due to the lack of backup and supplies, and the Germans had already put in the 9th Panzer Division as a reserve, and on November 27-28, the Germans began to squeeze the German breakthrough in two ways, and the Soviet 6th Tank Army and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps that penetrated deep into the enemy position were beaten to a dizzy head and almost cut off from the rear road.
German armored units thrown in the counterattack
In the Bere area on the west side, the Soviet 41st Army, spearheaded by the 1st Mechanized Army, successfully opened a breakthrough, and by the third day, this breakthrough had been extended to a depth of 20 kilometers, but by this time, 2 of the 3 armored divisions transferred by Kruger had reached the battlefield, and on November 27, the main force of the German 1st Panzer Division launched a counterattack, forcing the Soviet 41st Army to temporarily stop the attack, and by December 7, the German army had concentrated 4 armored divisions, 1 infantry division, A cavalry division attacked the Soviet 41st Army in three ways, and in just one day, the German army had initially cut off the retreat of more than 40,000 Soviet troops.
In the Seschovka area, the Soviet 6th Tank Army and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Army that broke into but were counter-encircled successfully broke through the encirclement, but the 20th Infantry Division, the 6th Motorized Brigade, and the 200th Tank Brigade were still besieged by the Germans, and by December 11, the German army had basically eliminated the besieged Soviet army, and before that, Kruger had transferred reinforcements from the south to the 2nd Panzer Division, so that the German army had 3 armored divisions in the 2nd, 5th, and 9th to contain the offensive of the Soviet 20th Army. Originally, the Germans had only 265 usable tanks, and after this series of reinforcements, the Germans had more than 500 tanks available, and Zhukov admitted afterwards that he did not expect the Germans to be able to bring in so many reinforcements in such a short period of time.
However, the Soviets were not willing to lose, and although the 20th Army had been partially annihilated by the Germans, it still seized a forward position at the junction of the German 27th Army and the 39th Panzer Army, and the Soviets decided to use this position to try again. On 8 December, Zhukov gave orders to the Western Front and the Kalinin Front to continue their offensive, calling for the capture of Bere on 20 December and the capture of Lezhev on 23 December.
At 9:00 a.m. on December 11, the Soviet 20th Army launched another onslaught under the cover of heavy artillery fire, and the Soviet Army this time concentrated 9 infantry divisions, supported by the remnants of the 6th Tank Army and the 5th Tank Army, due to the heavy casualties before, the 20th Army only had more than 80,000 people left, while the defending German army was about 40,000 to 50,000 people, with more than 100 tanks.
Soviet infantry attacking under mortar cover
Zhukov's forced attack was doomed to failure, because the Soviets were never able to destroy the German firepower configuration, and when tens of thousands of Soviet infantry jumped out of the trenches almost at the same time, the German counterattack artillery was overwhelming, and the Soviet 5th Tank Army, which was close to the battlefield, also fell into the fire trap and suffered heavy losses. It didn't take long for the entire battlefield to be filled with burned tanks, artillery, and charred corpses.
The Soviet offensive lasted for several days, and apart from inflicting heavy casualties, the Soviets gained little. The 5th Tank Corps lost 48 tanks on 17 December, while from 25 November to 18 December, the number of dead, wounded, and missing soviet 20th Army reached 57,000, while the 20th Army captured only 265 prisoners during the same period. In order to withstand the Soviet attack, the German casualties were not small, such as the 5th Panzer Division, which lost 1640 men and 30 tanks in 10 days.
Winter positions of the Germans
In the direction of Bere, although Zhukov demanded the capture of Bere on 20 December, the Soviet 41st Army was unable to rescue the encircled 1st Mechanized Army and the 6th Infantry Corps, let alone attack. Eight days after the battle, by December 16, the remnants of the Soviet army, led by The 1st Mechanized Army Commander Major General Solomatin, broke through back to the position of the 41st Army, the 1st Mechanized Army had 15,200 men, only 4,000 people broke out, and the losses of the 6th Infantry Corps were even greater.
The main attacking 20th Army and the 41st Army were crippled, and Zhukov had no choice but to order on December 20 to stop the offensive and turn to the defensive (the offensive of the 39th and 30th Armies was delayed until December 23), and by December 24, the attack on the Lezhev salient was completely stopped, and the Soviet offensive against the Lezhev salient ended in failure again. The Soviet casualties reached 200,000, and 4,662 were captured, while the German 9th Army lost only 28,700 people, and the Soviet-German casualty ratio reached 7:1! Attacking 1 army group with 6 armies and ending up in such a situation was definitely the biggest defeat of Zhukov's military career.
Although the attack on the Lezhev salient failed, but the "Mars" operation was not for nothing, due to the need to support the Lezhev salient, resulting in the German defense of Velikiye Luki was weak, the Soviet 3rd Assault Army took the opportunity to surround the 7500 German troops here, although the German army mobilized a large number of troops to break the siege, but the Soviet army still captured Velikiye Luki on January 14, 1943, 7500 German troops only 186 people escaped, which was also the fortress stronghold of the Soviet Army's first total annihilation of the German garrison. The Soviets paid the price of more than 100,000 casualties.
Operation Mars ended at this point, and although the Soviets did not reach their intended target, they pinpointed a large number of German troops in Army Group Center, making it impossible to go south to reinforce Army Group B, ensuring victory in the Battle of Stalingrad.