From January 1942 to March 1943, the Western Front, the Kalinin Front and the German Army Group Center repeatedly fought around the line of Lezhev, Serchovka and Vyazima, a series of offensive and defensive battles known as the Battle of Lezhev-Serchovka. During the war, there was a detachment of Soviet Red Army troops holding on to the village of Ovsianikovo, and although they realized that it was impossible to leave here and that only one-third of the soldiers in the army remained, these soldiers never wanted to back down. Although the village of Ovsianikovo is only a microcosm of the Battle of Lezhev-Sechovka, we can still use the key defensive battles of Lezhev to see how tragic and cruel World War II really was.
Why was the Soviet victory, which was won by the sacrifice of 1.5 million soldiers, always won the limelight at the Battle of Stalingrad? How tragic was the battlefield that created the "Lezhev Meat Grinder"? This issue takes you back to the battlefield of Lezhev. The new audience friends like and support it a lot.
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany shamelessly took the lead in tearing up the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact, leading the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Romania and Finland to gather 190 divisions totaling 5.5 million people under the signal of the "Barbarossa" plan, dividing these soldiers into Army Group North, Army Group Center, and Army Group South, and launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, and the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union broke out in full swing.
Soviet-German non-aggression pact
The Soviet-German battlefield has also become an important part of the world anti-fascist war, and many battles with extremely fierce battles and the heaviest casualties have emerged on the Soviet-German battlefield. These include the Battle of Kiev, the Battle of Moscow, and what we are going to talk about today at the Battle of Lezhev-Serchovka.
On July 7, 1941, kiev, the capital of Ukraine, welcomed a group of uninvited guests, the German army, followed by the largest siege in history, known as the Battle of Kiev. In order to seize the initiative of the Jesna and Dnieper rivers, the Germans targeted the serpentine area near Kiev, where they wanted to encircle Marshal Budyonny's Army Group southwestern. On 20 September, Kiev was captured by the 6th Army, and the German 46th Panzer Army and the Soviet Fresh Army joined the battle, but the Soviet army was outnumbered and fell behind. On 26 September, the Battle of Kiev ended, with 650,000 Soviet troops captured and the Germans victorious.
Although the Germans flaunted their might on the Battlefield in Kiev, they did not eat any good fruit in another key area of the Soviet-German battlefield. As early as July 1941, the Soviets requisitioned civilian workers to build a two-tier defensive line west of Moscow.
In October 1941, the assault groups of the German "Center" Army Group carried out a series of defensive and offensive campaigns in an attempt to take Moscow. But the Supreme Commander of the Soviet Union took various urgent measures to defend the capital.
On October 17, 1941, the Soviet Western Front and the Reserve Front were also combined into the new Western Front, and The Commander of Major General Zhukov was appointed. In order to resist the German offensive plan, the soviet people made great efforts for the street fighting.
On November 13, 1941, the Chief of the German Army General Staff, Hader, urgently convened a meeting of the Regimental Chiefs of Staff, issued an order for fortifications in the autumn of 1941, and mobilized 51 divisions to encircle Moscow. But the Soviets faced the danger of the German Panzer Army and infantry group. From the end of November to the end of December, the Soviet army's tenacious defenses, repeatedly launched counter-assault battles, and finally extinguished the Illusion of Germany taking Moscow.
In April 1942, the Germans who attacked Moscow suffered as many as 500,000 casualties and were driven by the Red Army to a distance of 100 or even 350 kilometers from Moscow. The end of the defensive battle for Moscow also meant that the German battle on the Eastern Front was gradually going to extinction. Nazi Germany's plan to quickly conquer the Soviet Union collapsed, and the myth of Germany's invincibility was shattered.
But the Battle of Lezhev-Serchovka that we are going to talk about today, judging from its strategic significance and casualties, was not at all lost to the defense of Moscow. However, due to the excessive glory of the defense of Moscow, the battle did not receive the attention it deserved. But it is undeniable that the Battle of Lezhev-Serchovka was equally important for the entire Eastern Front. Without lezhev's salient to contain most of the German forces, the German Sixth Army would not have been destroyed "in an instant". What we should know more is how the Soviets turned the tide in this battle and inflicted immeasurable losses on the rampant German army.
As mentioned earlier, the defense of Moscow shattered the myth of the invincibility of the German army, so let's move on. In fact, at that time, the center of the entire Soviet-German battlefield was not a good place to attack, it was either a forest or a swamp. The Germans' massive mechanized corps could not enter the area, so after the defeat in January 1942, the Germans chose to focus on the Battlefield on the Southern Soviet Flank, the Ukrainian Steppe. The focus of the offensive was on The vicinity of Stalingrad and the Caucasus.
But here the Germans made the mistake of not being able to swallow the elephants, they misestimated their own military strength, and without abandoning the southern flank, they also coveted the central battlefield, that is, the Lezhev-Serchovka front. Lezhev was a typical salient, covered on three sides by Soviet troops, and if the Germans wanted to hold on to it, they had to send a large number of troops to garrison it. The German army guarding the town was the Ninth Army. In fact, it was very dangerous here, and once the rear road of the Ninth Army was cut off, the Ninth Army, including Lezhev, would face the danger of being completely annihilated.
Marshal Modell, commander of the Ninth Army, knew that guarding Lezhev required great effort and artillery fire. There are two reasons, one is that the Soviet Union sent Zhukov in order to take Lezhev, personally led 7 armies with a total strength of 1.9 million troops, besieged Modell's 9th Army from three sides, and launched "Operation Mars" to this end. Second, Zhukov was not a troublemaker, he had the reputation of "Soviet god of war", in 1941 he defeated the invincible Guderian in Yelinya, and single-handedly saved Moscow and Leningrad.
Modell
So when Hitler sent Modell to take over the 9th Army in January 1942, Modell immediately backed off. More than once he told Hitler to leave the Lezhev salient. But Hitler rejected his request in return, and said harshly that the Ninth Army would be allowed to carry out a "shadow deterrent" against Moscow. I don't know if Hitler was really stupid or fake stupid. Just by looking at the comparison of the troops on both sides, Hitler should also understand that it is a fool's dream to want to take the 7 armies led by Zhukov.
But Hitler was so tough that Modell couldn't twist his thighs. He knew that he could only win the war if he was at risk. So Modell took the only 1 army group in his hand and formed a magical "Model cavalry brigade", leading the cavalry brigade to annihilate the Soviet 39th Army south of Lezhev in one fell swoop.
In fact, Modell also understood that Lezhev was very important to Germany, this is the closest place to Moscow, only 150 kilometers, the German army can only protect Lezhev, can lift the hearts of soldiers on the Eastern Front. But Modell looked at the heavily discounted Ninth Army, an army of just 50,000 men and less than 100 tanks. It wanted to resist 2 or 2 armies led by General Zhukov, totaling 2 million people. He can't sleep at night...
Although Modell did not want to fight this battle, as a heroic German general, he knew which was more important than the other. On the battlefield, he was still the cold-faced god of war, leading the 9th Army several times to defeat the menacing Soviet army, causing huge casualties to the Soviet army of 1.5 million people.
Battle of Viazima
In January 1942, the Soviets launched the first Battle of Lezhev-Vyazma and sent the 4th Air Force to raid the Germans and occupy southern Viazima. The defeat of the German army was already decided, but the 5 divisions sent by the German army to support the 9th Army were also in place. There was also the pride of the German army, the Imperial Division of the SS. With a powerful army and a well-strategized Modell, the Germans quickly turned the tide of the war, dividing the Soviet army that had burst into Lezhev into several parts, and finally succeeded in taking two Soviet army groups.
At the end of the first battle, the Soviet 33rd Army was completely annihilated, and 500,000 soldiers were killed and captured. When German soldiers recall the first battle of Lezhev, they can always think of the Soviet army with heavy casualties, and the blood of more than 1.5 million Soviet Red Army in this battle has reached 4:1. Because the battlefield was too fierce, it also created a new historical term - "Lezhev meat grinder"
In the summer of 1942, the Soviets decided to launch another offensive against Lezhev, this time the 30th Army of the Kalinin Side and the 20th, 29th and 31st Armies of the Western Front rushed to Lezhev. This time Modell adopted a "flexible defense" style of play against the Soviets. This approach is very costly, why do you say so? Let's move on.
In fact, Modell did not have many elite generals in his hands, so he took out some of the only elite armored divisions to rush to the front and lure the Soviets deeper. An armored army was then set up in the middle of the battlefield to envelop the soviet army in depth. But this style of play is a huge risk, and it is necessary to be always wary of not being eaten by the "Soviet army". Unexpectedly, Modell's tactics actually worked, and the Soviet attack was stopped by the Germans along the Vazuza and Ghzati rivers, and the number of Soviet prisoners exceeded 200,000.
Although both Kalinin and the Western Front lost most of the money, The Soviets continued to replenish them. Although the soldiers were replenished, the ammunition did not keep up. Many young Soviets could not shoot at all, and artillery companies could only cut the door "two shots a day."
Zhukov
In November 1942, Zhukov made a comeback with 2 million Soviet troops and launched Operation Uranus in Stalingrad, preparing 24,000 artillery pieces, more than 3,000 tanks, and more than 1,000 aircraft, intending to encircle the German 6th Army, the Romanian Army and some of the German 4th Panzer Army at Stalingrad.
Modell's 9th Army watched the Red Army coming, and they developed a more "perverted" strategy. Modell organized his army into small units, stationed as battalions and companies on important roads and riverbanks. Facing the powerful Soviet army, the German army showed extraordinary endurance. The German 102nd Infantry Division used one division headquarters to defend against the Soviet 31st Army for three full days.
In order to win the battle, Modell placed 6 fully armored divisions on the front and used an "empty city plan" against Zhukov's 2 million Soviet troops. Modell successfully "took" the Soviet army with this "empty city plan", and the Few Germans left, holding the frontal defense line, so that the Soviet army did not dare to rush into the German defensive center of gravity. A week after the start of the campaign, the Soviets switched from offensive to defensive.
On 11 December, the supplied Soviets attacked again, re-attacking the German positions with the replenished 5th and 6th Tank Corps and 20,000 Soviet Troops. However, this wave of attack was blocked by the Germans, and more than 300 Soviet tanks were also destroyed by the Germans in 1 and a half days. The second "Battle of Lezhev-Serchovka" was again defeated. After several Soviet assaults, not only did they not take Lezhev, but they also lost 800,000 Soviet troops, and 1,800 tanks were destroyed in the war.
In fact, the Germans also suffered heavy losses, and more than 40,000 people of the Ninth Army died in the Battle of Lezhev. Although from the numbers alone, Germany has taken a big advantage, but if you taste it, the German 9th Army is a seasoned "veteran", while the Soviet army is a "new recruit egg", if you look at it from this level, in fact, the German army has more losses.
In 1943, the 9th Army, which had been in Lezhev for a year, finally "could not hold on", and the Soviet 3rd Assault Army took the continental base. Faced with the Soviet army, which had more room to play, Modell decided to stick to his original intention and retreat in the face of difficulties. After reaching an agreement with Manstein, Modell decided to lead the 9th Army out of Lezhev. However, he did not immediately announce the retreat, but secretly carried out "Operation Buffalo" to let the 300,000 troops with armaments and materials retreat first. Then, while retreating, destroying roads and bridges, preventing the Soviets from firing back their rifles at any time. Modell knew in his heart that although the Germans had continuously sent more than a dozen divisions to Lezhev. But it must not be able to win the continuous flow of Soviet troops.
When the Soviets learned that the Germans had plans to retreat, they immediately responded and pursued the fleeing Germans. However, the Germans retreated quickly, and the Soviets failed to catch up. But the good news is that the Soviets finally got Lezhev. Although when it was obtained, the ground in Lezhev was full of mines, and 90% of the houses were burned by the Germans. But the Soviets did succeed in the Battle of Lezhev.
No wonder Klochkov Diyev, a Red Army soldier on the battlefield of Lezhev, shouted: "Russia is big, but we have no way to retreat, and behind it is Moscow!" " slogan. In the hearts of all Soviet soldiers, they preferred to exchange 1.5 million Soviet soldiers for 300,000 German casualties. Nor did they want to see the Germans drive straight in, south into Moscow, to support the victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.
And Modell, who played a prestigious role in the battlefield, actually did not have a good ending. As he retreated from the Lezhev region, he poisoned nearby villages and wells, killing countless Russian civilians. And he himself was pushed to the forefront for assassinating innocent "guerrillas" and "spies." Mordel, accused of "war crimes", was not arrested by a military tribunal, but embarked on a suicide path because of his defeat in the Ardennes Campaign on the Western Front.
In several battles of Lezhev, Zhukov led most of the Soviet army to fight against the Germans, and finally took Lezhev at a tragic cost. But it is a pity that this war was always overshadowed by the Battle of Stalingrad! Behind all wars are a people who are struggling to support them. Behind the peace, there is always a group of people struggling to support us behind our backs. Nor should we forget their names today and the battle they fought for us!