The Great Patriotic War And The Maturation Of Soviet Operational Art 1941-1945

Colonel David M Glantz

• Publisher: Verdun Press
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781786250445
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

This report examines the development of the Soviet Army's operational art against the Germans during World War 2. It examines the reconstruction and reorganization of the Soviet military forces after Hitler's invasion, the development and coordination of military tactics on the various fronts and the deployment of forces for defense or attack in several battles.

Triumph of Arms (1944-45)

The Soviets opened 1944 with the first of a series of offensives which would continue unabated until wars end. The January offensives at the extremities of the eastern front against German forces around Leningrad and at Krivoi-rog and Nikopol, south of the Dnepr River, gave way in early spring to the multi-front Korsun-Shevchenkovskii encirclement operation. Unlike the case in previous springs, the Soviets ignored the thaw (razputitsa) and continued a series of front offensive operations which liberated the right bank of the Ukraine and brought Soviet forces to the Rumanian borders by the end of April. While Soviet armies chopped away at the German northern flank, ultimately driving Finland from the war, a multi-front offensive in June 1944, using successive encirclement operations, crushed German Army Group “Center” in Belorussia and penetrated to the East Prussian borders. A subsequent blow in the Ukraine brought Soviet forces deep into Poland with bridgeheads across the Vistula River above Warsaw. By August, reflecting Soviet strategic concerns, the Soviets launched a series of offensives into and through the Balkans that drove Rumania from the war and propelled Soviet forces into Hungary and Yugoslavia while other Soviet fronts ground up German forces in the Baltic region. The Soviets opened 1945 with a series of simultaneous strategic operations from the Baltic to the Balkans. The Vistula-Oder thrust placed Soviet troops across the Oder only 40 kilometers from Berlin while in the south Soviet forces parried a German counteroffensive at Budapest and then continued the advance into Austria. After operations in February and March designed to clear German forces from the flanks of the Soviet main thrust, the Soviets commenced the titanic, almost ceremonial, struggle to conquer Berlin and liquidate the Nazis in their own lair, thus ending the Great Patriotic War. However, combat for Soviet forces was not over. In August 1945, responding to requests for assistance from their allies, the Soviets organized and conducted the largest scale strategic operation of the war (in terms of space) which crushed Japanese forces in Manchuria and won for the Soviet Union a place in subsequent negotiations for peace and post-war reconstruction in the Far East.

During the third and final period of war, the Soviets perfected their existing combat force structure and added logistical and combat support forces to better sustain offensive operations. A steady stream of modern equipment and weapons flowed into the Soviet inventory, much of which would provide a base for the post-war equipping of the armed forces. Combined arms armies, rifle corps and rifle divisions became more refined on their equipment and occasional attachments of additional artillery, tanks and self-propelled guns became customary in the last year of the war (see tables 71-72). Many of these attachments (tank and self-propelled gun regiments and battalions) were integrated fully into post war unit TOEs. In the last two years of war, the Soviets tailored units more extensively to suit the terrain over which they operated and the enemy they opposed. Armored forces became more sophisticated with the addition of self-propelled artillery units, additional anti-tank artillery, and greater engineer support to tank and mechanized corps and tank armies (see table 73). The Cavalry-Mechanized Group{22} became a regular feature of operations in terrain and weather conditions which inhibited operations of regular tank armies. Combat support units increased in size as the Soviets formed artillery breakthrough corps and larger, often mechanized, engineer formations to support strategic operations.

Table 71. Rifle Forces, 1944-1945

August 1944 Rifle Army

3 rifle corps

7-12 rifle divisions

1 artillery brigade

2 gun artillery regiments

1 tank destroyer regiment

1 antiaircraft artillery regiment

1 mortar regiment

1 engineer/sapper brigade

1 tank regiment

1 signal regiment

1 tank or mechanized corps (optional)

strength: 80,000-120,000 men

300-460 tanks

1700-2000 guns/mortars 30-225 SP guns

January 1945 Rifle Army

3 rifle corps

7-12 rifle divisions

1-2 gun artillery brigades

2 gun artillery regiments

1 tank destroyer brigade

1 antiaircraft artillery division

1 mortar regiment

1 engineer/sapper brigade

1 signal regiment

2-3 tank brigades or regiments

1 tank or mechanized corps (attached)

strength: 80,000-100,000 men

300-460 tanks 1900-2500 guns/mortars

100-225 SP guns

1944 Rifle Corps

3 rifle divisions

1 artillery brigade (guards Corps)

1 artillery regiment (regular corps)

1 self-propelled artillery regiment

1 guards mortar regiment

1 antiaircraft artillery battalion

1 sapper battalion

1 signal battalion

strength: 20,000-30,000 men

December 1944 Rifle Division

3 rifle regiments (4 X 76mm, 12 X 45mm)

1 artillery brigade

1 gun artillery regiment (32 X 76mm)

1 howitzer artillery regiment (20 X 122mm)

1 mortar regiment (20 X 120mm)

1 antiaircraft artillery battalion (12 X 37mm) (in guards divisions)

1 tank destroyer battalion

1 sapper battalion

1 signal company

1 reconnaissance company

strength: 11,706 men*

64 guns

127 mortars

12 AA gun...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Tragedy and Rebirth of an Army (1941-1942)
• An Army in Transition (1943)
• Triumph of Arms (1944-45)