Chapter 63 Battle between the Donets and Dnieper

On February 19, the Army Group Headquarters ordered the Fourth Panzer Army to proceed along the Pereshchepino|Pavlovgrad|Grishiro line in an attempt to cut off the Army Group from the 4th Panzer Army. The enemy forces on the line of communication between the Dieper launched a counter-offensive.On February 20, the enemy's operational intentions were fully revealed and proved to be exactly as we expected. On our eastern front, the enemy has already attacked the position of Army Group Hollide on the Meas River, and has achieved the goal of breaking through at three main points.In order to cut off our line of communication across the Dnieper River, the enemy has used an army group (three infantry divisions under its jurisdiction), two tank corps and some cavalry, which were originally controlled by us in Grighiro and Kalamato Sskaya's enemy forces are not yet included.

At the same time, the enemy is also trying to break through the weak front of the Keff Army to the west and southwest of Kharkov. General Nanzi has now replaced General Keff.In addition, the enemy tried to encircle the entire army from the north. Faced with these developments, the Army Group had two distinct tasks to fulfill. The first point is that it should try its best to hold the defense line east of the Meath River, but with that limited force and without any reserves, it is really doubtful. Second, it must use the Fourth Panzer Army to quickly defeat the enemy forces between the First Panzer Army and the Koff Army in order to prevent the enemy from cutting off its line of communication with the Dnieper crossings.If this action fails, most of the army group will soon lose its mobility due to lack of fuel.

Once the enemy forces between the Donets River and the Dnieper River can be defeated, further actions will be determined depending on the development of the situation at that time. Perhaps we can immediately use all mobile forces to attack northward, so that Restore the status of the Kenf Army.Or, if the latter has not been able to clear the enemy forces at Gryshiro and Kalamatorskaya by their own efforts.Then the Fourth Panzer Army may have to fight another battle in the area of ​​​​the First Panzer Army. In any case, we must now hold our northern flank, which is the area of ​​​​Kenff's army.What the latter now has to do is to put up the most obstinate resistance to block the road to the Dnieper, either through Krasrograd to Dnepropetrovsk; or through Porta Vajda Kremenchoge.If the enemy still tries to reach Kiev (there are many symbols that have already terrified Hitler), we can also wish him a happy journey.Such a large roundabout over such a long distance is impossible to gain any real effect before the mud season begins.

On February 21, a glimmer of new hope first appeared on what our army group now considers to be the most important front.The eastern front of the Meath was held.The remnants of the enemy's cavalry army, which had been besieged by our army for a long time at the Balthif station behind that line of defense, were finally forced to surrender.Another tank corps of the enemy was surrounded by our army shortly after breaking through the front of the Meas at Matveyekurgan, and has now been wiped out at the same time. On the right flank of the 1st Panzer Army, the enemy was exerting pressure on Ferritt-Pike Group. The purpose was obviously to further destroy the flank support of the Meuse River position, or to detour the northern flank of the 1st Panzer Army.In the area facing the First Panzer Army, everything was calm.Information obtained from radio wiretapping indicated that the Russian forces fighting 1st Panzer Army to the west at Gryshiro and in the Kramatorskaya region had suffered heavy losses.The German forces in the latter areas are the Popov group.Obviously, the supply line of the Russian army has been cut off.

Fourth Panzer Army had taken Pavlovgrad, and there was reason to hope that its last units would still have time to join up with the main body before the ground softened.In fact, although a not too strong enemy tank force has advanced to the vicinity of Zaporozzi, it is not a big threat.It ran out of fuel about twelve miles from the city, and was wiped out by our troops.Unfortunately, a new division (322nd), which was scheduled to reinforce Pavlovgrad and was already on the march, was transferred by Army Headquarters to the right flank of Army Group Center.Although the situation of the Second Army is not optimistic, Army Group South should have the priority claim, because we are finally trying to regain the initiative.As for whether the enemy can make any progress towards Kiev, it is irrelevant at this time.

The fact that the enemy did have this intention can be proved by the following facts, for they have already used a considerable number of troops to advance from Belgorod to Akhtyrka, and the purpose is obviously to detour the army of Kefu North side. In the next few days, the counter-offensive of Fourth Panzer Army achieved the success we hoped for.So the initiative in this battle finally returned to the hands of the German army. At first, this army group smashed the enemy's forces advancing towards the crossing of the Dnieper River, that is, in the area around Pavlovgrad and to the south.The notion that Hitler had rejected had now been fulfilled, and the enemy proved to have two panzer corps, one infantry corps, and one cavalry corps.Later, it cooperated with the First Armored Army and defeated the four enemy tanks and mechanized troops facing its west.

By March 1, it became clear that since the enemy had been defeated between the Donets and Dnieper rivers, its pressure on the northern front of First Panzer Army was also weakened, and the latter was able to regain the The line of the Donets River in this area.Hence the strong temptation to pursue the enemy across the freezing river and attack his rear west of Kharkov. However, in order to allow us to advance freely across the middle reaches of Donets, we should first destroy the southern flank of the enemy Kharkov Group, which is still concentrated on the Berestovaya River southwest of the city .With a thaw looming, it is doubtful whether this action will be taken.Therefore, the first goal of the army group is to be satisfied only with the defeat of the Kharkov enemy army west of the Donets River.

At the southern end of the army group's combat area, the part close to the coast has already begun to thaw.At the end of February, the enemy at the River Meath abandoned attempts to break through with armored forces and other mobile units, and instead sent infantry divisions to take up the defense.Clearly they hope to maintain at least a few bridgeheads on both sides of the river before the mud season sets in.But when this broad attack failed, their offensive eventually degenerated into a fruitless local attack. Only on March 2 did Army Group see the effects of its first counterattack, which was carried out by the right flanks of Fourth Panzer Army and First Panzer Army, sandwiched between the Donets and Dnieper rivers. The enemy is the target.During this attack, Holliday's Army had successfully defended the Meuse River, and all groups in the enemy's Southwest Front Army had suffered considerable blows, preventing them from launching further offensive operations for the time being.Especially the enemy advancing to the left flank of the 1st Panzer Army and penetrating between the latter and the Army of Keff suffered even more severe blows. Guards Army.The enemy's twenty-fifth tank army and three infantry divisions can be regarded as annihilated. In addition, the third, tenth, and fourth guard tank armies also have an independent armored brigade, a mechanized brigade, an infantry division and a ski The brigade has also been defeated.The 1st Guards Tank Corps, the 18th Tank Corps, plus six infantry divisions and two ski brigades also suffered heavy losses.

According to the report of our troops, the enemy left 23,000 corpses on the Donets-Dnieper battlefield, and the trophies obtained totaled 615 tanks, 354 field guns, and 60 anti-aircraft guns. Nine, and plenty of machine guns and mortars.The figure of 9,000 captives is too small in proportion.There are three reasons for this: 1. Most of our own forces are armored forces, which cannot form a continuous encirclement circle against the enemy.2. Because of the extremely cold weather, especially at night, the troops tended to concentrate in the villages, so the Russian soldiers who had given up their weapons and vehicles could easily slip away.3. It is impossible to block the Donets River behind the enemy. Lightly armed troops can walk through this frozen river.

In addition to the above-mentioned enemy losses, the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps (encircled behind the front of the Meuse) and the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps were also eliminated at the same time.