Battle for Velikiye Luki (1943)

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Battle of Velikiye Luki
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

Velikiye Luki (red, upper left) and the nearby rail trunks, in the context of the Soviet 1942-1943 offensives. (click to enlarge)
Date 19 November 1942 – 16 January 1943
Location Velikiye Luki, Pskov Oblast, Russia
Result Qualified Soviet victory
Belligerents
Germany Soviet Union
Commanders
Kurt von der Chevallerie M. A. Purkayev
Strength
~20,000 (on 19 Nov) 100,000 (on 19 Nov)
Casualties and losses
17,000 killed or wounded, 3,000 captured 30,000 killed or wounded
v • d • e
Eastern Front
Situation after the initial Soviet advance.
Situation after the initial Soviet advance.

The Battle of Velikiye Luki took place between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army forces, and occurred in and around the Russian city of Velikiye Luki during the winter of 1942-1943. It is particularly notable as an example of the failure of German tactics in relieving an encirclement, similar to those employed at the Battle of Stalingrad. It should not be confused with the larger Velikiye Luki offensive operation (within the scope of the Rzhev-Vyazma strategic offensive operation) of which it was a part.

Contents

[edit] Background

When Operation Barbarossa had played out, and the front line in the northern sector of the Eastern Front had stabilized in the spring of 1942, the Germans were left in control of the town of Velikiye Luki, which provided them with a bridgehead over the Lovat River. A major north-south rail trunk ran parallel to the river's west bank, behind the German lines. Marshy terrain leading to Lake Peipus began just north of the city, making attack difficult for either side there. The city itself was therefore a natural point for a Soviet counterattack, to reduce the German bridgehead and establish a bridgehead of their own on the opposite side, denying the Germans use of the rail trunk. In view of its strategic significance, the Germans fortified the city heavily over the course of 1942.

[edit] The battle

A major Soviet offensive to retake the city did indeed develop in mid-November 1942. The diversion of German forces for the Battles of Rzhev had left Velikiye Luki relatively weakly defended by the 83rd Infantry Division, with the lines to the south held by the 3rd Mountain Division. The city itself, however, was provided with extensive prepared defenses and garrisoned by a full regiment of the 83rd Division, Infantry Regiment 277, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Eduard Freiherr von Saß, who had only assumed command a matter of days before the offensive. Along with artillery, engineer and support units (including Artillery Regiment 183 and Pioneer Battalion 183) the garrison totalled around 7000 troops.

[edit] Encirclement

The Soviet attack, spearheaded by four Guards divisions, commenced on November 24. Despite heavy losses, they successfully encircled the city by the 27th, trapping the garrison; by the next day they threatened to cut off other elements of the corps south of the city. Army Group Centre's commander asked the OKH for permission to conduct a breakout operation while the situation was still relatively fluid, pulling the German lines back by around ten miles (16 km); this would have both screened the vital rail link and left the resulting Soviet salient exposed to counter-attack. The request was dismissed by Hitler, who (pointing to an earlier success in a similar situation at Kholm) demanded that the encircled formations stand fast while other units attacked from the west.

[edit] The relief force

Von Saß and the garrison were ordered to hold the city at all costs, while a relief force was hurriedly assembled. The remainder of the 83rd Infantry and 3rd Mountain Divisions, encircled south of Velikiye Luki, fought their way west to meet the relieving troops. Due to Army Group Centre's commitments at Rzhev, the only resources immediately available to man the lines opposite Velikiye Luki were those already in the area, which were organised as Gruppe Woehler under an improvised staff headquartered in a peasant hut. Later, other divisions were made available, including the understrength 8th Panzer Division, the 20th Motorized Infantry Division, and the weak 6th Luftwaffe Field Division, although there was a corresponding build-up of Soviet strength.

Throughout December, the garrison — which maintained radio contact with the relief force — held out against repeated Soviet attempts to break through their lines. The Soviet forces, attacking strongly entrenched troops in severe winter weather, suffered extremely high casualties (along with allegedly high rates of desertion from many of the Estonian units involved) while conditions in the city steadily deteriorated despite airdrops of supplies, ammunition and equipment. In the meantime, Soviet attempts to take their main objective, the rail lines at Novosokolniki, had been frustrated by the counter-attacks of the relief force: an attempt by the Germans to reach Velikiye Luki in late December, however, ran into stubborn Soviet defence and halted.

[edit] Final relief attempts

Operation Totila, the next attempt to break through to Velikiye Luki, was launched on January 4. The two German spearheads advanced to within five miles (8 km) of the city, but stalled due to pressure on their flanks. Soviet attempts to reduce the defence and liberate the city continued. On January 5, a Soviet attack from the north split Velikiye Luki in two, a small German force — along with several hundred wounded — becoming isolated in the citadel in the west of the city, while von Saß and the bulk of the garrison retained a sector centred around the station in the east. It now seemed unlikely that any breakthrough operation would succeed, though after repeated representations to the Luftwaffe, a battalion of paratroopers was finally released to assist the operations.

On January 10, a surprise thrust by German infantry supported by tank destroyers succeeded in breaking through to the citadel and joining the fragment of the garrison trapped there: von Saß's force in the easterly pocket, however, by now lacked the resources to attack westwards to link up with them. The German plan called for the paratroop battalion to advance to the citadel on the night of the 14 January and assist a breakout by the troops there and any walking wounded. The paratroopers failed to reach the citadel after losing their way in the featureless and snow-covered landscape, but the force in the citadel broke out on their own under cover of darkness; around 150 men eventually reached German lines.

Radio contact with the eastern side of Velikiye Luki ceased on 15 January: at 04:40 Saß stated that "a breakout appears out of the question; because almost 2000 wounded would fall into Russian hands...help must immediately come from the outside". Along with 3-4000 of his men, he was taken into Soviet captivity when his forces surrendered on 16 January.

Von Saß and seven other officers (including von Rappard, the previous commander of Infantry Regiment 277, who was taken as a POW in 1945) are stated to have been executed in the main square of Velikiye Luki in January 1946, after a tribunal convicted them of war crimes against POWs and civilians in and around the city.

The battle is sometimes called "The Little Stalingrad of the North" due to its similarities with the larger and better-known Battle of Stalingrad that raged simultaneously in the southern sector of the front. (However, a number of other battles in World War II and afterward have also been dubbed a "Little Stalingrad".)

[edit] Orders of battle

While it is somewhat difficult to separate the actions of various Red Army and Wehrmacht units within the flurry of movements involved in the larger scope of the Soviet operations, for the most part these below are derived from Glantz and Isayev.

[edit] German

  • Army Group Center
    • Kampfgruppe "Chevallerie" from (LIX Corps)
      • Wehrmacht's Velikiye Luki garrison
      • Kampfgruppe "Wöhler"
        • 83rd Infantry Division (Lieutenant-General Scherer)
          • Kampfgruppe "Meyer" (South-West of Velikiye Luki)
            • Three infantry battalions, two batteries of StuGIII assault guns, two artillery and one rocket launcher batteries
          • Infantry Regiment 277 (Lieutenant-Colonel von Saß) (garrison)
          • 3rd Ski Battalion (attached)[citation needed]
          • 336th Security Battalion (garrison)
          • Battery of 210 mm Nebelwerfer (rocket launcher) mortars

Most of Army Group Center was engaged in resisting the second Soviet Rzhev-Sychevka offensive throughout this period.

Almost half of the 83rd Infantry Division was assigned to the Velikiye Luki garrison.

The 3rd Mountain Division was at little more than half strength, since its 139th Regiment had been left in Lapland when the division withdrew from northern Finland. The 138th Mountain Regiment was the unknown unit of 3rd Mountain shown in Maps 2 and 3.

20th Motorized was from Army Group Center's reserve.

[edit] Soviet

German relief attempts. (Notice that the order of battle given on this 1952 map is not accurate.)
German relief attempts. (Notice that the order of battle given on this 1952 map is not accurate.)
  • Kalinin Front (Maksim Alekseyevich Purkayev) engaged in the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive to the south of Velikiye Luki.
  • 3rd Shock Army (Soviet Union) (General Lieutenant Galitsky)
    • 8th Estonian Rifle Corps(General Major Pern)
    • 5th Guards Rifle Corps (General Colonel Beloborodov)
      • 357th Rifle Division (Colonel Kronik)
      • 257th Rifle Division (Colonel Dyakonov)
    • 2nd Mechanised Corps(General Colonel Korchagin)
      • 47th Motor-rifle brigade (Colonel Dremov)
    • 13th independent Guards breakthrough tank regiment (Sub-colonel Galkin) equipped with KV-1 tanks
    • 34th independent tank regiment (Sub-colonel Bogdanov) equipped with T-34 tanks
    • 38th independent tank regiment (Sub-colonel Zheleznov, after 30.12.42 Sub-colonel Khubayev) equipped with T-34 tanks
  • Long Range Aviation
    • 3rd Long-range aviation division (Colonel Yukhanov)
    • 17th Long-range aviation division (General Major of Aviation Loginov)
    • 222nd Long-range aviation division (Colonel Titov)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

  • Chadwick, Frank A. et al. (1979). White Death: Velikiye Luki, The Stalingrad of the North. Normal, Il:, game design notes, GDW (Game Designers Workshop) a board wargame that covers the battle with considerable detail. It includes notes on the battle, orders of battle for each side, and a 1:100,000 map derived from Soviet wartime situation maps.
  • Department of the Army, Historical Study Operations of Encircled Forces German Experiences in Russia, Pamphlet 20-234, Washington DC, 1952 [1]
  • Glantz, D.M., Zhukov's greatest defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 1999
  • Isayev, A.V., When there were no surprises: History of the Great Patriotic War which we never knew, Velikiye Luki operation Russian: Великолукская операция, Yauza, Eksmo, 2006 (Russian: Исаев А. В. Когда внезапности уже не было. История ВОВ, которую мы не знали. — М.: Яуза, Эксмо, 2006)
  • Webb, William A., Battle of Velikiye Luki: Surrounded in the Snow, PRIMEDIA Enthusiast Publications, Inc.(2000). [2] ". Accessed on April 21, 2005.