Battle of the Dukla Pass

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Battle of the Dukla Pass
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Date September 1944 – October 1944
Location Dukla Pass, present-day Slovakia – Poland border
Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Germany Soviet Union

Czechoslovakia
Commanders
Gotthard Heinrici Ivan Konev
Andrei Grechko
Kirill Moskalenko
Ludvík Svoboda
Strength
100 000 soldiers
2000 artillery pieces
350 tanks		 120 000 - 150 000 Soviet soldiers
16 700 Czechoslovak soldiers
1 517 artillery pieces
1 724 mortars
1 000 tanks
Casualties and losses
20 000[1] - 70 000 20 000[1] - 21 000 dead
80 000[1] - 123 000 total (Soviet)
6 500 Czechoslovak
v • d • e
Eastern Front
One of memorials of the Dukla Pass battle of 1944. This one commemorates a major tank battle in the Death Valley
One of memorials of the Dukla Pass battle of 1944. This one commemorates a major tank battle in the Death Valley

Battle of the Dukla Pass, also known as the Dukla / Carpatho-Dukla / Rzeszów-Dukla / Dukla-Prešov Offensive or Operation was the scene of bitterly contested battle for the Dukla Pass (borderland between Poland and Slovakia) on the Eastern Front of World War II between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union in September-October 1944.

German resistance was much harder then expected. The battle which began on September 8 would not see the Soviet forces on the other side of the pass until 6 October, and German forces would stop their heavy resistance in the region only around October 10. Five days to Presov turned into fifty days to Svidnik alone with over 200,000 casualties on both sides. Presov that was to be reached in six days remained beyond the Czechoslovaks' grasp for four months.[2] The battle would be counted among one of the most bloody in the entire Eastern Front and in the history of Slovakia;[3] one of the valleys in the pass near villages of Kapisova, Chyrowa, Iwla and Głojsce would become known as the Valley of Death.[1]

Contents

[edit] Background

In summer 1944 Slovaks rebelled against the Nazis and the Czechoslovak government appealed to Soviets for help. On 31 August Soviet marshal Ivan Konev was ordered to prepare plans for an offensive to destroy Nazi forces in Slovakia. The plan was to push through the old Slovak-Polish border in the Carpathian Mountains via the Dukla Pass near Svidnik to penetrate into Slovakia proper.[4]

The Germans however had in the meantime, fortified the region, forming the Karpatenfestung or Arpad line.

[edit] The battle

The Soviet operation plan called for the Soviet forces to cross the pass and capture the town of Presov within five days.[5]

The operation started on September 8. It took the Soviets three days to take Krosno (it was captured on 11 September). One of the biggest battles in the pass took place on and around Hill 534 in the northwest from the town of Dukla; the battle to capture this hill lasted from 10th September to 20th September 1944 and during that period the control of the hill changed more than 20 times.[5] The town of Dukla was seized on 21st September 1944.[5] The area of the former Czechoslovakian state border, heavily fortified by the Germans, was captured on 6th October 1944; thus it took almost a month for the Soviet forces to reach Slovakia.[5]

The Dukla operation did not end when the Soviets forced the pass. The combat zone shifted to Eastern Slovakia, with Soviet forces trying to outflank and push back the German forces, still strong and having many fortified positions. South of the pass and directly west of the village of Dobraslava lies an area which has come to be known as the "Valley of Death." Here Soviet and German armor clashed in a miniature reenactment of the great tank battle of Kursk.[1] Soviet and Czechoslovak forces would enter Svidnik on 28 October.[1] A major German fortified position near the pass, Hill 532 “Obšár”, would be secured as late as on 25th November 1944.[5]

[edit] Aftermath

The Slovak National Uprising was mostly crushed by the time Soviet units secured Slovak territories; one of the main reasons for it was that the German resistance in the Dukla Pass was much heavier than expected. Another factor was that the Slovak insurgent forces failed to secure the other side of the pass, as planned by the Slovak and Soviet commanders during early preparations.[4]

The Soviet delay and eventual failure in providing support for the insurgents led to the accusations that it was deliberate, just as in the case of the Warsaw Uprising - that Stalin wanted to weaken the Czechoslovak forces to facilitate the eventual Soviet takeover of that country.[1]

In 1949, the Czechoslovak government erected a memorial and cemetery southeast of the Dukla border crossing, in Vysny Komarnik, Slovakia's first liberated village. It contains the graves of several hundred Russian and Czechoslovak soldiers. Several other memorials and cemeteries have also been erected in the region.[4]

[edit] Order of battle

Soviets:

Germans:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g THE CARPATHO-DUKLA OPERATION
  2. ^ Vladimir Baumgarten, GENERAL LUDVIK SVOBODA: COMMANDER OF THE 1ST CZECHOSLOVAK ARMY CORPS
  3. ^ BATTLE OF THE DUKLA PASS LECTURE
  4. ^ a b c Battle for Dukla Pass
  5. ^ a b c d e FACTS ABOUT CARPHATIAN – DUKLA´S OPERATION

[edit] References

  • Andrusikiewicz J., Boje o Przełęcz Dukielską (w:) „Wierchy” t. 37, Kraków 1968
  • Grzywacz-Świtalski Ł., Z walk na Podkarpaciu, Warszawa 1971
  • Luboński P., Operacja dukielsko-preszowska (w:) Magury’ 83, Warszawa 1983
  • Michalak J., Dukla i okolice, Krosno 1996

[edit] External links