Tallinn Offensive Operation

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Tallinn Offensive Operation
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Date September 17, 1944 – September 26, 1944
Location Estonia
Result Soviet Victory
Belligerents
Nazi Germany Flag of the Soviet Union Soviet Union
Commanders
Ferdinand Schoerner Flag of the Soviet UnionLeonid Govorov
Ivan Maslennikov

The Tallinn Offensive Operation (Russian: Таллинская наступательная операция) was a Soviet offensive against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front during World War II. It culminated in the taking of Tallinn (German: Reval), the capital of Estonia, by Soviet forces on September 22, 1944.


Contents

[edit] Prelude

Soviet forces had advanced towards the Baltic Sea coast at the end of their highly successful Belorussian Strategic Offensive (codenamed Operation Bagration) of June-August 1944 against the German Army Group Centre. In the north, the attacks of the Leningrad Front had pushed Army Group North to the west of Lake Peipus, resulting in a series of defensive battles by German forces (the Battle of Narva (1944)).

The Baltic Strategic Offensive Operation, of which the Tallinn operation was a part, was designed to finally eliminate Army Group North's positions along the Baltic coastline.

[edit] Deployments

[edit] Red Army

Elements of:

[edit] Wehrmacht

[edit] The offensive

The Riga Offensive Operation opened on September 14, with a massive attack by all three Soviet Baltic Fronts.[1] The north-eastern wing of this force, Maslennikov's 3rd Baltic Front, directed its greatest power against the German Eighteenth Army's XXVIII Corps.[1] The front began to collapse in the vicinity of Tartu / Dorpat; Schoerner was only able to temporarily stabilise Eighteenth Army's lines at Võrtsjärv by rushing every available unit into defence.

Army Detachment Narva, the northernmost element of Army Group North, was at risk of being encircled and destroyed by the Leningrad Front's 8th and 2nd Shock Armies;[1]the latter formation broke through and took Tartu on September 17.[2] The Eighteenth Army was similarly threatened to the south. Holding an extended front in the face of intense Soviet pressure, Schoerner decided to evacuate his forces from Estonia entirely; the withdrawal was codenamed Operation Aster. Beginning on September 17, a naval force under Vice-Admiral Theodor Buchardi began evacuating elements of the German formations along with some civilians; within six days around 50,000 troops, 20,000 civilians and 1,000 prisoners had been removed.[3] The remaining elements of Army Group North in Estonia were ordered to withdraw into Latvia by way of Pärnu / Pernau; the III SS (Germanic) Panzer Corps reached the town by September 20, while the II Corps retreated south to form Eighteenth Army's rearguard.[3] As they retreated, Soviet forces advanced.

Tallinn was taken by Soviet forces on September 22, and the Tallinn Offensive is recorded as officially ending four days later. By September 24, the Soviets had demolished the harbour at Haapsaalu, the Germans evacuating Vormsi island, just off the coast, on the following day.[4] The 8th Army of the Leningrad Front went on to take the remainingislands off the Estonian coast in the Moonzund Landing Operation, an amphibious attack.

[edit] Aftermath

The remainder of the Baltic Offensive saw Army Group North driven into the Courland Pocket, where they remained until the end of the war.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Mitcham, p.146
  2. ^ Mitcham, p.148
  3. ^ a b Mitcham, p.149
  4. ^ See Vercamer

[edit] References