The Battle of Voronezh, or First Battle of Voronezh, was a battle on the
Eastern Front of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, fought in and around the strategically important city of
Voronezh
Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on ...
on the
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
river, south of Moscow, from 28 June-24 July 1942, as opening move of the
German summer offensive in 1942.
Battle
The German attack had two objectives. One was to seed confusion about the ultimate goals of the overall campaign. There was widespread feeling by almost all observers, especially Soviet high command, that the Germans would reopen their attack on Moscow that summer. By strongly attacking toward Voronezh, near the site of the German's deepest penetration the year before, it would hide the nature of the real action taking place far to the south. Soviet forces sent to the area to shore up the defenses would not be able to move with the same speed as the Germans, who would then turn south and leave them behind. The other purpose was to provide an easily defended front line along the river, providing a strong left flank that could be protected with relatively light forces.
The plan involved forces of
Army Group South
Army Group South (german: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of three German Army Groups during World War II.
It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland Army Group So ...
, at this time far north of their ultimate area of responsibility. The attack would be spearheaded by the
4th Panzer Army
The 4th Panzer Army (german: 4. Panzerarmee) (operating as Panzer Group 4 (german: 4. Panzergruppe) from its formation on 15 February 1941 to 1 January 1942, when it was redesignated as a full army) was a German panzer formation during World War ...
under the command of General
Hermann Hoth
Hermann Hoth (12 April 1885 – 25 January 1971) was a German army commander, war criminal, and author. He served as a high-ranking panzer commander in the Wehrmacht during World War II, playing a prominent role in the Battle of France and on t ...
. Hoth's highly mobile forces would move rapidly eastward to Voronezh and then turn southeast to follow the Don to
Stalingrad. As the 4th moved out of the city, the slower infantry forces of the Second Army following behind them would take up defensive positions along the river. The plan called for the 2nd to arrive just as the 4th had cleared the city, and Hoth was under orders to avoid any street-to-street fighting that might bog down their progress.
The city was defended by the troops of the
40th Army as part of the
Valuiki-Rossosh Defensive Operation (28 June-24 July 1942) of General of Army
Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin
Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin (russian: Никола́й Фёдорович Вату́тин; 16 December 1901 – 15 April 1944) was a Soviet military commander during World War II. Vatutin was responsible for many Red Army operations in Ukraine ...
's
Southwestern Front. Hoth's powerful armored forces moved forward with little delay and the only natural barrier before the city was the Devitsa River, an arm of the Don running through
Semiluki, a short distance to the west. For reasons that are unclear, the bridge over the Devitsa was not destroyed, and Hoth's forces were able to sweep aside the defensive forces placed there and reach the outskirts of Voronezh on 7 July. Soviet forces then mounted a successful counterattack that tied up Hoth's forces.
[Fuller, J.F.C. ''A Military History of the World: Vol III'', p. 522 ]
At this point they should have been relieved by the infantry forces, but they were still far from the city. Intense house-to-house fighting broke out, and Hoth continued to push forward while he waited. At one point the 3rd Motorized Division broke across the Don, but turned back. The Soviet command poured reserves into the city and a situation not unlike what would be seen at Stalingrad a few months later broke out, with the German troops clearing the city street by street with
flamethrowers while tanks gave fire support.
The 2nd did not arrive for another two days, by which time the 4th was heavily engaged and took some time to remove from the line. The 2nd continued the battle until 24 July, when the final Soviet forces west of the Don were defeated and the fighting ended.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
later came to believe that these two days, when combined with other avoidable delays on the drive south, allowed Marshal
Semyon Timoshenko
Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko (russian: link=no, Семён Константи́нович Тимоше́нко, ''Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko''; uk, Семе́н Костянти́нович Тимоше́нко, ''Semen Kostiantyno ...
to reinforce the forces in
Stalingrad before the 4th Panzer Army could arrive to allow taking of Stalingrad.
The Soviet forces recaptured the city in the
Battle of Voronezh of 1943.
References
;Sources
*Glantz, David M. & House, Jonathan (1995), ''When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler'', Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voronezh 1942
Conflicts in 1942
1942 in the Soviet Union
Battles involving the Soviet Union
Battles of World War II involving Germany
Battles of World War II involving Hungary
Battles and operations of the Soviet–German War
June 1942 events
July 1942 events