Lower Dnieper Offensive
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The Battle of the Dnieper was a
military campaign A military campaign is large-scale long-duration significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of interrelated military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war. The term derives from th ...
that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a front. Over four months, the eastern bank of the
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
was recovered from
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
forces by five of the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
's fronts, which conducted several assault river crossings to establish several
lodgement A lodgement or lodgment is an enclave, taken and defended by force of arms against determined opposition, made by increasing the size of a bridgehead, beachhead, or airhead into a substantial defended area, at least the rear parts of which ...
s on the western bank.
Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
was later liberated in the
Second Battle of Kiev The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...
. 2,438 Red Army soldiers were awarded the title
Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...
for their involvement.


Strategic situation

Following the
Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...
, the Wehrmachts ''Heer'' and supporting ''
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
'' forces in the southern
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
were on the defensive in
southern Ukraine Southern Ukraine (, ) refers, generally, to the territories in the South of Ukraine. The territory usually corresponds with the Soviet economical district, the Southern Economical District of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The region ...
. By mid-August,
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
understood that the forthcoming Soviet offensive could not be contained on the open steppe and ordered construction of a series of fortifications along the line of the
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
river. On the Soviet side,
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
was determined to launch a major offensive in Ukraine. The main thrust of the offensive was in a southwesterly direction; the northern flank being largely stabilized, the southern flank rested on the
Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...
.


Planning


Soviet planning

The operation began on 26 August 1943. Divisions started to move on a 1,400-kilometer front that stretched between
Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...
and the Sea of Azov. Overall, the operation would be executed by 36 Combined Arms, four Tank and five Air Armies. 2,650,000 personnel were brought into the ranks for this massive operation. The operation would use 51,000 guns and mortars, 2,400 tanks and 2,850 planes. The Dnieper is the third largest river in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, behind only the
Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
and the
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
. In its lower part, its width can easily reach three kilometres, and being dammed in several places made it even larger. Moreover, its western shore—the one still to be retaken—was much higher and steeper than the eastern, complicating the offensive even further. In addition, the opposite shore was transformed into a vast complex of defenses and
fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...
s held by the ''Wehrmacht''. Faced with such a situation, the Soviet commanders had two options. The first would be to give themselves time to regroup their forces, find a weak point or two to exploit (not necessarily in the lower part of the Dnieper), stage a breakthrough and encircle the German defenders far in the rear, rendering the defence line unsupplied and next to useless (very much like the German
Panzer {{CatAutoTOC, numerals=no Words and phrases Germanic words and phrases Words and phrases by language la:Categoria:Verba Theodisca ...
s bypassed the
Maginot line The Maginot Line (; ), named after the Minister of War (France), French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by French Third Republic, France in the 1930s to deter invas ...
in 1940). This option was supported by Marshal
Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( 189618 June 1974) was a Soviet military leader who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-ch ...
and Deputy Chief of Staff
Aleksei Antonov Aleksei Innokentievich Antonov (; 9 September 1896 – 16 June 1962) was a General of the Soviet Army, awarded the Order of Victory for his efforts in World War II. From 1945 to 1946 he was Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of th ...
, who considered the substantial losses after the Battle of Kursk. The second option would be to stage a massive assault without waiting, and force the Dnieper on a broad front. This option left no additional time for the German defenders, but would lead to much larger casualties than would a successful deep operation breakthrough. This second option was backed by Stalin due to the concern that the German "scorched earth" policy might devastate this region if the Red Army did not advance fast enough.
Stavka The ''Stavka'' ( Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка, ) is a name of the high command of the armed forces used formerly in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine. In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrat ...
(the Soviet high command) chose the second option. Instead of deep penetration and encirclement, the Soviet intended to make full use of partisan activities to intervene and disrupt Germany's supply route so that the Germans could not effectively send reinforcements or take away Soviet industrial facilities in the region. Stavka also paid high attention to the possible scorched earth activities of German forces with a view to preventing them by a rapid advance. The assault was staged on a 300-kilometer front almost simultaneously. All available means of transport were to be used to transport the attackers to the opposite shore, including small fishing boats and improvised rafts of barrels and trees (like the one in the photograph). The preparation of the crossing equipment was further complicated by the German scorched earth strategy with the total destruction of all boats and raft building material in the area. The crucial issue would obviously be heavy equipment. Without it, the
bridgehead In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over ...
s would not stand for long.


Soviet organisation

* Central Front (known as the Belorussian Front after 20 October 1943), commanded by
Konstantin Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky ( 1896 – 3 August 1968) was a Soviet and Polish general who served as a top commander in the Red Army during World War II and achieved the ranks of Marshal of the Soviet Union and Marshal of Poland. He a ...
and accounted for 579,600 soldiers (took no part in the Dnieper battle after 3 October) ** 2nd Tank Army, led by Aleksei Rodin / Semyon Bogdanov (since September) ** 9th Tank Corps, led by Hryhoriy Rudchenko (KIA), Boris Bakharov ** 60th Army, led by
Ivan Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky (; ; – 18 February 1945) was the youngest-ever Soviet General of the army. For his leadership during World War II he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union twice. He died from wounds received outside K ...
** 13th Army, led by Nikolay Pukhov ** 65th Army, led by
Pavel Batov Pavel Ivanovich Batov (; – April 19, 1985) was a senior Red Army general during the World War II, Second World War and afterwards, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Batov fought in World War I, where he was awarded the Cross of St. George twi ...
** 61st Army, led by Pavel Belov ** 48th Army, led by Prokofy Romanenko ** 70th Army, led by Ivan Galanin / Vladimir Sharapov (September – October) / Aleksei Grechkin (since October) **
16th Air Army The 16th Red Banner Air Army () was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air Force, it was from its 2002 reformation to its 2009 disbandment the tactical ...
, led by Sergei Rudenko *
Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...
(known as the
1st Ukrainian Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...
after 20 October 1943), commanded by
Nikolai Vatutin Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin (; 16 December 1901 – 15 April 1944) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military commander during World War II who was responsible for many Red Army operations in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR as th ...
and accounted for 665,500 soldiers **
3rd Guards Tank Army The 3rd Guards Tank Army () was a tank army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. The 3rd Tank Army was created in 1942 and fought in the southern areas of the Soviet Union and Poland, then in Germany and Czechoslovakia ...
, led by Pavel Rybalko ** 1st Tank Army, led by
Mikhail Katukov Marshal of Armoured Troops Mikhail Yefimovich Katukov ( – 8 June 1976) served as a commander of armored troops in the Red Army during and following World War II. He is viewed as one of the most talented Soviet armor commanders. Mikhail Kat ...
** 4th Guards Tank Corps, led by Pavel Poluboyarov ** 1st Guard Cavalry Corps, led by Viktor Baranov **
5th Guards Army The 5th Guards Army was a Soviet Guards formation which fought in many critical actions during World War II under the command of General Aleksey Semenovich Zhadov. The 5th Guards Army was formed in spring 1943 from the 66th Army in recognition o ...
, led by Aleksei Zhadov ** 4th Guards Army, led by
Grigory Kulik Grigory Ivanovich Kulik (; ; 9 November 1890 – 24 August 1950) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union who served as chief of the Red Army's Main Artillery Directorate from 1937 until June 1941. Born into a Ukrainian ...
/ Aleksei Zygin (KIA) / Ivan Galanin ** 6th Guards Army, led by Ivan Chistyakov ** 38th Army, led by Nikandr Chibisov / Kirill Moskalenko (since October) **
47th Army The 47th Army () was a field army of the Red Army during World War II, active from 1941 to 1946. History The 47th Army was formed in late July 1941 in the Transcaucasian Military District as part of the Soviet Union's border defenses with Iran. O ...
, led by Pavel Korzun / Filipp Zhmachenko (September – October) / Vitaliy Polenov (since October) ** 27th Army, led by Sergei Trofimenko ** 52nd Army, led by
Konstantin Koroteev Konstantin Apollonovich Koroteyev (; –4 January 1953) was a Soviet Army colonel general and a Hero of the Soviet Union. Early life and World War I Koroteyev was born on 25 February 1901 in the village of Shcheglovka (now in Bogodukhov) in Kh ...
** 2nd Air Army, led by Stepan Krasovsky *
Steppe Front The Steppe Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War which existed from July to October 1943. History On 9 July 1943, Stavka designated a new Reserve Front in the Voronezh region, that had been effective since 30 April.G ...
(known as the
2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943, the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. In mid-May 1944 Malinovsky took over the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During t ...
after 20 October 1943), commanded by
Ivan Konev Ivan Stepanovich Konev ( rus, Ива́н Степа́нович Ко́нев, p=ɪˈvan sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ˈkonʲɪf, links=no; 28 December 1897 – 21 May 1973) was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forc ...
* Southwestern Front (known as the 3rd Ukrainian Front after 20 October 1943), commanded by
Rodion Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky (; ; – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He served as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1957 to 1967, during which he oversaw the strengthening of the Sov ...
* Southern Front (known as the 4th Ukrainian Front after 20 October 1943), commanded by
Fyodor Tolbukhin Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (; 16 June 1894 – 17 October 1949) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is regarded as one of the finest Soviet generals of World War II. Born into a peasant family i ...


German planning

The order to construct the Dnieper defence complex, known as "Ostwall" or "Eastern Wall", was issued on 11 August 1943 and immediately began to be executed. Fortifications were erected along the length of the Dnieper. However, there was no hope of completing such an extensive defensive line in the short time available. Therefore, the completion of the "Eastern Wall" was not uniform in its density and depth of fortifications. Instead, they were concentrated in areas where a Soviet assault-crossing were most likely to be attempted, such as near
Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...
,
Zaporizhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a population of ...
and Nikopol. Additionally, on 7 September 1943, the SS forces and the Wehrmacht received orders to implement a
scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...
policy, by stripping the areas they had to abandon of anything that could be used by the Soviet war effort.


German organisation

*
Luftflotte 2 __NOTOC__ ''Luftflotte'' 2For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit designation see Luftwaffe Organisation (Air Fleet 2) was one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. It was formed 1 February 1939 in Braunsc ...
(selected units)Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen * (in Ukraine)
Army Group South Army Group South () was the name of one 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 South was led by Ge ...
Erich von Manstein Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein (born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski; 24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a Germans, German Officer (armed forces), military officer of Poles (people), Polish descent who served as a ''Generalfeld ...
**
4th Panzer Army The 4th Panzer Army (), operating as Panzer Group 4 () from its formation on 15 February 1941 to 1 January 1942, was a German panzer formation during World War II. As a key armoured component of the Wehrmacht, the army took part in the crucial ...
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 th ...
**
1st Panzer Army The 1st Panzer Army () was a German tank army that was a large armoured formation of the Wehrmacht during World War II. When originally formed on 1 March 1940, the predecessor of the 1st Panzer Army was named Panzer Group Kleist (''Panzergruppe ...
Eberhard von Mackensen ** 8th ArmyOtto Wohler ** 6th ArmyKarl-Adolf Hollidt (transferred to Army Group A control) **
Luftflotte 4 ''Luftflotte'' 4For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit designation see Luftwaffe Organisation (Air Fleet 4) was one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. It was formed on 18 March 1939, from Luftwaffenkomm ...
Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen / Otto Deßloch (since September) * (in Crimea)
Army Group A Army Group A () was the name of three distinct army groups of the ''German Army (1935–1945), Heer'', the ground forces of the ''Wehrmacht'', during World War II. The first Army Group A, previously known as "Army Group South", was active from Oct ...
Ewald von Kleist *
Army Group Center Army Group Centre () was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the So ...
Günther von Kluge Günther Adolf Ferdinand von Kluge (30 October 1882 – 19 August 1944) was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) during World War II who held commands on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, until his suicide in connection with ...
** 2nd Army
Walter Weiß Walter Weiß, also spelt Weiss (5 September 1890 – 21 December 1967), was a German general during World War II. In 1945 he became commander in chief of Army Group North on the Eastern Front. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iro ...
(took no part in the Dnieper battle after 3 October)


Description of the strategic operation


Initial attack

Despite a great superiority in numbers, the offensive was by no means easy. German opposition was ferocious and the fighting raged for every town and city. The ''Wehrmacht'' made extensive use of
rear guard A rearguard or rear security is a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear, either during an advance or withdrawal. The term can also be used to describe forces protecting lines, such as communication lines, behind an ...
s, leaving some troops in each city and on each hill, slowing the Soviet offensive.


Progress of the offensive

Three weeks after the start of the offensive, and despite heavy losses on the Soviet side, it became clear that the Germans could not hope to contain the Soviet offensive in the flat, open terrain of the steppes, where the Red Army's numerical strength would prevail. Manstein asked for as many as 12 new divisions in the hope of containing the Soviet offensive – but German reserves were perilously thin. On 15 September 1943, Hitler ordered Army Group South to retreat to the Dnieper defence line. The battle for
Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...
was especially bitter. The city was heavily fortified and its garrison well prepared. After a few inconclusive days that greatly slowed down the Soviet offensive, Marshal Konev decided to bypass the city and rush towards the Dnieper. After two days of violent
urban warfare Urban warfare is warfare in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both Military operation, operational and the Military tactics, tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the p ...
, the Poltava garrison was overcome. Towards the end of September 1943, Soviet forces reached the lower part of the Dnieper.


Dnieper airborne operation

(The following is, largely, a synopsis of an account by Glantz with support from an account by Staskov.) Stavka detached the Central Front's 3rd Tank Army to the
Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...
to race the weakening Germans to the Dnieper, to save the wheat crop from the German scorched earth policy, and to achieve strategic or operational river bridgeheads before a German defence could stabilize there. The 3rd Tank Army, plunging headlong, reached the river on the night of 21–22 September and, on 23 September, Soviet infantry forces crossed by swimming and by using makeshift rafts to secure small, fragile bridgeheads, opposed only by 120 German Cherkassy flak academy NCO candidates and the hard-pressed 19th Panzer Division Reconnaissance Battalion. Those forces were the only Germans within 60 km of the Dnieper loop. Only a heavy German air attack and a lack of bridging equipment kept Soviet heavy weaponry from crossing and expanding the bridgehead. The Soviets, sensing a critical juncture, ordered a hasty airborne corps assault to increase the size of the bridgehead before the Germans could counterattack. On 21 September, the Voronezh Front's 1st, 3rd and 5th Guards Airborne Brigades got the urgent call to secure, on 23 September, a bridgehead perimeter 15 to 20 km wide and 30 km deep on the Dnieper loop between Kaniv and Rzhishchev, while Front elements forced the river. The arrival of personnel at the airfields was slow, necessitating, on 23 September, a one-day delay and omission of 1st Brigade from the plan; consequent mission changes caused near chaos in command channels. Mission change orders finally got down to company commanders, on the 24 September, just 15 minutes before their units, not yet provisioned with spades, anti-tank mines, or ponchos for the autumn night frosts, assembled on airfields. Owing to the weather, not all assigned aircraft had arrived at airfields on time (if at all). Further, most flight safety officers disallowed maximum loading of their aircraft. Given fewer aircraft (and lower than expected capacities), the master loading plan, ruined, was abandoned. Many radios and supplies got left behind. In the best case, it would take three lifts to deliver the two brigades. Units (still arriving by the overtaxed rail system), were loaded piecemeal onto returned aircraft, which were slow to refuel owing to the less-than-expected capacities of fuel trucks. Meanwhile, already-arrived troops changed planes, seeking earlier flights. Urgency and the fuel shortage prevented aerial assembly aloft. Most aircraft, as soon as they were loaded and fueled, flew in single file, instead of line abreast, to the dropping points. Assault waves became as intermingled as the units they carried. As corps elements made their flights, troops (half of whom had never jumped, except from training towers) were briefed on drop zones, assembly areas and objectives only poorly understood by platoon commanders still studying new orders. Meanwhile, Soviet aerial photography, suspended for several days by bad weather, had missed the strong reinforcement of the area, early that afternoon. Non-combat cargo pilots ferrying 3rd Brigade through drizzle expected no resistance beyond river pickets but, instead, were met by anti-aircraft fire and flares from the 19th Panzer Division (only coincidentally transiting the drop zone, and just one of six divisions and other formations ordered, on the 21st, to fill the gap in front of the 3rd Tank Army). Lead aircraft, disgorging
paratrooper A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...
s over Dubari at 1930h, came under fire from elements of the 73rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment and division staff of 19th Panzer Division. Some paratroopers began returning fire and throwing grenades even before landing; trailing aircraft accelerated, climbed and evaded, dropping wide. Through the night, some pilots avoided flare-lit drop points entirely, and 13 aircraft returned to airfields without having dropped at all. Intending a 10 by 14 km drop over largely undefended terrain, the Soviets instead achieved a 30 by 90 km drop over the fastest mobile elements of two German corps. On the ground, the Germans used white parachutes as beacons to hunt down and kill disorganized groups and to gather and destroy airdropped supplies. Supply bonfires, glowing embers, and multi-color starshells illuminated the battlefield. Captured documents gave the Germans enough knowledge of Soviet objectives to arrive at most of them before the disorganized paratroopers. Back at the Soviet airfields, the fuel shortage allowed only 298 of 500 planned sorties, leaving corps anti-tank guns and 2,017 paratroops undelivered. Of 4,575 men dropped (seventy percent of the planned number, and just 1,525 from 5th Brigade), some 2,300 eventually assembled into 43 ad hoc groups, with missions abandoned as hopeless, and spent most of their time seeking supplies not yet destroyed by the Germans. Others joined with the nine
partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...
groups operating in the area. About 230 made it over (or out of) the Dnieper to Front units (or were originally dropped there). Most of the rest were captured that first night or killed the next day (although, on that first night, the 3rd Co, 73rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment, suffered heavy losses while annihilating about 150 paratroopers near Grushevo, some 3 km west of Dubari). The Germans underestimated that 1,500 to 2,000 had dropped; they recorded 901 paratroops captured and killed in the first 24 hours. Thereafter, they largely ignored the Soviet paratroopers, to counterattack and truncate the Dnieper bridgeheads. The Germans deemed their anti-paratrooper operations completed by the 26th, although a modicum of opportunistic actions against garrisons, rail lines, and columns were conducted by remnants up to early November. For a lack of manpower to clear all areas, fighters in the area's forests would remain a minor threat. The Germans called the operation a fundamentally sound idea ruined by the dilettantism of planners lacking expert knowledge (but praised individual paratroopers for their tenacity, bayonet skills, and deft use of broken ground in the sparsely wooded northern region). Stavka deemed this second (and, ultimately, last) corps drop a complete failure; lessons they knew they had already learned from their winter offensive corps drop at Viazma had not stuck. They would never trust themselves to try it again. Soviet 5th Guards Airborne Brigade commander Sidorchuk, withdrawing to the forests south, eventually amassed a brigade-size command, half paratroops, half partisans; he obtained air supply, and assisted the 2nd Ukrainian Front over the Dnieper near Cherkassy to finally link up with Front forces on 15 November. After 13 more days of combat, the airborne element was evacuated, ending a harrowing two months. More than sixty percent never returned.


Assaulting the Dnieper

The first bridgehead on the Dnieper's western shore was established on 22 September 1943 at the confluence of the Dnieper and
Pripyat Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is an abandoned industrial city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat (river), Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth ''atomgrad'' ...
rivers, in the northern part of the front. On 24 September, another bridgehead was created near Dniprodzerzhynsk, another on 25 September near
Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...
and yet another on 28 September near Kremenchuk. By the end of the month, 23 bridgeheads were created on the western side, some of them 10 kilometers wide and 1–2 kilometres deep. The crossing of the Dnieper was extremely difficult. Soldiers used every available floating device to cross the river, under heavy German fire and taking heavy losses. Once across, Soviet troops had to dig themselves into the clay ravines composing the Dnieper's western bank.


Securing the lodgements

German troops soon launched heavy
counterattack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "Military exercise, war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objecti ...
s on almost every bridgehead, hoping to annihilate them before heavy equipment could be transported across the river. For instance, the Borodaevsk lodgement, mentioned by Marshal Konev in his memoirs, came under heavy armored attack and air assault. Bombers attacked both the lodgement and the reinforcements crossing the river. Konev complained at once about a lack of organization of Soviet air support, set up air patrols to prevent bombers from approaching the lodgements and ordered forward more artillery to counter tank attacks from the opposite shore. When Soviet aviation became more organized and hundreds of guns and
Katyusha rocket launcher The Katyusha ( rus, Катю́ша, p=kɐˈtʲuʂə, a=Ru-Катюша.ogg) is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver explosives to a target area m ...
s began firing, the situation started to improve and the bridgehead was eventually preserved. Such battles were commonplace on every lodgement. Although all the lodgements were held, losses were terrible – at the beginning of October, most divisions were at only 25 to 50% of their nominal strength.


Lower Dnieper offensive

By mid-October, the forces accumulated on the lower Dnieper bridgeheads were strong enough to stage a first massive attack to definitely secure the river's western shore in the southern part of the front. Therefore, a vigorous attack was staged on the Kremenchuk-Dnipropetrovsk line. Simultaneously, a major diversion was conducted in the south to draw German forces away both from the Lower Dnieper and from Kiev. At the end of the offensive, Soviet forces controlled a bridgehead 300 kilometers wide and up to 80 kilometers deep in some places. In the south, the Crimea was now cut off from the rest of the German forces. Any hope of stopping the Red Army on the Dnieper's east bank was lost.


Outcomes

The Battle of the Dnieper was another defeat for the ''Wehrmacht'' that required it to restabilize the front further west. The Red Army, which Hitler hoped to contain at the Dnieper, forced the ''Wehrmacht''s defences. Kiev was recaptured and German troops lacked the forces to annihilate Soviet troops on the Lower Dnieper bridgeheads. The west bank was still in German hands for the most part, but both sides knew that it would not last for long. Additionally, the Battle of the Dnieper demonstrated the strength of the Soviet partisan movement. The Rail War operation staged during September and October 1943 struck German logistics very hard, creating heavy supply issues. Incidentally, between 28 November and 1 December 1943 the
Tehran conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...
was held between
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
,
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
, and Stalin. The Battle of the Dnieper, along with other major offensives staged in 1943, certainly gave Stalin a dominant position for negotiating with his Allies. The Soviet success during this battle created the conditions for the follow-up Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive on the
right-bank Ukraine The Right-bank Ukraine is a historical and territorial name for a part of modern Ukraine on the right (west) bank of the Dnieper River, corresponding to the modern-day oblasts of Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, as well as the western parts o ...
, which was launched on 24 December 1943 from a bridgehead west of
Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
that was secured during this battle.Грылев А.Н. Днепр-Карпаты-Крым. Освобождение Правобережной Украины и Крыма в 1944 году. Москва: Наука, 1970, p. 19. The offensive brought the Red Army from the Dnieper all the way to Galicia (
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
),
Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...
and
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, with
Army Group South Army Group South () was the name of one 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 South was led by Ge ...
being split into two parts- north and south of Carpathians.


Soviet operational phases

From a Soviet operational point of view, the battle was broken down into a number of different phases and offensives. The first phase of the battle : * Chernigov-Poltava Strategic Offensive 26 August 1943 – 30 September 1943 (Central, Voronezh and Steppe fronts) : Chernigov-Pripyat Offensive 26 August – 30 September 1943 : Sumy–Priluky Offensive 26 August – 30 September 1943 : Poltava-Kremenchug Offensive 26 August – 30 September 1943 * Donbass Strategic Offensive 13 August – 22 September 1943 (Southwestern and Southern fronts) * Dnieper airborne assault 24 September – 24 November 1943 The second phase of the operation includes : * Lower Dnieper Offensive 26 September – 20 December 1943 : Melitopol Offensive 26 September – 5 November 1943 : Zaporizhia Offensive 10–14 October 1943 : Kremenchug-Pyatikhatki Offensive 15 October – 3 November 1943 : Dnepropetrovsk Offensive 23 October – 23 December 1943 : Krivoi Rog Offensive 14–21 November 1943 : Apostolovo Offensive 14 November – 23 December 1943 : Nikopol Offensive 14 November – 31 December 1943 : Aleksandriia-Znamenka Offensive 22 November – 9 December 1943 : Krivoi Rog Offensive 10–19 December 1943 * Kiev Strategic Offensive Operation (October) (1–24 October 1943) :Chernobyl-Radomysl Offensive Operation (1–4 October 1943) :Chernobyl-Gornostaipol Defensive Operation (3–8 October 1943) :Lyutezh Offensive Operation (11–24 October 1943) :Bukrin Offensive Operation (12–15 October 1943) :Bukrin Offensive Operation (21–24 October 1943) * Kiev Strategic Offensive 3–13 November 1943 :Rauss' November 1943 counterattack * Kiev Strategic Defensive 13 November – 22 December 1943


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House, ''When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army stopped Hitler'', University Press of Kansas, 1995 * Nikolai Shefov, ''Russian fights'', Lib. Military History, Moscow, 2002 * ''History of Great Patriotic War'', 1941–1945. Moscow, 1963 * John Erickson, ''Barbarossa: The Axis and the Allies'', Edinburgh University Press, 1994 * Harrison, Richard. (2018) ''The Battle of the Dnepr: The Red Army's Forcing of the East Wall, September–December 1943''. Helion and Company. * Marshal Konev, ''Notes of a front commander'', Science, Moscow, 1972. *
Erich von Manstein Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein (born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski; 24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a Germans, German Officer (armed forces), military officer of Poles (people), Polish descent who served as a ''Generalfeld ...
, ''Lost Victories'', Moscow, 1957. {{World War II
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
1943 in Ukraine
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
1943 in the Soviet Union
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...