Harrison, Richard (Hrsg.) Rollback

The Red Army's Winter Offensive along the Southwestern Strategic Direction 1942-43

The book covers the period from mid-December 1942 to mid-February 1943, one of the most critical phases of the war on the Eastern Front. After encircling an entire German army in Stalingrad, the Soviets attempted to exploit the broken Axis front in southern Russia in order to destroy the Italian and Hungarian allies of the Germans and liberate the economically important areas of eastern Ukraine. This study is based on a series of articles from the war and post-war periods published by the Directorate of War History Research of the General Staff. It also includes documents on the operational and strategic execution of the various operations, which were compiled and published after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Several articles deal with the preparation and execution of Operation Middle Don by the Southwestern Front in December 1942. Originally planned as an ambitious offensive to cut off German troops in the North Caucasus by advancing on Rostov, the operation was later reoriented to counter the threat posed by German efforts to relieve Stalingrad. The offensive not only achieved its goal of repelling the German attack and thus destroying the Stalingrad garrison, but also destroyed the Italian army in the east. The Soviet Voronezh Front then advanced further up the Don River and, in Operation Ostrogozhsk-Rossosh', destroyed the remaining Italian forces in the area as well as the Hungarian army. This enabled the Red Army to capture Kharkov and advance almost to the Dnieper River by mid-February, before being repelled by a skilful German counteroffensive. The territorial gains of this operation paved the way for the subsequent Voronezh-Kastornoye Operation, which enabled the Soviets to advance as far as Kursk before exhaustion and growing German resistance brought the offensive to a halt. Further south, the Soviets succeeded in capturing Voroshilovgrad and advancing into the industrial Donets Basin. The book also includes a detailed Soviet study of the use of tank and mechanised corps during the campaign. The conclusions drawn here had a direct influence on the restructuring of the Red Army's tank armies in time for the summer campaign of 1943.