Battle of Rostov (1941)

Last updated

Battle of Rostov (1941)
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Battle of Rostov.jpeg
Soviet troops fighting in Rostov
Date17 November–2 December 1941
(2 weeks and 1 day)
Location
Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg  Soviet Union Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg  Germany
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania
Flag of First Slovak Republic 1939-1945.svg Slovakia
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Yakov Cherevichenko
Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Anton Lopatin
Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg Gerd von Rundstedt
Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg Walther von Reichenau
Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg Ewald von Kleist
Strength

Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Southern Front

Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg Army Group South

Casualties and losses
33,000
(17 November–2 December) [1] (including 27,000 combat casuaties)
Per German medical data only (incomplete data and excluding non-combat casualties): 1,141 killed
5,118 wounded
251 missing
Total: 6,510
(11 November–30 November) [2]
The eastern front at the time of the Battle of Rostov. Eastern Front 1941-06 to 1941-12.png
The eastern front at the time of the Battle of Rostov.

The Battle of Rostov (1941) took place on the Eastern Front of World War II around Rostov-on-Don and was fought between Army Group South of Nazi Germany and the Southern Front of the Soviet Union.

Contents

The battle comprised three phases: the German Sea of Azov Offensive Operation by Army Group South (General Gerd von Rundstedt) (begun on 12 September 1941), [3] the Soviet Rostov Defensive Operation (5 November 1941 – 16 November 1941) by the Southern Front (General Yakov Timofeyevich Cherevichenko), and the Rostov Offensive Operation (27 November 1941 – 2 December 1941) executed by the same Soviet Front.

After forcing their way across the Mius River on 17 November, the German forces captured 10,000 Soviet troops and took Rostov on 21 November. Six days later the Southern Front, reinforced with the newly raised 37th Army, counterattacked from the north and threatened to surround the overstretched German III Motorized Army Corps. Rundstedt then ordered a retreat to the Mius line from Rostov to prevent the encirclement. The Red Army retook Rostov on 28 November. It was the first successful major Soviet counteroffensive of the war. Hitler fired von Rundstedt on 1 December. Rundstedt's successor Walther von Reichenau confirmed the retreat order with the backing of the Army High Command Chief of Staff Franz Halder and Hitler relented (details here).

Prelude

After concluding the Battle of Kiev in September 1941, the German Army Group South advanced from the Dniepr River to the Sea of Azov coast. Walther von Reichenau's 6th Army captured Kharkov in the First Battle of Kharkov. Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel's 17th Army advanced through Poltava towards Voroshilovgrad. Erich von Manstein's 11th Army moved into the Crimean Peninsula and took control of all of the peninsula by autumn (except Sevastopol, which held out until 3 July 1942).

Ewald von Kleist's 1st Panzer Army advanced from Kiev, and encircled Soviet troops at Melitopol in October, then attacked east along the shore of the Sea of Azov toward Rostov at the mouth of the Don River, known as the gateway to the Caucasus.

Sea of Azov Offensive Operation

Rostov was assigned as the objective for the 11th Army now commanded by General Eugen Ritter von Schobert, however he died in a crash on the same day after landing his liaison aircraft in a minefield. [3] To replace him, Manstein was ordered to travel from the Leningrad sector of the front to the extreme southern sector. He would also receive support from the 4th Luftwaffe Air Fleet.

At this time the LIVth Army Corps of the 11th Army was still engaged in Crimea, and because the Romanian forces were still engaged in the Siege of Odessa, the Army's resources for the Rostov objective were severely limited even against retreating Red Army troops. Therefore, Manstein initially replaced the LIV Corps with the smaller XXXth Army Corps and XLIXth Mountain Corps and ordered the LIV Corps into the first echelon in the advance to Rostov.

Late in September, the Romanian 3rd Army joined the 11th Army in its advance towards Rostov, but was severely depleted by the attacks of the Soviet 9th and 18th Armies on 26 September. This forced a halt to the Army's advance to safeguard its flank and forced Manstein to use his only mobile reserve unit, the Leibstandarte Brigade to shore up Romanian defenses. [4]

Rostov Defensive Operation

The Soviet counter-attack delivered as part of the general Donbas–Rostov strategic defensive operation (29 September 1941 – 16 November 1941) also forced Rundstedt's Army Group South to order his 1st Panzer Army to manoeuvre in order to be better placed to counter any further Soviet thrusts in the Romanian sector of the front, and also to attempt an encirclement of the two Soviet Armies, which was partly successful in the area of Chernigovka where on 8 October the commander of the 18th Soviet Army, General-Lieutenant A.K. Smirnov, was killed by artillery fire on his command post in the village of Popovka [5] during the breakout attempt [4] between 5 and 10 October 1941. This was interpreted by Hitler as such a success that he declared "The battle of the Sea of Azov is over" on 11 October before the troops had even reached their objective. [6] As a commemorative gesture, Hitler issued the order to redesignate the Leibstandarte Brigade as SS Division Leibstandarte.

The German 11th Army was ordered back to Crimea to effect the breakthrough of the Isthmus of Perekop.

Perceiving that the way to Rostov and the Caucasus was open, Hitler issued an order transferring the objective from the 11th Army to the 1st Panzer Army and attaching to it the ill-prepared Romanian 3rd Army, the Italian Alpine Corps, and the Slovakian Motorised Brigade.

During the subsequent reorganisation of Axis forces the III Panzer Corps and XIV Panzer Corps took the lead, supported by the XLIX Mountain Corps recently arrived from Crimea.

Column of German Panzer III tanks in Rostov, November 1941. Wkroczenie wojsk niemieckich do Rostowa (2-914).jpg
Column of German Panzer III tanks in Rostov, November 1941.

By 17 October 1941 the Mius River was crossed by the 14th Panzer Division and Taganrog was captured by German troops, with the mountain troops entering Stalino, forcing the newly formed 12th Army into a renewed withdrawal. However, the autumn rains had begun, and the Rasputitsa ("roadlessness") had set in slowing the 1st Panzer Army's advance to "meter by meter". [7] This meant that the leading German units did not reach the outskirts of Rostov until mid-November, having lost contact with the Red Army in the meantime. [8]

The assault on Rostov began on 17 November, and on 21 November the Germans took the city. However, the German lines were over-extended, and Kleist's warnings that his left flank was vulnerable and that his tanks were ineffective in the freezing weather were ignored.

Rostov Offensive Operation

On 27 November the 37th Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Anton Ivanovich Lopatin, as part of the Rostov Strategic Offensive Operation (17 November 1941 – 2 December 1941), counter-attacked the 1st Panzer Army's spearhead from the north, forcing them to pull out of the city. Adolf Hitler countermanded the retreat. When Rundstedt refused to obey, Hitler sacked him, and replaced him with Reichenau. However, Reichenau saw at once that Rundstedt was right and succeeded in persuading Hitler, via Franz Halder, to authorise the withdrawal, [9] and the 1st Panzer Army was forced back to the Mius River at Taganrog. It was the first significant German withdrawal of the war.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerd von Rundstedt</span> German field marshal (1875–1953)

Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt was a German Generalfeldmarschall in the Heer (Army) of Nazi Germany during World War II. Born into a Prussian family with a long military tradition, von Rundstedt entered the Prussian Army in 1892. During World War I, he served mainly as a staff officer. In the interwar period, he continued his military career, reaching the rank of Colonel General before retiring in 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erich von Manstein</span> German field marshal (1887–1973)

Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein was a German Generalfeldmarschall in the Heer (Army) of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was subsequently convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Battle of Kharkov</span> 1943 series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II

The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by Army Group South of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between 19 February and 15 March 1943. Known to the German side as the Donets Campaign, and in the Soviet Union as the Donbas and Kharkov operations, the German counterstrike led to the recapture of the cities of Kharkov and Belgorod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist</span> German field marshal during World War II

Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist was a German Generalfeldmarschall of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Born into the Prussian noble family von Kleist, Kleist entered the Prussian Army in 1900 and commanded a cavalry squadron during World War I. Kleist joined the Reichswehr of inter-war Germany before being discharged in 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Winter Storm</span> German offensive in World War II

Operation Winter Storm, a German offensive in December 1942 during World War II, involved the German 4th Panzer Army failing to break the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Army Group A was the name of three distinct army groups of the Heer, the ground forces of the Wehrmacht, during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler</span> German armored division from 1933 to 1945

The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH, began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding the Führer's person, offices, and residences. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into an elite division-sized unit during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Case Blue</span> 1942 German plan to further invade the Soviet Union following Operation Barbarossa

Case Blue was the Wehrmacht's plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II. The objective was to capture the oil fields of Baku, Grozny and Maikop for two purposes: to enable the Germans to re-supply their low fuel stock and also to deny their use to the Soviet Union, thereby bringing about the complete collapse of the Soviet war effort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Little Saturn</span> Soviet attack on German holdouts

Operation Little Saturn was a Red Army offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in Don and Chir rivers region in German-occupied Soviet Union territory in 16–30 December 1942.

The 1st Panzer Army was a German tank army that was a large armoured formation of the Wehrmacht during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th Panzer Army</span> Military unit of Nazi Germany

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 battles of the German-Soviet war of 1941–45, including Operation Barbarossa, the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk, and the 1943 Battle of Kiev.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">11th Army (Wehrmacht)</span> Unit of the German Army in the Eastern Front of World War II

The 11th Army was a World War II field army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Sea of Azov</span>

The Battle of the Sea of Azov, also known as the Chernigovka pocket was an Axis military campaign fought between 26 September 1941 and 11 October 1941 on the northern shores of the Sea of Azov on the Eastern Front of World War II during Operation Barbarossa. It resulted in a complete Axis victory over the Red Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dnieper–Carpathian offensive</span> 1944 Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front of WW2

The Dnieper–Carpathian offensive, also known in Soviet historical sources as the Liberation of Right-bank Ukraine, was a strategic offensive executed by the Soviet 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, along with the 2nd Belorussian Front, against the German Army Group South, Army Group A and elements of Army Group Center, and fought from late December 1943 to early May 1944. The battles in right-bank Ukraine and in the Crimea were the most important event of the 1944 winter-spring campaign on the Eastern Front.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donbas strategic offensive (August 1943)</span> 1943 Red Army strategic offensive of World War II

The Donbas strategic offensive was the second of two strategic operations of the Soviet Red Army on the Eastern Front of World War II, with the goal of liberating the Donetsk Basin, or Donbas, from the forces of Nazi Germany.

The 339th Rifle Division was first formed in late August, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Rostov-on-Don. As it was formed in part from reservists and cadre that included members of the Communist Party from that city, it carried the honorific title "Rostov" for the duration. In late November it was part of the force that counterattacked the German 1st Panzer Army in the Battle of Rostov and forced its retreat from the city, one of the first major setbacks for the invaders. During 1942 the division was forced to retreat into the Caucasus, where it fought to defend the passes leading to the Black Sea ports. In 1943 it fought to liberate the Taman Peninsula, and then in early 1944 to also liberate Crimea. In the following months the division was reassigned to the 1st Belorussian Front, with which it took part in the Battle of Berlin in 1945. Following a distinguished career, the division was disbanded in the summer of that year.

The LIV Army Corps was a Wehrmacht army corps during World War II. It was formed in June 1941. After February 1944, it was upgraded to a command equivalent in rank but not in name to an army, something that the Wehrmacht dubbed an army detachment. It operated under the following names:

The Donbas Operation was a frontline defensive operation of the Soviet Red Army in the territory of Donbas on the Eastern Front of the Second World War in Europe. It was an integral part of the Donbas–Rostov Strategic Defensive Operation.

The Rostov Defensive Operation on November 5–16, 1941 was a front–line defensive operation of the Soviet troops of the Southern Front, an integral part of the Donbas–Rostov Strategic Defensive Operation of the Great Patriotic War.

The Donbas–Rostov Strategic Defensive Operation was a defensive operation of the Southern Front and the left wing of the South–Western Front of the Red Army on the territory of Donbas during the World War II. During it, the Donbas and Rostov front–line defensive operations were carried out.

References

  1. "ВЕЛИКАЯ ВОЙНА - Ростовская наступательная операция 1941 года". Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  2. "1941". Archived from the original on 31 May 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 p.87, Haupt, Army Group South
  4. 1 2 p. 91, Haupt, Army Group South
  5. Aleksander A. Maslov, Fallen Soviet Generals, ed. & trans. by David M. Glantz, Frank Cass Publishing, London, 1998, p. 44
  6. p. 92, Haupt, Army Group South
  7. p. 95, Haupt, Army Group South
  8. p.101, Haupt, Army Group South
  9. Clark, Alan (1965). Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict 1941–45; p. 178

Sources