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The Battles of Rzhev were a series of Soviet operations in World War II between January 8, 1942 and March 31, 1943. Due to the high losses suffered by the Soviet Army, the campaign became known by veterans and historians as the "Rzhev Meat Grinder".
The 9th Army was a World War II field army. It was activated on 15 May 1940 with General Johannes Blaskowitz in command.
Operation Büffel ("Buffalo") was a series of local retreats conducted by the German Army Group Centre on the Eastern Front during the period 1–22 March 1943. This movement eliminated the Rzhev Salient and shortened the front by 230 miles, releasing twenty-one divisions. The withdrawals were accompanied by a ruthless security campaign, resulting in widespread destruction, deportation of able-bodied population for slave labour, and killings of civilian population.
The Northwestern Front was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-created on 22 June 1941, the first day of the Soviet-German War on the basis of the Baltic Special Military District. On 22 June the Front consisted of the 8th, 11th, and 27th Armies, as well as the 5th Airborne Corps and the headquarters of the 65th Rifle Corps.
Operation Mars, also known as the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive Operation, was the codename for an offensive launched by Soviet forces against German forces during World War II. It took place between 25 November and 20 December 1942 around the Rzhev salient in the vicinity of Moscow.
The 22nd Army was a field army of the Red Army during World War II.
The 30th Army was a Soviet field army of the Red Army active between 1941-1943. It was re-organised to the 10th Guards Army on 16 April 1943.
The 39th Army was a Field Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II and of the Soviet Army during the Cold War.
The 18th Mountain Cavalry Division was formed in 1936 by renaming the 7th Tadzhik Mountain Cavalry Division in the Central Asia Military District.
The 31st Army was a field army of the Red Army during the Second World War.
The 252nd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II.
Pavel Alexeyevich Belov was a Soviet Army colonel general and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He was nicknamed the "Fox" by the Germans, and personally led the longest successful raid of the war, lasting five months behind enemy lines.
The Vyazma Airborne Operation was a Red Army airborne landing in the rear of German lines during the Battles of Rzhev. It took place from 18 January to 28 February 1942. The objective of the airborne landing was to help troops of the Kalinin Front and Western Front to encircle and destroy Army Group Centre. The airborne operation was unsuccessful and resulted in the loss of most of the troops landed.
The 166th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army that fought in World War II, formed twice. The division's first formation was formed in 1939 and wiped out in the Vyazma Pocket in October 1941. In January 1942, the division reformed. It fought in the Battle of Demyansk, the Battle of Kursk, Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation, Vitebsk–Orsha Offensive, Polotsk Offensive, Šiauliai Offensive, Riga Offensive and the Battle of Memel. It was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
German Fyodorovich Tarasov was a Red Army major general during World War II.
The 369th Rifle Division began forming on August 1, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, in the Chelyabinsk Oblast. After forming, it was assigned to the 39th Army which soon became part of Kalinin Front, and it participated in the near-encirclement of the German 9th Army around Rzhev in the winter counteroffensive of 1941-42. In late January, 1942, it was transferred to the 29th Army of the same Front, which was very soon after encircled by German forces near Sychevka, and while it was written off by German intelligence in February, enough of the division escaped that it was not officially disbanded. By August it returned to battle, now in 30th Army of Western Front, still fighting near Rzhev. After the salient was finally evacuated in the spring of 1943 the division was moved to Bryansk Front, first in 11th Army and then in 50th Army, under which it served for most of the war. In the summer counteroffensive the 369th was awarded the battle honor "Karachev" for its part in the liberation of that city. At the start of Operation Bagration the division was in 2nd Belorussian Front and its commander, Maj. Gen. I. S. Lazarenko, was killed a few days later; despite this loss it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its successful crossing of the Dniepr River and the liberation of Mogilev. The division continued to advance through Belarus and into Poland and eastern Germany over the following months, but despite a fine record of service was disbanded soon after the German surrender.
The 380th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. It began forming on August 10, 1941, one of a series of divisions formed in accordance to an order of that date in the Siberian Military District. The pace of moving newly formed units to the fighting front was beginning to ease and the division arrived there in late February, 1942. Until the end of that year it was involved in the bloody fighting around the Rzhev salient. After a brief move to Northwestern Front and then a period in reserve for rebuilding, the division's combat path shifted southward when it was assigned to Bryansk Front. It won a battle honor for its part in the liberation of Oryol in the summer offensive, then spent the autumn and winter in the costly and difficult struggles on the approaches to the upper Dniepr River and in eastern Belarus. It then took part in Operation Bagration and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its successes. Following this it helped to eliminate the German forces trapped east of Minsk, for which it received a second unit decoration, before joining the advance into Poland. During the Vistula-Oder Offensive the 380th was part of 2nd Belorussian Front's 49th Army, winning its third decoration along the way before ending the war advancing north of Berlin towards the Baltic coast. Despite its distinguished record it was selected as one of the many divisions to be disbanded during the summer of 1945.
Viktor Kazimirovich Urbanovich was a Belarusian Soviet Army lieutenant general.
The 215th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II that continued to serve in the Soviet Army during the early years of the Cold War.
Vasily Alexandrovich Yushkevich was a Soviet Army colonel general.
