Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka offensive
The Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka offensive[12] (Russian: Березнеговато-Снигирёвская Наступательная Операция, Bereznegovato-Snigirovskaya Nastupatel'naya Operatsiya) was an offensive operation conducted in southern Ukraine by the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front against the German 6th Army and Romanian 3rd Army of Army Group A, in March 1944. It was part of the second stage of the strategic Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive.
After the collapse of the German Nikopol bridgehead in February 1944, 6th Army was forced to conduct a costly and difficult withdrawal, retreating behind the Ingulets river at the end of the month in conditions of early spring thaw. As a result of the heavy battles of the previous month, all divisions of the 6th Army were heavily depleted by the start of March 1944.[13] The 3rd Ukrainian Front, in pursuit of the retreating 6th Army, crossed the flooded Ingulets river and established numerous bridgeheads on its western bank at the end of February 1944.[14] This would become a staging ground for a new offensive.
Background[edit]
After the defeat of the 6th Army during the Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive and its retreat behind the Ingulets, the High Command of the Wehrmacht decided to use this overflowing river as a defense line and not allow a further Soviet advance. The German troops conducted a stubborn resistance and repeated counterattacks to hinder Soviet attempts to force a crossing. In several days of fighting, Soviet troops overcame the Ingulets and captured several bridgeheads on the opposite bank.[15]
Directing the front for further operations, Stavka wrote Malinovsky on 28 February, communicating that the most important task of the front was to force a crossing of the Ingulets no later than 2 March in one of the sectors between Shesternya and Bolshaya Aleksandrovkaya and to move the 6th Army and most of the 5th Shock Army across the river with the goal of turning the German defense on the lower course of the Ingulets and collapsing the German troops defending Nikolayev. The left wing of the 5th Shock Army was tasked with advancing between the Ingulets and Dnieper. The 28th Army, with five rifle divisions and Karp Sviridov's 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps, was slated to be used to take Kherson and for operations in the Nikolayev sector. Giving this directive, Stavka believed that the front would have more success in the zone of the 6th and 5th Shock Armies. However, the troops of the front had more significant advances in the zones of the 46th and 8th Guards Armies, where on the night of 3 March they sizable bridgeheads over the Ingulets, to the west of Shirokoye and south of Krivoy Rog.[15]
Based on this success, the commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Army General Rodion Malinovsky, decided to make a breakthrough towards Novyi Buh with Vasily Chuikov's 8th Guards Army from the bridgehead west of Shirokoye and Vasily Glagolev's 46th Army from the bridgehead southwest of Krivoi Rog. Yefim Pushkin's 23rd Tank Corps with 102 tanks and sixteen self-propelled guns was slated for commitment to exploit of the breakthrough in the zone of the 46th Army, while the Cavarly-Mechanized Group of Lieutenant General Issa Pliyev was slated for commitment in the zone of the 8th Guards Army. The group included Trofim Tanaschishin's 4th Guards Mechanized Corps with 100 tanks and 23 self-propelled guns as well as Pliyev's own 4th Guards Cavalry Corps. The group, upon reaching Novy Bug, was tasked with striking to the south into the rear of the German and Romanian troops east of Nikolayev. The armies operating to the right and left of the strike group, were also ordered to shift to the offensive, to divide the German defenses and tie their troops down.[16]
The preparation for the offensive was conducted under extremely difficult rasputitsa conditions. The regrouping of forces, and the transport of ammunition, foodstuffs and fuel was hampered by impassable roads.[16]
Opposing forces[edit]
Soviet[edit]
The 3rd Ukrainian Front was significantly strengthened by regrouping carried out in the second half of February. By the beginning of March it included the 5th Shock, 8th Guards, 6th, 28th, 37th, 46th and 57th Combined Arms, 17th Air Army, 23rd Tank, 2nd and 4th Guards Mechanized Corps and the 4th Guards Cavalry Corps. In total, the front fielded 57 rifle and three cavalry divisions, a tank corps, two mechanized corps, and one fortified region. The Soviet troops totaled 500,000 personnel, 9,000 guns and mortars, 372 tanks, and 551 combat aircraft.[15]
German[edit]
As a result of the Nikopol-Krivoy Rog Offensive last month, 6th Army had to conduct a costly and difficult withdrawal in conditions of early spring thaw, retreating behind the Ingulets river by the end of February 1944. All divisions of the 6th Army were heavily depleted and exhausted by the end of the month- the army high ommand rated the combat value of most of their divisions at level 4 (Kampfwert IV), meaning that they were fit for limited defensive operations only.[17]
Summarizing the situation of the 6th Army at the start of March 1944, the army commander, Generaloberst Karl-Adolf Hollidt, reported:[18]
On the day of the Soviet offensive, 6th Army had the following order of battle.
Result[edit]
Within 13 days, the 3rd Ukrainian Front had managed to decisively beat the 6th Army. A very large Soviet territory (more than 20,000 km2), between the Inhulets and Southern Bug Rivers was liberated. The 125th Infantry Division was completely destroyed and dissolved by the High Command of the Wehrmacht. The 16th Panzer Grenadier Division lost two thirds of its strength, the 9th Panzer Division, the 15th, the 294th, the 302nd, the 304th and the 335th Infantry Divisions lost 50% of their strength and almost all their heavy material. 13,700 German soldiers and officers were captured. Colonel-General Hollidt was replaced as Commander-in-Chief of the 6th Army at the end of March 1944. For the Soviet Union, favorable conditions had been created for a direct attack on the German troops around Odessa and Nikolayev. The 3rd Ukrainian Front launched the Odessa Offensive on 26 March.[22]