During the Zhitomir-Berdichev operation, Soviet troops defeated the Kiev group of the Wehrmacht. Liberated from the invaders Kiev and Zhytomyr regions, part of Vinnitsa and Rivne regions. Conditions were created for the destruction of the enemy's Korsun-Shevchenko grouping.
How the Germans tried to recapture Kiev
During the November offensive operation of 1943, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of Vatutin liberated Kiev, Fastov, Zhitomir, created a strategic bridgehead 230 km along the front (along the Dnieper line) and up to 145 km in depth. Finding that the enemy was preparing a strong counterstrike, the Soviet troops went over to the defensive on the Zhitomir, Fastov and Tripolye line. As a result, on the western bank of the Dnieper, in the Kiev region, the troops of the 1st UV took a large foothold.
The Soviet command, preparing to repel an enemy strike, reinforced the 38th Army with a rifle corps and artillery, including anti-tank artillery. The 1st UV was reinforced by the 1st Guards Army and the 25th Panzer Corps. Engineering troops began to build a defensive zone in the Fastov area. However, the Soviet troops did not have time to complete preparations for the defense and regroup their forces.
Our troops were opposed by the forces of the 4th German Panzer Army under the command of General of Panzer Forces E. Raus. The German army consisted of 30 divisions, including 8 tank and 1 motorized, 2 heavy tank battalions and 6 assault gun battalions, as well as a large number of artillery, engineering, security, police and other units. The German command concentrated on the Kiev direction up to a third of its mobile formations on the Russian front. The Germans planned to throw the Russians into the Dnieper, recapture the bridgehead and Kiev. The Kiev bridgehead wedged into the location of German troops, deteriorating communication between the Army Groups "Center" and "South", looming over the Wehrmacht grouping in the Right-Bank Ukraine. Therefore, the Germans did their best to destroy our troops on the Kiev bridgehead and again capture Kiev. This made it possible to restore a full-fledged defensive line along the Dnieper.
Regrouping the forces of the 4th Panzer Army and transferring reserves, the Germans prepared a counteroffensive. In the areas south-west of Fastov and south of Zhitomir, the German command concentrated two strike groups - the 48th Panzer Corps, the Mattenklot task force and the 13th Army Corps. The offensive was supported by the 4th Air Fleet. On November 15-18, 1943, the German tank army rushed to Kiev, directing its main attack along the Zhitomir highway. The blow was delivered by 15 Wehrmacht divisions, including 7 tank and 1 motorized.
German troops delivered two strikes: from the Fastov area to Brusilov and from the Chernyakhov area to Radomyshl. The troops of the Soviet 38th Army, defending the sector of the front from Zhitomir to Fastov, could not withstand the powerful blow and began to withdraw in a northern direction. On November 17, German mobile units entered the Korostyshev area on the Zhitomir-Kiev highway and launched an offensive in the Kiev direction. On November 18, German troops by blows from the north, south and east surrounded part of the forces of our 60th Army in Zhitomir. After a two-day stubborn battle, most of our troops broke through the blockade and left the city. The Germans had a hope that they would break through to the Dnieper, restore the line of defense along it, and thus retain at least part of Ukraine. At the same time, a fierce battle broke out for Brusilov. Here the Germans attacked with 6 tank and 1 motorized divisions. Fierce battles lasted 5 days, on November 23 the Red Army left the city.
The enemy's hopes for a new seizure of Kiev quickly faded. German troops were already advancing with great difficulty and suffered huge losses. Some tank divisions were completely drained of blood, lost 50 to 70% of their manpower and most of the tanks. Replenishments did not cover losses. The shock forces of the German army were exhausted and exhausted. Having detained the enemy at Brusilov, the Soviet command was able to regroup its forces. Troops of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, part of the forces of the 1st Guards Army, were transferred to the area north and east of Brusilov. Also, from the Bukrin bridgehead to the Fastov region, Tripolye, part of the forces of the 27th Army was deployed, following the 40th Army. On November 26, Soviet troops launched a counterattack on the northern wing of the Brusilov group of the Wehrmacht. The German troops were drained of blood, lost their striking power, and at the end of November the front stabilized on the Chernyakhov - Radomyshl - Yurovka line.
The Soviet Headquarters gave instructions on November 28 to go over to a tough defense in order to wear down the enemy's forces. Simultaneously with the approach of the new formations, the 1st UV was to prepare an offensive with the task of defeating the enemy grouping in the Kiev direction. The rifle units replenished, created the necessary stocks of ammunition, fuel and food. The reserves of the Soviet front concentrated the forces of the 18th Army, the 1st Tank and 3rd Guards Tank Armies, two tank and one cavalry corps.
On December 6, 1943, the Germans again tried to break through to Kiev in the sector of the 60th Army of Chernyakhovsky and the 1st Guards Army of Kuznetsov. The blow was delivered in the direction of Malin. On December 9-10, the Germans attacked in the area of Korosten and Yelsk, where the 13th Army of Pukhov was defending. The fighting was stubborn, but this time without much success for the Wehrmacht. Thus, almost a month and a half of fierce fighting in the Kiev direction did not lead to the collapse of the Soviet defense and the destruction of the Kiev strategic bridgehead. The Wehrmacht was able to advance 35-40 kilometers, its strike groups suffered serious losses in manpower and equipment. The Germans were unable to restore the "Vostochny Val" along the Dnieper.
Soviet 76, 2mm ZiS-3 cannon captured by German troops in Zhitomir. November 1943
Soviet tankmen on the armor of a KV-1S tank of one of the breakthrough tank regiments of the 1st Ukrainian Front during the march, on the highway near Zhitomir. November 1943
Soviet medium tanks T-34 (produced in 1943 with a commander's cupola) with an armored landing party on the Zhitomir highway near Kiev. November - December 1943 Photo source:
The plans of the Soviet command. Forces of the parties
The Soviet high command, in order to exclude the possibility of a new enemy offensive on Kiev, decided once and for all to put an end to this possibility and to destroy the German 4th Panzer Army, throwing back the remnants of the enemy forces to the Southern Bug. However, after stubborn November battles, Vatutin's front could not solve this problem only on its own. Therefore, the 1st UV was significantly enhanced. The 18th Army of Leselidze, the 1st Tank Army of Katukov, as well as the 4th Guards Tank Corps and the 25th Tank Corps were transferred to Vatutin's command. As a result, the 4th UV included 7 combined-arms armies (1st Guards, 13th, 18th, 27th, 38th, 40th, 60th armies), 2 tank (1st tank and 3rd guards tank armies) and 2nd air army, cavalry corps and 2 fortified areas.
By the beginning of the operation, the 1st UV had in its composition 63 rifle, 3 cavalry divisions, two fortified areas, one infantry brigade (Czechoslovakian), 6 tank and 2 mechanized corps, 5 separate tank brigades. The Soviet Kiev group consisted of more than 830 thousand soldiers and officers, over 11 thousand guns and mortars (excluding 50-mm mortars), more than 1200 anti-aircraft guns, about 300 rocket artillery systems, over 1100 tanks and self-propelled guns and more than 520 aircraft.
The Germans in the 4th Panzer Army had more than 570 thousand soldiers, about 7 thousand guns and mortars (without 51-mm mortars), about 1200 tanks and self-propelled guns, up to 500 aircraft. German troops were weakened by battles in November and December 1943, which predetermined the success of the Red Army.
The main blow in the Brusilov area was to be inflicted by units of Grechko's 1st Guards Army, Leselidze's 18th Army, Moskalenko's 38th Army, Katukov's 1st Tank Army and Rybalko's 3rd Guards Tank Army. Our troops were tasked with destroying the enemy's Brusilov grouping (4 tank divisions) and reaching the line of Lyubar, Vinnitsa and Lipovets.
The 60th Army, with the 4th Guards Tank Corps attached to it, was to defeat enemy troops in the Radomyshl area, reach the line of the Sluch River, then to the Shepetovka, Lyubar sector. The right-flank 13th Army, supported by the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps and the 25th Tank Corps, advanced on Korosten, Novograd-Volynsky and received the task of occupying the Tonezh, Olevsk and Rogachev line. On the left flank of the 1st UV troops of the 40th army of Zhmachenko, with the 5th Guards Tank Corps and the Czechoslovak Brigade, and the 27th Army, Trofimenko was to strike in the direction of Belaya Tserkov and in the future were to develop an offensive on Khristinovka, where join up with the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front and defeat the enemy forces operating south of Kanev.
To Zhitomir and Berdichev. Breakthrough enemy defense
On the morning of December 24, 1943, after artillery and air preparation, the forces of the 1st UV strike group went on the offensive. On the same day, the 3rd Guards Tank Army (6th and 7th Guards Tank Army, 9th Mechanized Corps) was brought into battle in the 18th Army's offensive zone, and the 1st tank army (11th Guards Tank and 8th Guards Mechanized Corps. On December 25, the 40th Army attacked the enemy, on December 26 - the 60th, and on December 28 - the 13th and 27th armies.
On December 26, troops of the 1st Guards Army liberated Radomyshl, on December 29, troops of the 13th Army occupied Korosten. These were the strong points of defense of the German army. By December 29, the breakthrough was expanded to 300 km along the front, in depth it reached 100 km. Our troops liberated Chernyakhov, Brusilov, Kornin, Kazatin, Skvira and other settlements. The battle began for Zhitomir, Berdichev and Belaya Tserkov.
The enemy's defense was broken through, the German troops suffered a heavy defeat. Particularly heavy losses were suffered by the German divisions, which found themselves in the offensive zone of the main strike group of the 1st UV. Several enemy divisions were destroyed in whole or in part. The front was crumbling over a huge area, the 4th Panzer Army was rolling back. The command of Army Group South, which until recently had optimistically hoped to recapture Kiev, found itself in a critical situation. The German command had to take extraordinary measures to close a huge gap that could cause a further collapse of the German front. To stop the Russian offensive, the German command had transferred 10 divisions from the reserve and other sectors of the Eastern Front to this direction by January 10, 1944. From the southern sector, from the Krivoy Rog region, the control of the 1st Panzer Army was hastily transferred. This army was transferred from the 4th Panzer and 8th Field Army to cover the Vinnitsa and Uman directions.
German soldiers on the street of burning Zhitomir. December 1943
German medium tanks Pz.kpfw. IV Ausf. G late series, abandoned in the area of Zhitomir. 1st Ukrainian Front. December 1943
Destroyed and abandoned west of Zhitomir, the German 105-mm self-propelled guns "Vespe". 1944 g.
Development of the offensive. Enemy counterattacks
The Red Army developed its first success. The Germans had a strong grouping in the Zhitomir area - parts of two tank, 3 infantry and security divisions, and they planned to stop the movement of our troops by stubborn defense of this city. To prevent this, the front command decided to defeat the Zhytomyr grouping with simultaneous attacks from the front and flanks. Parts of the 60th Army bypassed the city from the northwest, cutting off the communications Zhitomir - Novograd-Volynsky. Poluboyarov's 4th Guards Tank Corps made its way to the High Pech area, intercepting the road that led from Zhitomir to the west. At the same time, the troops of the 18th combined arms and 3rd guards tank armies bypassed Zhitomir from the southeast, intercepting the Zhitomir-Berdichev railway. The troops of the 1st Guards Army were advancing on the city from the east. As a result, in order not to get surrounded, the enemy's Zhitomir group left the city and retreated. On December 31, our troops liberated Zhitomir. In honor of the liberation of the city, a salute of 224 guns sounded in Moscow.
On January 3, 1944, units of the 13th Army liberated Novograd-Volynsky. The German troops put up fierce resistance in the Berdichev area, where the Germans had parts of two tank divisions. Parts of the Soviet 1st Tank and 18th Armies tried to take Berdichev on the move at the end of December, but the assault failed. The advanced units that broke into the city were surrounded and were forced to fight in isolation from the main forces. Only after 5 days of stubborn fighting did our troops break into the enemy's defenses and liberated Berdichev on January 5. No less fierce battles were fought for Belaya Tserkov. For four days, the troops of the 40th Army attacked the enemy positions and repulsed his counterattacks. On January 4, Soviet soldiers liberated Belaya Tserkov. On January 7, the left-flank 27th Army liberated the city of Rzhishchev from the Nazis and united with the troops that occupied the Bukrin bridgehead.
The German command, having strengthened its grouping in the Kiev direction, inflicted several strong counterattacks on our troops. The Germans tried to destroy the Soviet troops that had rushed forward, to defeat the southern flank of the 4th UV, to strike at the rear of the shock group of the Soviet front. If the operation was successful, the Germans could defeat the entire strike group of the 4th UV, restore their previous position in the Kiev direction and build on their success. So, by January 10, having concentrated east of Vinnitsa 6 divisions and 2 divisions of assault guns, the Germans attacked the units of the 1st tank and 38th armies that had moved forward. The troops of the German first tank army - 2 tank divisions, a separate tank battalion (it was armed with heavy Tiger tanks, a division of assault guns, struck in the Uman direction. Here, units of the 5th Guards Tank Corps and 40 th army.
As a result, on January 14, 1944, our troops in the Vinnitsa and Uman directions went over to the defensive. Fierce fighting broke out here, which continued until the end of January. Both sides brought in additional forces into the battle, but did not achieve decisive success. German strike groups were able to advance 25 to 30 kilometers. However, the Germans could not defeat the Soviet troops and restore the former situation. The Wehrmacht suffered serious losses. And the launched offensive of our troops in the Korsun-Shevchenko direction forced the enemy to completely abandon plans to restore the previous situation in the Zhytomyr-Kiev direction.
A Soviet T-34 tank with an assault force crosses the Zhitomir-Berdichev highway. Burning tank Pz. Kpfw. VI "Tiger". 1st Ukrainian Front. January 1944
Tank T-34 of the 44th Guards Tank Brigade in an ambush near Berdichev. 1944 g.
Results of the operation
As a result of the Zhitomir-Berdichev operation, the Russian troops achieved a major victory. The troops of the 1st UV advanced in a strip of 700 km to a depth of 80 to 200 kilometers. The Kiev and Zhitomir regions, part of the Vinnitsa and Rivne regions were almost completely freed from the Nazis. Vatutin's armies loomed even more from the north over the German Army Group South, and the left wing of the front (27th and 40th armies) deeply covered the enemy's Kanev grouping. This created favorable preconditions for an offensive in the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky area.
Soviet troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the northern wing of Army Group South - the 4th and 1st Tank Armies. Several German divisions were defeated. A huge gap arose, there was a threat of cutting off Army Group South from Army Group Center and losing the main communications that linked the troops of Army Group South with Germany. The German command had to make great efforts to stabilize the front. For this, 12 divisions were transferred from the reserve and quieter sectors of the front to the Kiev direction. The Germans organized a series of strong counterattacks, were able to push back the advanced forces of the Red Army, stop the Soviet offensive, but could no longer restore the previous situation. Moreover, the German command depleted almost all reserves, which were already small, which affected the course of further hostilities (in favor of the Russians). To repel new Soviet attacks, the Germans had to transfer troops from Western Europe or weaken other directions.
T-34 tanks of the 44th Guards Tank Berdichevskaya Red Banner Brigade with armored infantry drive past a damaged German self-propelled gun Marder III in a liberated Soviet city. 1944 g.
