'To Gibbets, and the Dead", The Kutusov Offensive May 1942
After driving the Axis forces back across the Ukraine in April, STAVKA altered its plans for May.
The North Ukrainian Front was ordered to secure the west bank of the Dniepr from below Bryansk to Cherkasy and then go over to the defensive. At the same time it temporarily lost most of its armour as they were pulled into reserve to re-equip and re-organise for the planned summer offensive. The net effect was the large German armoured force at Hlobyne was able to pull back out of potential encirclement as the Soviets drove their rearguard from the town on 9 May. Attempts to expand the bridgehead at Domantoye southwards to Cherkasy and northwards to Mena all failed. At this stage the offensive in this sector stalled, and the Soviets now held all the east bank of the Dniepr and retained the sizeable bridgehead at Domantoye.
In contrast, the three armies (26, 4 and 9) of the South Ukranian Front
were ordered to push westwards, clear the Germans and Rumanians from the lower reaches of the Dniepr and liberate Odessa. By 15 May, the bulk of west bank of the Dniepr bend had been cleared by 26 and 4 Army
(Soviet infantry clearing the steep west bank of the Dniepr)
and a German counterattack was defeated at Nikopol. Soviet spearheads reached and held Kryvyy Rib at the same time threatening the Axis forces east of Kherson with encirclement.
The threat to these forces was increased when 64 Corps attacked out of the Crimea at Novooleksiyivka. If the Rumanian defence had been breached, then 5-6 Axis divisions would have been encircled. As it was the offensive had to conducted over a narrow spit of land, bounded by salt marshes, where the front had been static for 6 weeks.
Progress was both bloody and painfully slow and the Rumanians weren't forced back to 28 May in a brutal battle that saw almost 13,000 dead from both sides.
(infantry and engineering troops trying to clear Rumanian defences in the Crimea)
The Germans at Melitopol used this delay to conduct a fighting retreat and were able to slip out of encirclement, in part as 9 and 4 Armies only had 1 Tank (and 4 Mechanized) Division between them.
By late May the Axis forces screening Odessa were in full retreat, however, they managed to fend off their attackers constantly just slipping out of encirclement, but falling back steadily so by the end of the month almost all the Dniepr bend had been retaken.
(8 Tank Division in action along the lower Dniepr)
Two battles at the end of the month were to set the scene for major Soviet victories in June. An initial attempt to trap the Germans at Kherson failed on 7 June, however on the same day the German lines at Mykolavijk to the north cracked when 2 Mechanized Corps defeated 27 Panzer.
At this stage the German retreat became a rout, as they faced the prospect of being trapped against the shores of the Black Sea.
At this stage 4 and 9 Armies were ordered to take Odessa and retake southern Bessarabia. 26 Army was to act as a shield preventing any Axis counterattack from the north and if possible to push into central Bessarabia.
Kutusov was the first Soviet offensive that actually achieved its operational goals. The Germans had lost all of the east bank of the Dniepr and the Soviets had a major bridgehead south of Kiev. Along the Black Sea littoral, the Germans had lost both banks and were desperately trying to find a defensive line where they could stem the Soviet offensive.
(destroyed German tank east of Kherson, for the first time in the war the Germans abandoned large numbers of repairable tanks on the battlefield)
Amongst this litany of success was one major disaster. In an attempt to hasten the collapse of the Axis forces in the south, STAVKA had ordered another invasion of Vylkove.
(Parishskaya Kommuna off Sevastopol)
However, the Black Sea fleet was already weakened by a sequence of actions with the Italian navy in April and May.
This time, it was badly beaten and forced to flee back to Sevastopol,
leaving 206 Rifle Division isolated. A German-Rumanian counterattack retook the port on 24 May with almost 9,000 Soviet dead and captured.
Overall the intensity of operations was reflected in the high losses on both sides. Excluding the Rumanian disaster the Soviets lost 45,578 but killed 28,046 Germans and 17,236 Rumanians and Italians. The Soviets lost a futher 8,913 in Rumania. However, 5 German and Rumanian divisions were now struggling to escape from the Kherson pocket before the Soviets consolidated their control over Mykolavijk. The extent that this potential encirclement was to become a real trap would determine if Kutuzov was seen as a major strategic success.
After driving the Axis forces back across the Ukraine in April, STAVKA altered its plans for May.
The North Ukrainian Front was ordered to secure the west bank of the Dniepr from below Bryansk to Cherkasy and then go over to the defensive. At the same time it temporarily lost most of its armour as they were pulled into reserve to re-equip and re-organise for the planned summer offensive. The net effect was the large German armoured force at Hlobyne was able to pull back out of potential encirclement as the Soviets drove their rearguard from the town on 9 May. Attempts to expand the bridgehead at Domantoye southwards to Cherkasy and northwards to Mena all failed. At this stage the offensive in this sector stalled, and the Soviets now held all the east bank of the Dniepr and retained the sizeable bridgehead at Domantoye.
In contrast, the three armies (26, 4 and 9) of the South Ukranian Front
were ordered to push westwards, clear the Germans and Rumanians from the lower reaches of the Dniepr and liberate Odessa. By 15 May, the bulk of west bank of the Dniepr bend had been cleared by 26 and 4 Army
(Soviet infantry clearing the steep west bank of the Dniepr)
and a German counterattack was defeated at Nikopol. Soviet spearheads reached and held Kryvyy Rib at the same time threatening the Axis forces east of Kherson with encirclement.
The threat to these forces was increased when 64 Corps attacked out of the Crimea at Novooleksiyivka. If the Rumanian defence had been breached, then 5-6 Axis divisions would have been encircled. As it was the offensive had to conducted over a narrow spit of land, bounded by salt marshes, where the front had been static for 6 weeks.
Progress was both bloody and painfully slow and the Rumanians weren't forced back to 28 May in a brutal battle that saw almost 13,000 dead from both sides.
(infantry and engineering troops trying to clear Rumanian defences in the Crimea)
The Germans at Melitopol used this delay to conduct a fighting retreat and were able to slip out of encirclement, in part as 9 and 4 Armies only had 1 Tank (and 4 Mechanized) Division between them.
By late May the Axis forces screening Odessa were in full retreat, however, they managed to fend off their attackers constantly just slipping out of encirclement, but falling back steadily so by the end of the month almost all the Dniepr bend had been retaken.
(8 Tank Division in action along the lower Dniepr)
Two battles at the end of the month were to set the scene for major Soviet victories in June. An initial attempt to trap the Germans at Kherson failed on 7 June, however on the same day the German lines at Mykolavijk to the north cracked when 2 Mechanized Corps defeated 27 Panzer.
At this stage the German retreat became a rout, as they faced the prospect of being trapped against the shores of the Black Sea.
At this stage 4 and 9 Armies were ordered to take Odessa and retake southern Bessarabia. 26 Army was to act as a shield preventing any Axis counterattack from the north and if possible to push into central Bessarabia.
Kutusov was the first Soviet offensive that actually achieved its operational goals. The Germans had lost all of the east bank of the Dniepr and the Soviets had a major bridgehead south of Kiev. Along the Black Sea littoral, the Germans had lost both banks and were desperately trying to find a defensive line where they could stem the Soviet offensive.
(destroyed German tank east of Kherson, for the first time in the war the Germans abandoned large numbers of repairable tanks on the battlefield)
Amongst this litany of success was one major disaster. In an attempt to hasten the collapse of the Axis forces in the south, STAVKA had ordered another invasion of Vylkove.
(Parishskaya Kommuna off Sevastopol)
However, the Black Sea fleet was already weakened by a sequence of actions with the Italian navy in April and May.
This time, it was badly beaten and forced to flee back to Sevastopol,
leaving 206 Rifle Division isolated. A German-Rumanian counterattack retook the port on 24 May with almost 9,000 Soviet dead and captured.
Overall the intensity of operations was reflected in the high losses on both sides. Excluding the Rumanian disaster the Soviets lost 45,578 but killed 28,046 Germans and 17,236 Rumanians and Italians. The Soviets lost a futher 8,913 in Rumania. However, 5 German and Rumanian divisions were now struggling to escape from the Kherson pocket before the Soviets consolidated their control over Mykolavijk. The extent that this potential encirclement was to become a real trap would determine if Kutuzov was seen as a major strategic success.
