Annex 1: The Numbers of War, Jan 1942-Jan 1943
(People and Army win together)
1942 can be seen as a year of either stalemate or dramatic shifts of the front line back and forth across Western Russia, Bielorussia and the Ukraine. At the start of the year, the front lay just north and west of Kalinin, Bryansk formed the front line and German pressure on Kursk, Kharkov and the Donets was steadily increasing. On the main front, 3 major Soviet Offensives (The Winter Counterstroke, Kuznetsov and Suvorov) had briefly led to the liberation of Kiev and the occupation of north east Rumania. The German counterstroke had taken them back to the Rybinsk reservoir in the north and allowed them to secure their main winter defense line on the Dniepr all the way to the Black Sea.
It was only in the Arctic that the year had seen a clear Soviet triumph. Archangelsk now lay well to the rear of the front line and the equivalent of 15-20 German and axis divisions had been destroyed.
If the fighting in Persia, Syria and Central Asia is discounted then the main front with the Germans can be divided into three theatres of the Arctic, the Western Axis (Western Russia and Bielorussia) and the Ukraine. In combination (combat losses and divisions destroyed in encirclements) total Soviet losses were 1,070,564 and for the Axis 1,254,922 (and the Germans alone lost 797,554 in combat and around 130,000 in encirclements). If Stavka was frustrated at the lack of clear strategic victories, it was clear that maintaining the current stalemate was costing the Germans heavily.
For both sides, the Western Axis had been the region where they sought a decisive victory. In effect, the struggle for Moscow saw over 50% of total losses for both sides. As is clear, by late 1941 both sides had concentrated the bulk of their forces in this region leading to a series of bruising battles.
However, unlike 1941, the intensity and location of combat varied across the year.
In the Ukraine, there was a period of intense combat starting with the German offensive in February and ending with the liberation of Odessa in May. On this sector, Stavka had been able to absorb the German autumn offensive by trading space, and effectively by the end of September major operations had ceased.
On the Western Front, the Soviet winter offensive had ended by late April and there was a brief lull as Stavka prepared for Suvorov. The result, and the need to contest the German counterattack, led to some of the most intense battles of the war stretching across the summer into October. November had seen something of a lull with the exception of the German offensive in the North. Mars, in turn, saw a massive increase in the intensity of the fighting.
In Central Asia, Soviet and Japanese forces more or less traded combat losses. However, the Soviet border victories in July and encirclement of the main Japanese army in October, gave the impression of a decisive outcome to the campaign.
The losses traded between the Soviets and the Germans were to have a major impact on the outcome of the 1943 battles.
In building themselves up for their Autumn offensive, the Germans had forced all their manpower reserves into the front line. As Soviet pressure increased, they were to become vulnerable, especially as they were no longer able to replace destroyed divisions. On the other hand, Soviet manpower constraints meant it was no longer feasible to rely on attrition to break the front. Mars was to be the last time that Stavka voluntarily sought to use brute force to disrupt the German front.
Despite the losses, by January 1943 the RKKA was significantly stronger than it had been in January 1942. This was both in terms of quantity and quality. The DNO divisions were mostly being converted to regular formations (and later some were disbanded to free up manpower) and some 18 Rifle Divisions had Guards status (as did 3 Tank Divisions).
(more bread for the front and rear)
The VVS was much the same size as it had been at the start of the year and the RKKH had sustained substantial losses, especially in its destroyer and submarine squadrons. However, its overall performance, meant that a substantial amount of industrial and research effort was now being allocated to building the fleet up for future operations. With the British effectively passive, it was clear that the task not just of liberating the USSR, but also of Western Europe would fall to the Soviets. Equally, the uneasy peace with Japan was bound to end at some stage.
Soviet industrial production was slowly recovering. As regions were liberated, factories were slowly brought back into production and increasing attention was being paid to production efficiency.
In consequence, IC was being concentrated on reinforcements and upgrades
and new production was increasingly being allocated to non manpower intensive uses
At this stage, the RKKH was only seeing limited investment but not only were combat losses being replaced some new capital ships were in production.
Overall leadership capacity was only slowly growing but it fluctuated substantially as major cities were liberated and lost again. However, apart from keeping a minimal level of NKVD activity in Mexico, research and increasing the officer corps were the only priorities.
Increasingly combat delays and loss of organisation due to a lack of trained officers was becoming a major constraint. This was being worsened as the new Guards Divisions were taking officers away from the bulk of the combat forces.
By the end of the year, the gap was slowly closing but it was not till mid-1943 that the RKKA had its full notional officer cadre. In reality, this was as much due to the decision to suspend the production of new land forces as the allocation of scarce leadership assets.
Research was still being carefully focussed. New equipment for the rifle divisions was skewed to dealing with the threat of German armour, and offensive weaponry was lagging. In terms of industrial research, renewed effort was being focussed on anything that would improve the manpower situation.
The new Guards formations were slowly becoming qualitatively different to the bulk of the army. They were all raised from the most experienced divisions and were now being given addition training and equipment.
