Fighting in the north
The initial plan for 1943 called for the northern front to be thinned out and troops transferred south for an upcoming offensive in the Ukraine. The partisan problem meant that the troops could not be redeployed for fear of Soviet attacks to link up with them, and if the troops were transferred – moving around partisan held country - there may not be enough men to actually combat the insurgents. Therefore, while efforts were made to combat the rebels, Army Group North would tidy up the loose ends of 1942 by continuing operations to push the frontline forward towards the limited goal of Operation "Hindenburg": Narva.
To free up forces later, all remaining garrison divisions within the Greater Reich and Denmark were ordered to dispatch one brigade to the Eastern Front, while several divisions were transferred from Belgium and the Netherlands to the frontline. This transfer of troops resulted in there now being over 200 infantry divisions on the order of battle, an increasing amount having less than 7,000 men.
The conditions, in which the men found themselves in, were appalling. The temperatures were below freezing and snow was falling constantly. Soviet forces were well entrenched holding the approaches to Narva, meaning every step of ground would have a steep price tag. The only weak section of the front was the island of Saaremaa, were a single demoralized and cut off Red Army division was dug in. In blizzard conditions, the 22nd Panzer Division had attempted to size the island via coup de main, but with limited assault craft the panzergrendiers were easily repulsed by the down spirited Red Army troopers. It was therefore decided to bombard the island while waiting on pioneers and regular infantry to arrive and take up the assault. The fighting and weather had practically destroyed the Estonian road network and the reinforcements took quite some time to arrive. By the end of January, the men had finally moved into position and quickly launched their assault. Landing at numerous points across the island, the infantry quickly rounded up the defenders who were unwilling to fight, although the final soldiers did not surrender until 8 February.
As February moved into March, heavy rains broke across the length of the northern front and the snow melted. The road network, already heavily damaged, disintegrated. Infantry had to fight through extremely deep mud, making combat nearly impossible. Yet the men were ordered forward to attack the Soviet defensive positions. Soaked, covered in mud, supporting artillery not effective due the rounds exploding in the mud, and exhausted, day after they day they assaulted collapsing trenches and holes clawed out of the soggy ground. Against all expectations, they were able to advance. Steadily the Red Army was pushed back creating a pocket in northern Estonia holding an estimated 45,000 soldiers. This became the target of focus; crush the pocket, free up troops and push forward once more for Narva. On 19 March, the pocket finally fell with a haul of over 40,000 men.
The pocket in northern Estonia.
There was no time to be exalted, even at this small triumph, as 24 hours previously the Soviets launched an offensive to the east of Lake Peipus. Wave after wave of Soviet soldiers pushed their way through the mud and assaulted two airborne divisions holding an important corner of the front. The initial waves were thrown back, but the Red Army infantry kept up their assault by striking another area in this sector. Troops who were about to be transferred south, were instead moved in behind this sector of Army Group North’s front. The Soviets, once more, had sucked in our reserves before we could redeploy. The Red Army managed to breakthrough, but the redeployed troops arrived just in time to push them back and restore the integrity of the line. Further attacks were launched on the paratroops, who were forced back, and more troops had to be rushed into the area to prevent a Soviet breakthrough.
The initial Soviet breakthrough.
While the frontline had been pushed back in one area, enough troops had been brought into the line to stabilize the rest. The Soviet offensive had been halted and thrown back with heavy losses. With so many troops in the area, it was decided to launch our own attack. The attack would not retake the ground lost, but rather trade lost territory for new pastures. The focus of the fighting now centered on the fortress at Pskov. While the temperatures may have warmed up, the front was still a quagmire of mud. Even so, our forces were able to push back the Red Army and advance north taking territory to the east of the fort. With this ground won, attacks were then launched on the fort from numerous directions. Over the following weeks the fortress would be largely destroyed in the fighting. Hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery shells plunged into the fortress, as assault after assault was made to take the fort. At times the Red Army were barely holding on, but were able to bring up just enough reinforcements to halt the latest attack. However, the pool of reinforcements eventually dried up and our troops pushed forward to occupy the shell-scarred battlefield.
The fortress of Pskov, following the battle.
The price of victory.
As the Soviet offensive and the Battle of Pskov were being conducted, the final battles for Narva were taking place. Across near impossible terrain, German infantry conducted the Battle of Rakvere. The tanks were unable to get forward, trucks were bogged down, and the infantry were killed by the squad-load as the battle ran on. With the Red Army committed to the fighting at Pskov, and being engaged to the east of the fort as well, few reinforcements were available for the north. The Red Army held on, fighting tooth and nail, but eventually was simply overwhelmed by numbers and firepower. Close to 20,000 German infantry were killed in the battle and only 10,000 Red Army bodies were found afterwards. As the ground dried out, the panzers and the Grossdeutschland Division were able to rush forward overtaking numerous Soviet units and capturing Narva on 23 March.
"General Mud" dictated quite a portion of the battle.
The battles along the northern front had resulted in the loss of 85,376 men. The most shocking event, kept secret from the public, was the loss of the surface fleet. It had been deployed to aid the battles in Northern Estonia, by shelling Soviet positions, and had been sunk by Soviet bombers. The
Schleswig-Holstein, Graf Spee, Deutschland, Konigsberg, Leipzig, Nurnberg, Koln, Karlsruhe, and three destroyers had been lost along with 2,700 sailors. These losses were somewhat offset by the defeat inflicted on the Red Army. 98,389 men had been killed, and officially 51,960 prisoners taken. The rapid advance into Narva had saw several Red Army units overrun, and their fate was not known: did they escape to Soviet lines?