War in the East
Phase 2: The Jablonow Pocket
February - April 1943
The overall Eastern Front Situation as of 20 February 1943.
Northern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 20 February 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
Southern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 20 February 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
Once the initial shock of the sudden commencement of hostilities wore off of the Wehrmacht, Hitler ordered his staff to release the reins. Within days, attacks were launched all along the front line. Even the Luftwaffe was involved, launching waves of their cruise missiles at various strategic targets in the Soviet’s rear. Within a week, the Heer’s infantry, having forced the line in several places in the south, allowed the Panzerkorps to work their way through and into the Soviet rear areas. In Wlodzimierz Wloynski, III Panzerkorps, having just arrived in the town, were subjected to a brief reckless assault by the 217. Infantry Division, but this was quickly turned aside as the Soviet force was overwhelmed and pushed aside to open most of western Ukraine to the predations of III Panzerkorps. A defensive stand in Chelm on the southern shoulder of the lone Soviet breakthrough in Wlodawa led by XIV Armeekorps supported by I Panzerkorps as the Soviets had tried to force the river crossing ended in mid-February, allowing those forces to turn to offensive operations. Penetrations by the Heer though mid-February had reached upwards of roughly eighty to one hundred kilometers behind the Soviet lines, while the deepest penetrations of nearly one hundred fifty kilometers from a three panzer-divisionen
kampfgruppe was led by Rommel in the area of Tarnopol. Rommel had observed an opportunity to cut off significant Red Army forces in the south by driving on Chernivtsi or Horodenka. Intelligence suggested that nearly an entire army group might be holding the lines against the Hungarian and German borders, but with no appreciable forces holding their rear near the border with Romania.
This plan focused German attention on the front. Approval for the offensive came rapidly, as much of the Soviet lines were in complete disarray. Northern front lines were held on low-priority and entirely local attacks as this Southern front was encouraged, but the offensive was tenuous. The breakthrough was initially contingent upon just those panzer-divisionen that III Panzerkorps would leave to secure their rear, and a massive attack against 14 PzD–led by the Soviet 9. Tank, 2. and 10. Guards, and an additional three infantry divisions–was only just diverted but with heavy losses to the German force after 15 PzD was ordered to counterattack the flank of those divisions. The Soviet effort to turn the flank of Rommel’s push startled the OK-Ost leadership, who immediately ordered the VI, VIII and X Armeekorps to push out from their lines south of Lviv to fix the forces that were in the rapidly forming kessel, which was closed by 11 and 12 PzD as they reached the Romanian frontier in Kamianets Podilskyi on 20 February, thus forming what became known as the Jablonow pocket.
Northern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 24 February 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
Southern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 24 February 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
The closing of this pocket caused a certain amount of panic in the halls of the Kremlin. Stalin, needing a reason to rally the people to fight the German invasion that he had triggered, decided to put aside some of the old Communist tropes and instead call upon the inherent nationalism of Russia by declaring the conflict the Great Patriotic War. The hope being that the declaration would inspire some of the failing units to greater resistance against the Wehrmacht, and bolster the sagging morale of the population closer to the front lines. The actual effect this had on the front, however, proved largely illusory. German forces remained too concentrated along the entire front, and Soviet command remained extremely schizophrenic about unit organization and deployment. In Berlin, meanwhile, Hjalmar Schact took the opportunity to officially retire, turning the reins over to Albert Speer if only on paper.
As the efforts to reduce the large kessel continued, VI Armeekorps pushed out into Rohatyn from Lviv along the northern bank of the Poltava, while VIII and X Armeekorps applied pressure along the south to sweep up forces from threatening Hungarian forces along their frontier. Hungary had also begun an attack along the Carpathian mountains, though no records exist of their effects. Certainly, the Hungarians managed to distract significant Soviet forces from the lands around the German forces. From Tarnopol, a
kampfgruppe of III Panzerkorps’ headquarters troops, 14 and 15 Panzer-divisionen began a breakthrough strike against Husiatyn. Supported by efforts from 11 Panzer-division from the southern bank of the Poltava in Horodenka, the six exhausted Soviet divisions (7. MRD, 10. Guards, 6. KavD and 43., 111., and 159. RD) attempted to defend their section of the front at the same time as they launched their own attack against Horodok, which was held by 13 Panzer-division. The Soviet attempt to break out of the encirclement was called off on 28 February and later in the day the entire force fled their positions. By this time, the Soviets were unable to hold the northern bank of the Poltava, and only a rearguard action by the 2. Guards and 108. Rifle Divisions were able to hold a door which had closed by 2 March. A smaller pocket just north of the main effort bagged the Soviet 12. Tank Division, a formation of nearly 8 thousand troops, surrendered on 1 March; this small encirclement was the initial forming operations for I Panzerkorps and XVII Armeekorps (Mechanized) to drive towards the operational objective of Kyiv by constricting the Soviet armor formations in the path of the advance.
By 5 March, there were minimal Soviet forces facing the forces arrayed to drive on Kyiv: the majority of Soviet forces were concentrating on those German forces sealing off the Jablonow pocket, and thus a road to Kyiv was, for all intents and purposes, open. Inside the kessel, X Armeekorps had, with minimal effort, driven nearly 80 thousand troops out of Stanislawow who were already reeling from the offensive. In three days, the leading elements of I Panzerkorps had driven over 100 kilometers into the Soviet hinterlands, driving into Berdychiv on 10 March. It was at this point that OK-Ost, directed by Hitler–who Mussolini had been begging over the concerns about the Italian troops on the Black Sea coast–ordered I Panzerkorps to turn southeast, assisted along the Romanian border by III Panzerkorps (minus 11 Panzer-division, which had been left behind to assist in the Jablonow pocket) and XVII Armeekorps (Mechanized). This of course left a massive gap in the German lines: there were no forces left behind to hold the flank of II Panzerkorps which was facing the forces in the Pripet marshes. It was only fortunate that the Germans had proven to be so overwhelming that the Soviets had no units in the region to respond, much less take advantage of the opening.
Northern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 13 March 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
Southern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 13 March 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
The OK-Ost python continued to constrict the Jablonow kessel. Records are incomplete, but by 11 March, at least eight of the remaining divisions had surrendered to the onrushing Germans. As the final engagement of the Jablonow pocket began, the Hungarians had massed three divisions (3., 6., and 7. ID) in Rachev to pin the forces arrayed against them. AOK 4, overseeing the I and III Panzerkorps drives to relieve the Italians, ordered 11 Panzer-division out of the area, leaving X Armeekorps to form the German wall from Tartariv and Kolomyya to the Romanian frontier. This effort, coming at the end of a long offensive for X Armeekorps, had exhausted their logistics capacity. On 14 March, four air groups of I Fliegerkorps (AMC) began an air bridge for logistics, but offensive operations were called off for the time being. The Soviet forces attempted to break out of Jablonow in the evening of 14 March, led by the 9. Tank and 120., 130., and 188. Rifle Divisions. The Luftwaffe stepped up their ground attack efforts in the area. At one estimate from strike planners, there were 60 brigades of Soviet forces, totaling nearly 130 thousand soldiers, with more forces trickling into the pocket from forces which had been bypassed elsewhere; by 17 March nearly 206 thousand troops were estimated to be in the pocket. Regular attempts to break out of the encirclement were launched, largely ineffectively, that were called off just as rapidly. Until 20 March, much of the time was spent allowing the Luftwaffe to conduct round-the-clock air bombardments, but on that date, 85. Rifle Division managed to slip past the flank of X Armeekorps which had only just managed to begin follow-on movement to fully complete the encirclement since the departure of 11 Panzer-division. That caused the instant engagement with a three division kampfgruppe led by MG Hell, rapidly concluded with the Soviets thrown back into the pocket.
As the pocket continued to be hammered by the Luftwaffe and X Armeekorps was resupplied by air for the final battle for the Jablonow kessel, planners from Oberkommando Ost were looking at the overall picture. The Soviet forces facing these southern forces were stretched very thin; almost none of the forces arrayed against them had sufficient capacity to defend against the might of AOK 4’s heavy mechanized fist. Meanwhile, intelligence revealed that a Soviet division was equipped with heavy armor in the AOK 1 area of operations. Further, OK-Ost wanted to avoid the Pripet marshes at all costs, unconducive to mobile warfare as it was, and also wanted to avoid deploying a Panzerkorps to the northern portion of the front as the terrain there was largely forests. The two motorized Armeekorps were finally being redeployed to OK-Ost as the Kriegsmarine was applying their sealift capacity to bring those forces back to an active front. Decisions remained on how best to apply all of these forces, but the Supreme Command would interject their own ideas.
Northern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 2 April 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
Southern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 2 April 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
On 24 March, X Armeekorps began their final assault against the Jablonow pocket. With a total of almost 60 thousand troops, the remaining Soviet forces in the pocket consisted of an entire Army Group, two Army headquarters, ten Corps headquarters and twenty-five divisions. These divisions included 9. Tank, 7. Motor Rifle, 6. Cavalry and 23 infantry divisions. This pocket counted 216,216 troops in the various units, and continued to be under round-the-clock aerial bombardment from five wings of the Luftwaffe. After bitter fighting which saw two German infantry divisions break from combat due to exhaustion, the forces in the pocket finally surrendered on 9 April. In over two weeks of combat, 4760 Germans were killed in the assault, against 11219 Soviet soldiers killed on the ground and over 25 thousand killed from air attack. Almost 180 thousand marched into captivity. It was, to that point, one of the largest encirclements in the war.
The overall Eastern Front Situation as of 19 April 1943
Northern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 19 April 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
Southern sector of the Eastern Front, as of 19 April 1943.
Overall Terrain view below.
*****
Author's Note: When the forum is telling you that your AAR hasn't had a post in five months, and you have to tick the checkmark to tell the board that yes, you would like to respond... ugh. How the mighty have fallen. Though, since there's been... well, if not a flurry of activity per se in the True HoI boards... certainly an uptick, I figured I should really get this update out. I worked rather hard at it, and I'm chugging through getting these going if only to offload the images from the storage drive and to clear my mind for my efforts at the next AAR project (pending my rather inept attempts at reentering dating life because it's very lonely).
Anyhoo, here's the story of my absolute obliteration of the southern front of the Soviet AI forces. Yes, it was a ROFLSTOMP of errors, not to mention taking advantage of how the AI can't update forces and puts their forces together ineptly. This will not happen in the notional future AAR where there will be mistakes, errors, miscues, and more mayhem. I promise that now because otherwise @El Pip will mercilessly tear into the "Godly Know It All" that this AAR has clearly suffered from. Regardless, hope you're enjoying your World Cup, and how does England get forced to a draw by a colony?