When we hear the word “battle”, before us mentally a battle arises in some field, where during the day it is decided which of the rivals will be the winner. This terminology is familiar and understandable. But the battle of Rzhev was different. It covered a colossal time period and was a series of battles over two years.
Rzhev-Vyazma operation
The generally accepted time frame occupied by the Battle of Rzhev (January 8, 1942– March 31, 1943). During these days there were many periods of calm or positional war, when the troops did not launch offensives.
In early 1942, the Soviet army managed to push the Wehrmacht forces away from Moscow. But the counterattack, which became one of the turning points of the war, continued. The bet demanded the greatest possible result. The German army of the Center group was located in this region.
Soviet forces on the Western and Kalinin Front were to dismember, encircle and destroy this force. In the first January days of the counterattack, starting from the 8th day, everything went according to plan. Managed to free Vereya, Kirov, Mozhaysk, Medyn, Sukhinichi and Lyudinovo. Prerequisites appeared in order to dissect the “Center” into several isolated groups.
Environment
However, already on the 19th, by order of Joseph Stalin, part of the attacking forces was transferred to other fronts. In particular, the 1st strike army of Kuznetsov was sent to the Novgorod region near Demyansk, and the 16th army of Rokossovsky was redeployed to the south. This markedly reduced the silt of the Soviet troops. The remaining parts simply did not have enough resources to complete the operation. The initiative was lost.
At the end of January, the 33rd Army under the command of Efremov was sent to Rzhev. These units again tried to break through the enemy defenses, but in the end they themselves were surrounded. In April, the 33rd was destroyed, and Mikhail Efremov committed suicide.
The Soviet operation failed. According to official statistics, the losses amounted to 776 thousand people, of which 272 thousand were irretrievable. Only a few units broke out of the 33rd army from the encirclement, i.e., 889 soldiers.
Fights for Rzhev
In the summer of 1942, the Headquarters set the task to seize cities in the Kalinin region. First of all, it was Rzhev. The armies of two fronts again took up the matter - Kalininsky (General Konev) and Western (General Zhukov).
On July 30, another Soviet offensive began. It was extremely slow. Each piece of land passed and recaptured cost thousands of lives. Already in the first days of the operation, only 6 kilometers remained to Rzhev. However, it took nearly a month to recapture them.
They managed to approach the city only at the end of August. It seemed that the Battle of Rzhev was already won. It was even allowed to admit to the front the official representatives of the American president, who were supposed to take a look at the Soviet triumph. Rzhev was taken on September 27th. However, the Red Army lingered there for a few days. German reinforcements were immediately pulled up, which occupied the city on October 1.
The next Soviet offensive ended in nothing. Losses of the Battle of Rzhev during this period amounted to about 300 thousand people, i.e. 60% of the personnel of the Red Army in this sector of the front.
Operation Mars
Already at the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, another attempt was planned to break through the defense of the Center group. This time it was decided that the offensive would take place in those areas where it had not yet been undertaken. These were places between the Gzhat and Osuga rivers, as well as in the area of the Young Tud village. Here was the lowest density of German divisions.
At the same time, the command tried to misinform the enemy in order to distract the Wehrmacht from Stalingrad, where the decisive days of battles were coming these days.
The 39th Army managed to force Young Tud, and the 1st Mechanized Corps attacked the enemy tank formations in the area of the city of Bely. But it was a temporary success. Already in early December, the German counter-offensive stopped the Soviet soldiers and destroyed the 20th Army. Two corps awaited the same fate: the 2nd Guards Cavalry and the 6th Panzer.
Already on December 8, against the backdrop of these events, Georgy Zhukov insisted that Operation Mars (code name) resume with renewed vigor. But not one of the attempts to break through the enemy’s defense line was successful. The troops under the command of General Khozin, Yushkevich and Zygin failed. Many were again surrounded. According to various estimates, the number of dead Soviet soldiers during that period varies between 70 and 100 thousand. The Battle of Rzhev in 1942 did not bring the long-awaited victory.
Operation Buffel
In previous battles, the so-called Rzhev ledge was formed, which was occupied by German troops. It was a vulnerable section of the front — it was easiest to surround it. This became especially acute after the Soviet troops captured the city of Velikiye Luki in January 1943.
Kurt Zeitzler and the rest of the Wehrmacht command began to intensely ask Hitler to give permission for the withdrawal of troops. In the end, he agreed. The troops were to be withdrawn to the line in the area of the city of Dorogobuzh. Colonel General Walter Model became responsible for this important operation. The plan was codenamed “Büffel”, which translates from German as “buffalo”.
The capture of Rzhev
A competent withdrawal of troops allowed the Germans to leave the ledge with virtually no loss. March 30, the last soldier of the Reich left this site, which was attacked for more than a year. The Wehrmacht left behind empty cities and villages: Olenino, Gzhatsk, Bely, Vyazma. All of them were taken by the Soviet army in March 1943 without a fight.
The same fate awaited Rzhev. He was released on March 3. The first to enter the city was the 30th Army, which spent a long time on this sector of the front and was manned almost from scratch after bloody battles. Thus ended the Battle of Rzhev 1942 1943. Strategic success led to the fact that in the Great Patriotic War, the initiative again passed to the Soviet Union.
Pursuit of the adversary
The Soviet army left Rzhev behind and launched an accelerated attack on the abandoned positions of the Germans. As a result, in March we managed to push the front line west for another 150 kilometers. Communications of the Soviet troops were stretched. The vanguard moved away from the rear and support. Progress was slowed by the thaw that had begun and poor road conditions.
When the Germans gained a foothold in the Dorogobuzh region, it became clear that an army of this density could not be defeated, and the Red Army stopped. The next significant breakthrough will occur in the summer, when the Battle of Kursk ends.
The fate of Rzhev. Cultural reflection
On the eve of World War II , 56 thousand people lived in the city. The city spent 17 months in occupation, during which it was completely destroyed. The local population either escaped the day before, or did not survive the German government. When the Soviet army liberated the city on March 3, 1943, 150 civilians remained there.
As for estimates of the total losses of the Red Army over more than a year of battles, then Marshal Viktor Kulikov called the figure more than 1 million people.
The Battle of Rzhev left about 300 surviving courtyards in the city, when before the battles there were 5.5 thousand. After the war, it was rebuilt literally anew.
Bloody battles and huge losses are reflected in the people's memory and many works of art. The most famous is the poem of Alexander Twardowski "I was killed under the Rzhev." Many monuments have the Tver region. The Battle of Rzhev, the museum-panorama of this event - all this still attracts a large audience of visitors. In the city of the same name there is also a memorial obelisk.