Russian Campaign, 1943-44

The surrender of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad on February 2, 1943, left Hitler's forces in the Caucasus in a perilous situation. Field Marshal General Paul Ludwig von Kleist conducted a successful retreat while Field Marshal Erich von Mannstein held a corridor open for him at Rostov. The Russians then launched an offensive from Voronezh toward the Ukraine, and captured Kursk on February 8. Rostov fell to the Russians on February 14 and Kharkov on February 16. However, efforts to continue the advance into the Ukraine were repulsed by German counterattacks, and the Germans recaptured Kharkov on March 14.

The Battle of Kursk was the culmination of what was to be the last great German offensive against the Soviet Union. The German plan was to attack the north side of the Soviet salient around Kursk with Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge's Ninth Army, and simultaneously push against the southern side of the salient with the Fourth Panzer Army, led by Mannstein. These two armies would then link up and destroy the trapped Soviets. German delays gave the Soviets time to prepare powerful defenses within the salient and to bring in more troops and equipment. The Soviet plan was to allow the Germans to batter themselves against the Soviet defenses until exhausted, and then strike back. The two sides committed a total of 6,000 tanks, 4,000 aircraft, and 2,000,000 men.

The German attack began on July 5. Gains were small and costly, as the Soviet defenses were well prepared and the Soviets possessed air superiority. The German troops in the north advanced only about six miles (10 km) before they were stopped; those in the south gained only 20 miles (32 km) in an entire week of hard fighting. The Battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle of the war, with as many as 3,000 tanks engaged at once. The Germans lost some 2,000 tanks in the course of the battle, a blow from which the once dreaded panzer armies never completely recovered. The Soviets' losses were nearly as high, but their tank production was sufficient to compensate for the losses.

On July 12, the Soviets struck back, attacking the German salient around Orel, but Soviet progress was slow. On August 3, Soviet troops struck in the south, advancing against Belgorod. Belgorod was taken on August 5, the same day that Orel was liberated. Kharkov was retaken for the last time on August 23. It had changed hands four times and was in ruins.

By September, Soviet armies under Generals Ivan S. Konev, Rodion Y. Malinovsky, and Fedor I. Tolbukhin were attacking all along the Dnieper River. On November 6, after heavy fighting at Dnepropetrovsk and Melitopol, the Germans were pushed back across the river. Kiev, capital of the Ukraine, was also recaptured on November 6. On the central front the Germans were driven out of Smolensk on September 25, but the Russian drive could not be sustained, grinding to a halt some 100 miles (160 km) east of Minsk.

On January 15, 1944, the Soviets launched a major offensive in the north. Soviet troops struck south in two prongs from besieged Leningrad, and at the same time attacked near Novgorod. The Soviet advance continued steadily and German casualties were high. By early March, the German armies had been forced back to Estonia and Latvia.

On March 4, 1944, a new Soviet offensive opened in the Ukraine. A series of thrusts soon left the Germans with only an uncertain foothold in the Soviet Union. Konev's army reached the Romanian frontier before the end of the month, and Zhukov's troops were at the border of Czechoslovakia on April 8. After the fall of Odessa two days later the Germans had little hope of holding any part of the Ukraine. A Soviet drive into the Crimea resulted in the liberation of Sevastopol on May 9.