06-07-2003, 10:17 PM
Russia began a series of offensive operations which continued unabated into February 1943. In these offensives the Soviet High Command attempted to smash German resistance and encircle the bulk of two German army groups. For two months the German forces struck back. In a well co-ordinated counterstroke they inflicted a major operational defeat on the Soviets and stabilized the front until the summer.
The two-month period of Soviet offensive activity during the winter of 1942-1943 saw the Red Army test new operational and tactical techniques and experiment with forces and methods for conducting mobile armoured warfare. Through victory and defeat the Red Army learnt its lesson well. Out of this period, and the three month period of relative calm that followed, emerged the new Red Army, which would defeat blitzkreig at Kursk and would achieve two years of virtually uninterrupted battlefield success, culminating in their defeat of Nazi Germanu.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction - the Red Army 1941-1945 - tragedy and rebirth of an army
- operation "Little Saturn" - the Soviet offensive on the Middle Don - December 1942
- operation "Gallop" - the Donbas operation - 29 January-6 March 1943
- operation "Star" - the Khar'kov operation - 2 February-23 March 1943
- operation "Polkovodets Rumyanstev
- - the Belgogod-Khar'kov operation - August 1943. Appendices
- order of battle - Middle Don operation (December 1942)
- order of battle - Khar'kov-Donbas operation and Manstein's counterattack (January-March 1943)
- order of battle - Belgorod-Khar'kov operation (August 1943).
The two-month period of Soviet offensive activity during the winter of 1942-1943 saw the Red Army test new operational and tactical techniques and experiment with forces and methods for conducting mobile armoured warfare. Through victory and defeat the Red Army learnt its lesson well. Out of this period, and the three month period of relative calm that followed, emerged the new Red Army, which would defeat blitzkreig at Kursk and would achieve two years of virtually uninterrupted battlefield success, culminating in their defeat of Nazi Germanu.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction - the Red Army 1941-1945 - tragedy and rebirth of an army
- operation "Little Saturn" - the Soviet offensive on the Middle Don - December 1942
- operation "Gallop" - the Donbas operation - 29 January-6 March 1943
- operation "Star" - the Khar'kov operation - 2 February-23 March 1943
- operation "Polkovodets Rumyanstev
- - the Belgogod-Khar'kov operation - August 1943. Appendices
- order of battle - Middle Don operation (December 1942)
- order of battle - Khar'kov-Donbas operation and Manstein's counterattack (January-March 1943)
- order of battle - Belgorod-Khar'kov operation (August 1943).
Under the banner of Marxism-Leninism, under the leadership of the Communist Party--forward to new victories in the construction of communism!
