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Battle of Velikiye Luki

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Axis-Soviet War
Barbarossa – Finland 1941-44 – Leningrad and Baltics 1941-1944 – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Bagration – Lvov-Sandomierz – Balkans 1944 – Hungary 1944-1945 – Vistula-Oder – Königsberg – Berlin – Prague – Manchuria 1945

Situation after the initial Soviet advance.
Enlarge
Situation after the initial Soviet advance.

The Battle of Velikiye Luki between Germany and the Soviet Union occurred in and around the Russian city Velikiye Luki during the winter of 1942-1943.

When Operation Barbarossa had played out and the front line in the northern sector of the Eastern Front had stabilized in the spring of 1942, the Germans were left in control of the town Velikiye Luki, which provided them a bridgehead over the Lovat River. A major north-south rail trunk ran parallel to the river somewhat to the west, behind the German lines, and marshy terrain leading to Lake Peipus began just north of the city, making attack difficult for either side there. The city itself was therefore a natural point for a Soviet counterattack, to reduce the German bridgehead and establish a bridgehead of their own on the opposite side, denying the Germans use of the rail trunk. Thus the Germans garrisoned the city and fortified it heavily over the course of 1942.

A major Soviet offensive to retake the city did indeed develop in mid-November 1942, beginning just days before the larger Operation Uranus that surrounded Stalingrad, and Velikiye Luki was likewise quickly surrounded. However, the garrison and fortifications prevented its immediate seizure. While the Soviets fought to reduce the fortified heart of the city the Germans brought up reserves and began a series of attempts to relieve the garrison. All the attempts failed, and during the final attempt commandos from the Brandenburger Regiment were used to infiltrate the lines and help the remnant of the garrison break out, but the city was permanently lost to the Red Army and only a small fraction of the original German garrison escaped with the Brandenburgers. The defenders in the Eastern half of the city finally surrendered on 16 January 1943.

The battle is sometimes called "The Little Stalingrad of the North" due to its similarities with the larger and better-known Battle of Stalingrad that raged simultaneously in the southern sector of the front. (However, a number of other battles in World War II and afterward have also been dubbed a "Little Stalingrad".)

Contents

Orders of battle

German

Most of Army Group Center was engaged in resisting the second Soviet Rzhev-Sychevka offensive throughout this period.

Prior to the battle the forces in and around Velikiye Luki were under the control of the LIX Corps, commanded by General Chevallerie. As the battle developed LIX Corps was temporarily redesignated Group Chevallerie, an army in all but name, and a new Group Wöhler was organized to control the troops in the relief attempts. Group Chevallerie was redesignated back to LIX Corps after the battle.

Almost half of 83rd Infantry was assigned to the Velikiye Luki garrison.

3rd Mountain was at little more than half strength, since its 139th Regiment had been left in Lapland when the division withdrew from northern Finland. The 138th Mountain Regiment was the unknown unit of 3rd Mountain shown in Maps 2 and 3.

8th Panzer was dispatched from Army Group North's reserve. It was greatly understrength in tanks at the time of the battle. Those it had were mostly the useful but obsolescent PzKW 38t models of Czechoslovakian pre-war design reinforced with only a few PzKW III and PzKW IV, no match for the Soviet tanks encountered in the battle.

20th Motorized was from Army Group Center's reserve.

Soviet

German relief attempts. (Notice that the order of battle given on this 1952 map is not accurate.)
Enlarge
German relief attempts. (Notice that the order of battle given on this 1952 map is not accurate.)

Most of Maksim Alekseevich Purkayev's Kalinin Front was engaged in the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive to the south of Velikiye Luki; only the units on his right flank participated in this battle. K. N. Galitsky commanded the 3rd Shock Army which was part of the Kalinin Front.

The 92nd Tank Brigade was equipped with heavy KV-1 tanks.

Conversely, the 34th Breakthrough Tank Regiment was equipped with T-34 tanks rather than the expected KV-1 tanks. Also, notice that the 34th was not a Guards unit, though it operated as part of the 46th Guards Rifle Division.

The 184th Tank Brigade was destroyed and rebuilt again over the course of the battle. However, for some reason it was rebuilt as the 78th Tank Brigade.

See also

References

 

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