The birthday number “3” reveals its character faster than all other numbers. You have a keen and intuitive mind, with the ability to absorb knowledge quickly and easily, often at a very early age.

You are a talented person, capable, but alone you will not be able to fully use your talent, since you will choose easier ways and means to achieve your goal.
You like to adapt to everything that promises immediate benefit. You prefer to take life as such not so seriously.

Three is the number of trinity. Number three people are energetic, talented, disciplined, which almost always allows them to achieve great success in their chosen fields of activity. As a rule, they are never satisfied with little. By nature they are very proud and independent, they like to control the situation, command and order. They have the best relationships with those whose number is 3, 6 or 9.

Lucky day for number 3 is Tuesday.

Your planet is Mars.

Advice:

You need interesting people, an easy, pleasant environment, constant entertainment, the opportunity to live today and not in the future. With the right start, you will go far, because you do not doubt your abilities and are competent in your work. However, natural impatience, the desire for easy activities, as well as temporary quick success in it, can prevent you from moving to another path, with more high opportunities, where forward planning is assumed.

Important:
Talent, art, helping others.
Three calls to be attractive to the other sex, sometimes aggressive, but always bright, brilliant, happy and successful. Patronizes students, military personnel, surgeons and adventurers.

Love and sex:

Such people are most often attracted to charming members of the opposite sex. They have huge opportunities to attract people with an exciting sexual aura.
But a stable family requires much more than just charm. Therefore they must rely on knowledge human nature. In their youth, many people have illusions about marriage. It seems to them that everything will automatically change for the better, but after the romance of the first months, bitter disappointment may come.

The only guarantee of the strength of a marriage is the community of interests of the partners, as well as joint participation in social activities. At the same time, love and respect increase.

Birth number for a woman

Birth number 3 for a woman An interesting, active woman, you won’t get bored with her, and at the same time she is quite reasonable. She charms men with her charm and independent behavior. She attracts mobility and intelligence. She is sincere and sensual, self-confident to the point of narcissism. Filled with optimism, hopes and desires. She needs to feel free and be the center of attention. Only then can she and her partner develop strong and harmonious relationships, which she so needs. Intuitively knows what he wants and usually gets it. She values ​​friendship and devotion; sex for her is a game and entertainment. First of all, strive to satisfy your own needs. She is focused on the future and does not tolerate mention of old relationships. You need to communicate with her carefully. She needs romantic adventures and intellectual communication. Her feelings are changeable, she gets tired of deep relationships. Even when she is in love, she can flirt with other men. Impulsive, and not afraid to break up with her partner. Stays young for a long time. A partner can be happy with her because she herself strives to be happy. She should listen to the opinion of her partner, take into account his tastes and desires.

Birth number for a man

Birth number 3 for a man A sociable, active man, is popular and can have several relationships at the same time. Always ready for fun, adventure, risky ventures; the soul of any company, but he is often not taken seriously. He is characterized by inspiration and aspiration for the future. He cannot stand boredom and possessiveness. He needs to feel easy and at ease. At the first meeting, he strives to make the best impression. In a woman, he is more attracted to charm than beautiful appearance. Often he chooses a woman based on the first impression, and later realizes that this is far from ideal. He enjoys the process of the relationship more than the result. When he is in love, he is focused on the object of his passion. Immersed in dreams and daydreams. Spiritual closeness, intellectual communication, and coincidence of interests are important to him. Does not tolerate restrictions on freedom. You cannot seduce him with comfort and tranquility. Prone to irresponsibility. An equally sociable woman would suit him. Perhaps his chosen one will have an independent character and attractive appearance.

Birth number 18

These people combine ambition and strength, talent, artistry and sensitivity. Others may not understand them.

They are oversexed, but often cannot express their desires, and therefore suffer disappointments. Sensitive and gentle lovers, they truly love and do not hide anything from those they love. The partner should be soft and pliable.

They are loyal in friendship, but not easy to get along with. Their loved ones should know where and when to lead. Friends should be strong, not weak, but in the interests of friendship not to contradict.

They should not be unceremonious, otherwise they will lose all their popularity, be gentler with others. Not many understand them, not everyone can become their close friends.
Mental disorders and fevers are common.

Pythagorean square or psychomatrix

The qualities listed in the cells of the square can be strong, average, weak or absent, it all depends on the number of numbers in the cell.

Decoding the Pythagorean Square (cells of the square)

Character, willpower - 3

Energy, charisma - 1

Cognition, creativity - 3

Health, beauty - 2

Logic, intuition - 0

Hard work, skill - 0

Luck, luck - 0

Call of Duty 2

Memory, mind - 1

Decoding the Pythagorean Square (rows, columns and diagonals of the square)

The higher the value, the more pronounced the quality.

Self-esteem (column “1-2-3”) - 7

Making money (column “4-5-6”) - 2

Talent potential (column “7-8-9”) - 3

Determination (line “1-4-7”) - 5

Family (line “2-5-8”) - 3

Stability (line “3-6-9”) - 4

Spiritual potential (diagonal “1-5-9”) - 4

Temperament (diagonal “3-5-7”) - 3

Chinese zodiac sign Monkey

Every 2 years the Element of the year changes (fire, earth, metal, water, wood). The Chinese astrological system divides years into active, stormy (Yang) and passive, calm (Yin).

You Monkey elements Tree of the year Ian

Birth hours

24 hours correspond to twelve signs Chinese zodiac. The sign of the Chinese horoscope of birth corresponds to the time of birth, so it is very important to know the exact time of birth; it has a strong impact on a person’s character. It is argued that by looking at your birth horoscope you can accurately determine the characteristics of your character.

The most striking manifestation of the qualities of the hour of birth will occur if the symbol of the hour of birth coincides with the symbol of the year. For example, a person born in the year and hour of the Horse will display the maximum qualities prescribed for this sign.

• Rat – 23:00 – 01:00
• Bull – 1:00 – 3:00
• Tiger – 3:00 – 5:00
• Rabbit – 5:00 – 7:00
• Dragon – 7:00 – 9:00
• Snake – 09:00 – 11:00
• Horse – 11:00 – 13:00
• Goat – 13:00 – 15:00
• Monkey – 15:00 – 17:00
• Rooster – 17:00 – 19:00
• Dog – 19:00 – 21:00
• Pig – 21:00 – 23:00

European zodiac sign Pisces

Dates: 2013-02-19 -2013-03-20

The four Elements and their Signs are distributed as follows: Fire(Aries, Leo and Sagittarius), Earth(Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn), Air(Gemini, Libra and Aquarius) and Water(Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces). Since the elements help to describe the main character traits of a person, by including them in our horoscope, they help to form a more complete picture of a particular person.

Features of this element are cold and humidity, metaphysical sensitivity, feeling, perception. There are 3 signs of this quality in the Zodiac - a water trine (triangle): Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces. The Water trine is considered the trine of feelings and sensations. Principle: internal constancy despite external variability. Water is emotions, inner peace, preservation, memory. She is plastic, changeable, secretive. Gives such qualities as uncertainty, daydreaming, imaginative thinking, gentleness of manifestation. It slows down metabolism in the body, controls fluids and the work of endocrine glands.
People whose horoscopes express the element of Water have a phlegmatic temperament. These people have great sensitivity, are very receptive and impressionable, thinking, living more inner life than external. People of the Water trine are usually contemplative, thinking both about their own good and the good of their loved ones, however, at times they can be indifferent, lethargic, and lazy, with the exception of people of the Scorpio sign. Their external manifestation of feelings is not as pronounced as that of representatives of the Fire or Air trigons, but they experience internal feelings with great strength and depth.
For people of the Water trine, efficiency, practicality, sobriety of thought, and objectivity are not their strong points, but they are not short of imagination, they have a rich and vivid imagination, great internal and external strength, especially among Scorpios.
People of the water trigon, thanks to the richness of their inner world and sophistication of perception, achieve the greatest success in professions related to the world of arts, they especially shine as artists and performing musicians. Water signs can also be excellent workers in areas related to service and nutrition. And Scorpios are also excellent detectives due to their exquisite intuition.
The plans and moods of people in the Water trine can change both from external circumstances and from internal state souls. A minor detail, sometimes not even tracked by consciousness, can radically change their state of mind, which can lead to a complete loss of interest either in the matter or in the partner.
People of the element of Water have great spiritual sophistication, are kind, polite, courteous, very attractive and attractive. They are usually not aggressive, with the exception of Scorpio.
Of the signs of the Water trine, Scorpio is the strongest in body and spirit, the most meaningful, the most aggressive, not susceptible to unwanted influence from the outside and showing strong resistance to everything with which his soul does not agree. His patience, endurance, tenacity and perseverance are simply amazing.
The weakest of the zodiac signs of the Water trine is Pisces. The middle ground between firmness and instability is occupied by the third sign of this trine - Cancer. Although his spiritual sphere is also very receptive and impressionable, he is distinguished by noticeable perseverance, endurance and purposefulness, therefore, of all the water signs, it is Cancer who more often than others achieves success in life.
The feelings of all three signs of the Water trine are approximately equally strong and, as a rule, prevail over the mind. These people are always ready to make self-sacrifice for the good of a loved one, as they always experience deep and pure feelings towards their loved ones. If they are not appreciated, they leave their partner forever, which is the real drama of life for them. They are looking for a partner who is worthy of them. Love and marriage are of paramount importance in life for them, especially for women.
An excessive tendency towards daydreaming and fantasies, too vivid an imagination can lead to internal contradiction - a collision of their illusions with reality. If a person does not see a way out of this state, depression, addiction to alcohol, drugs, other stimulants, and even mental illness may occur.

Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. The mutable cross is the cross of reason, connection, adaptation, distribution. The main quality is the transformation of ideas. He is always here and now, that is, in the present. It gives mobility, flexibility, adaptability, flexibility, duality. People in whose horoscopes the Sun, Moon or most of the personal planets are in mutable signs have diplomatic abilities. They have a flexible mind and subtle intuition. They are usually very careful, prudent, vigilant and constantly in a state of anticipation, which helps them adapt to any situation. The main thing for them is to have information. When they feel not very competent or informed in any matter, they are excellent at evading and dodging everyone and everything, although they are considered the most knowledgeable of the entire Zodiac. They are sociable, courteous, talkative, and interesting conversationalists. They easily and skillfully give up positions, admit their mistakes and blunders, and agree with their opponents and interlocutors. People with a mutable cross strive for internal harmony, agreement, mediation and cooperation, but are subject to strong internal anxiety and outside influence. Their greatest passion is curiosity, which forces them to be in constant motion. Their views and worldview are rather unstable and depend on the environment. Often they lack proper point vision. This partly explains the reasons for their imbalance and inconstancy, the changes in their lives. The true goals and plans of these people are difficult to predict, but they almost accurately guess the plans of others. They take advantage of every opportunity that can bring them benefit or profit, and skillfully manage to circumvent the blows of fate. People with a mutable cross are born realists. To achieve their goal, they use numerous friends, acquaintances, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, even strangers. Life crises are easily experienced and quickly forgotten. If there is no direct path to a life goal, then they will take a circuitous path, thinking through every step, avoiding all visible sharp corners, avoiding all pitfalls. What helps them is their natural cunning and slyness, flattery and deception, and ability to deceive. Mutable signs will help out of any abnormal, unusual situation; such a situation will not make them nervous, they will only feel their element, in which they can finally act. At the same time, their psyche and nervous system are very unstable. Serious obstacles can quickly incapacitate them, unsettle them and delay the achievement of their goals. In this case, they do not resist, but go with the flow.

Pisces is the last sign of the Zodiac, it is the element of Water in the transformation zone and a sign formed under the vibrations of Neptune. The second ruler of Pisces is Jupiter. In Pisces, the manifestations of the element of Water are expressed dually, at the external level Pisces has Water, and at the internal level Fire begins to sound. If you were born under the sign of Pisces, then you are passive by nature, very sensitive, and you take all the blows of fate to heart.
Sometimes you are very susceptible to external influence, extremely dependent on someone else’s will, on someone else’s point of view, on the ideology that is currently being introduced into your consciousness. You are very easy to get carried away, you subtly and clearly feel the rhythm, literally on an intuitive level. Therefore, music has a very strong effect on you.

In the lowest case, you fall into a trance from the music, and in the highest case, on the wave of the musical flow, you soar to the heights of spirituality and cosmic love, which largely pours out on us through the musical flow.
You are very gentle and sentimental. Situations where you are understood are very important to you in life. As a rule, you suffer greatly from misunderstanding. You are very empathetic and need someone who will
understood and, to some extent, guided you. You are very vulnerable, easily become despondent, but, on the other hand, you are capable of self-denial and self-sacrifice. When high development it is you who can give the last.

Of your essential qualities, we should note a secret, subconscious, and sometimes obvious desire for mystery, for everything mysterious. Therefore you can be an occultist. Astrology is also secret, occult knowledge, and you should not be surprised that you can come to astrology. You can also be a great actor because you have empathy. At your worst, you are perhaps the most unscrupulous person in the entire Zodiac, since Pisces is, in a sense, the last sign of the Zodiac, it is a mirror reflecting the worst and best traits of all other signs.
At best, you are like a mirror that shows each sign of the Zodiac its true face, face, face, muzzle - depending on who has what. In the worst case, you are like a sewer of the entire Zodiac, into which each sign dumps its impurities. But you are very patient and are able to take on impurities, thereby cleansing other people, while you yourself know how to quickly cleanse yourself of everything that was poured on you. In this case, if you are a higher, developed Pisces. If we talk about the worst manifestations, then these are, as has already been said, meanness, unprincipledness, susceptibility to any influence, a lack of criticality in the mind at all. These people are capable of the most vile human qualities. Of course, even the lowest and meanest Pisces will be tormented by remorse. But if “the lesson was not useful,” he will continue his vile deeds. Among Pisces there are many alcoholics and drug addicts. The essential quality of Pisces is perception, that is, complete disclosure and transmission of the flow of life through itself. Pisces adapt very easily to any environment.

If we turn to the symbolism of the sign of Pisces, we will see, as it were, two fish: a fish swimming upward towards spirituality along the path of evolution, and a fish swimming downward along the path of degradation. They can also be thought of as living fish and dead fish. Accordingly, among the people of this sign we find a lot of living, and, perhaps, even more dead Pisces. Living Fish is the achievement of our harmony with the Cosmos, with God, it is sounding in unison with the Cosmos. Dead Fish is pseudo-harmony, seduction, seduction, fanaticism and chaos. The range of manifestations of Pisces is very wide, from complete conformism and spinelessness to extreme fanaticism, including religious and ideological. Among Pisces there are also terrible killers who cannot be stopped by anything, and there are many spies. In a sense, all counterintelligence is under Pisces. In the worst manifestations, Pisces reach the point of sadism and perversion. Pisces problems are problems of confused thinking. Pisces have a mythological consciousness and perceive the world intuitively. The strengths of Pisces are aestheticism, the ability to see beauty and harmony, which often turns into their weakness. Pisces are very dependent on love. Here we see how strength turns into weakness, dignity becomes disadvantage. Therefore, as a disadvantage, the need for love makes Pisces very dependent on people around them and close to them, on family, on the feeling of being in love. Pisces often have problems with speech, with the manner of expressing their thoughts, so Pisces need to work on logical structures and the ability to think harmoniously. The karmic task of Pisces is to accept the flow of Cosmic love and Divine grace and bestow this flow on the people around them, to share that divine love, compassion, mercy, which all Pisces are endowed with from birth.

Country of Pisces - Judea (Israel), Philippines and all island states. Under the fishes is Armenia. These are ethnic groups and nations that absorb all influences and sometimes, from this mishmash of various influences, organize new system, sometimes an eclectic, inanimate, and at best a synthetic and living structure.
The best qualities of Pisces are the desire for ideality, spirituality, beauty. There are a lot of musicians among Pisces: Bach, Handel, Rossini, Vivaldi, Rimsky-Korsakov. Pisces were many subtle artists who convey the subtlest curves of the human soul with the help of composition, paint and light: Vrubel, Renoir, Botticelli, Michelangelo. Among our historical and political leaders of our country we find such Pisces - these are Molotov, Zhdanov, Gorbachev. Among scientists - Vernadsky, among poets - Baratynsky.

Famous Pisces: Alferova, F. Aquinas, Baratynsky, Bulanova, Besson, Babkina, J. Binoche, J. Berkeley, Berdyaev, Bering, Verlaine, Vrubel, Vivaldi, Vernadsky, Garcia Marquez, G. Garrison, Gagarin, Gorin, Gorbachev, Bon Jovi, Zhvanetsky, V. Zaitsev, Kustodiev, F. Curie, Leoncavallo, Luxembourg, Mikhalkov, Michelangelo, Rimsky-Korsakov, Minnelli, Nuriev, Norris, Opel, Olesha, Pasolini, Ponarovskaya, Richter, Chris Rea, Ravel, Sotkilava, S. Stone, Strizhenova, T. Tereshkova, Bruce Willis, Hubbard, Chopin, Strauss, Shevchenko, Einstein, Yursky.

Watch a video:

Pisces | 13 zodiac signs | TV channel TV-3

The site provides condensed information about the zodiac signs. Detailed information can be found on the corresponding websites.

Oh, what a beautiful spring day
And how harsh he is when there is battle.
But we fight for justice and freedom -
Against all those who have become the brown plague!

March 1, 1944. 984th day of the war. Leningrad-Novgorod operation (1944) Troops of the Leningrad (L.A. Govorov) and 2nd Baltic (M.M. Popov) fronts, pursuing the enemy, reached the Pskov-Ostrovsky fortified area. Despite significant progress, the directives of the Supreme High Command on the offensive of the troops of the Leningrad Front in the directions of Valga, Võru and Riga and the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front towards Karsava were not implemented. The main reason This resulted from the fact that our troops had to overcome strong enemy resistance, operating in wooded and swampy areas and in extremely unfavorable meteorological conditions. All this gave the enemy the opportunity to withdraw the main forces of the 16th Army and the remnants of the defeated troops of the 18th Army and occupy the previously prepared line. The enemy's resistance at the line of Pskov, Novorzhev, Pustoshka was so fierce that Soviet troops were forced to stop the offensive and go on the defensive.
The Leningrad-Novgorod operation, which took place from January 14 to March 1, 1944, ended. Troops of the Leningrad and 2nd Baltic Fronts broke through the enemy’s defenses on a front up to 600 km, pushed him back from Leningrad to 220-280 km, and to the south of Lake. Ilmen - 180 km, defeated 26 and completely destroyed 3 enemy divisions.
The duration of the operation is 48 days. The average daily rate of advance is 5-6 km. The number of troops of the Leningrad and 2nd Baltic fronts at the beginning of the operation was 822,100 people.
1st Ukrainian Front. On March 1, after N.F. Vatutin was wounded, G.K. Zhukov was appointed commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front by a directive from Headquarters.
Sovinformburo. A few days ago, troops of the LENINGRAD Front fought across the NARVA River south of the city of NARVA and, breaking through the heavily fortified enemy defenses, captured a bridgehead on the western bank of the river stretching along the front 35 kilometers and 15 kilometers deep. Our troops captured the settlements of Väska, Mustajõe, SURESORU, KÄREKONNA, SEBERGI, AUVERE, HAVAKINGU, METSKÜLA. UHEKONNA and cut the NARVA - TALLINN railway in the area of ​​the AUVERE railway station, 15 kilometers west of the mountains. NARVA.
During March 1, in the PSKOV direction, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied more than 70 settlements, including NEVADITSY, BOLSHAYA ZHADUNKA, RYABOVA, LANEVA GORA, OREKHOVICHI, OLISOVO, PERESVETOVO, BOLOTOVO, SOSNITSY, VASUKINO, KASHino and railway station RUSAKI. Our troops cut the TYUKOV-IDRITSA railway.
North-west of NOVOSOKOLNIKI, our troops fought and occupied several settlements, including DUPLI, LITOVO, PUNDROVKA, KUYALY, ZABORIE, LUNEVKA.
In the VITEBSK direction, our troops fought offensive battles, during which they occupied more than 30 settlements, including BATALI, BAKERS, SKULOVICHI, ABUKHOVO, TISHKOVA, VORONY, SELYUTY.

March 2, 1944. Sovinformburo. During March 2, in the NARVA direction, our troops captured several heavily fortified strongholds of the German defense and improved their positions on the bridgehead southwest of the mountains. NARVA. In the PSKOV direction, our troops fought offensive battles, during which they knocked out the enemy from several strongholds of his defense.
In the OSTROVSKY direction, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Leningrad region SOSHIKHINO, and also fought to occupy more than 30 other settlements, including ZAMOSHYE, ROZHANKA, TSERKOVISHCHE, SAMUKHINO, BELOVA, TEREGAYEVA, GASTENY, LOBANY, DEDOVTSY and railway stations SOSHIKHINO, SERGINO.

March 3, 1944. Sovinformburo. During March 3, in the NARVA direction, our troops continued to fight to expand the bridgehead southwest of the city of NARVA and improved their positions.
In the PSKOV direction, our troops, overcoming enemy resistance, continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they captured the settlements of MARKOVO, BOLSHOE and MALOYE FOMKINO, YAZYKOVA, SOROKINO, STARUKHINO, PKHVALYDINA, RAMENYE, LETNEVO, BAEVO, SYSOEVO and the railway stations of DOBROVEDKI, KEB.
In the OSTROVSKY direction, our troops, as a result of offensive battles, captured the settlements of ZAGARIE, RED PRUDS, STRELKOVO, PODBEREZYE, OVECHKINO, SELIVANOVKA and the railway stations KRASNYE PRUDS, ZHELEZOVSKY.

March 4, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. The Proskurov-Chernovtsy offensive operation of the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front began in cooperation with the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, which lasted until April 17.
At 8 o'clock in the morning on March 4, the 60th Army of I. D. Chernyakhovsky and the 1st Guards Army of A. A. Grechko of the 1st Ukrainian Front of G. K. Zhukov, after artillery preparation, went on the offensive to the southwest and southeast Shepetivka. Infantry and tanks broke through the first line of enemy fortifications. To develop success in the 60th Army zone, the 4th Tank Army of V. M. Badanov and the 3rd Guards Tank Army of P. S. Rybalko were introduced into the battle.
Sovinformburo. During March 4, in the NARVA direction, our troops continued to fight to expand the bridgehead southwest of the city of NARVA and knocked the enemy out of several heavily fortified strongholds of his defense.
In the OSTROVSKY direction, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they captured the settlements of PANEVO, GUSAKOVO, NEMOEVO. SHUBINA GORA, EMELYAKHINA, SIGORINO.
South of the city of Krivoy Rog, our troops, having crossed the INGULETS River, captured the settlements of ZELENAYA, RUDNIK, NIKOLAEVKA, ROZOVKA, ZAGRADOVKA and the railway stations INGULETS, NIKOLO-KOZELSK.

March 5, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. In the first two days of the offensive, the troops of the strike group of the 1st Ukrainian Front overcame enemy defenses on a 180-kilometer front and advanced from 25 to 50 km. A significant group of enemy troops was surrounded and defeated in the Mokeevtsy area (12 km south of Shepetivka). Near Teofipol (20 km southeast of Yampol), our units surrounded and destroyed a German infantry regiment.
On March 5, the 18th Army went on the offensive in the direction of Khmilnik.
Uman-Botoshan operation. The Uman-Botoshan offensive operation of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front began, which lasted until April 17, 1944.
On March 4, reconnaissance in force was carried out in the breakthrough area in order to clarify the front line of the enemy’s defense. To camouflage areas of the upcoming breakthrough, reconnaissance in force was carried out along the entire front line.
March 5 at 6 o'clock. 54 min. an artillery offensive began in the direction of the main attack. The artillery preparation lasted 56 minutes. At 7:50 a.m. infantry and tanks went on the attack.
The troops of the front's main strike group, consisting of the 40th, 27th, 52nd, 4th Guards and 53rd Armies, 2nd and 5th Guards Tank Armies, went on the offensive from the Zvenigorodka area in the general direction of Uman . On the very first day, the enemy’s defenses were broken through for 30-35 km.
To increase the force of the strike, I. S. Konev, on the very first day, brought into battle in the 27th Army zone the main forces of the 2nd Tank Army (3rd and 16th Tank Corps), and in the 4th Guards Army zone the main forces of the 5th Guards Tank Army (18th, 20th, 29th Tank Corps). Then the advance of the 6th Tank Army (5th Guards Tank and 5th Mechanized Corps) began.
Sovinformburo. During March 5, in the NARVA direction, our troops continued to fight to expand the bridgehead southwest of the city of NARVA and improved their positions.
The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front went on the offensive on March 4 and, having broken through the strong German defenses on a front stretching up to 180 kilometers, moved forward from 25 to 50 kilometers in two days of offensive battles. As a result of the breakthrough, the front troops captured the city and the large railway station IZYASLAVL, the cities of SHUMSK, YAMPOL, OSTROPOL, the regional centers of the Kamenets-Podolsk region LYAKHOVTSY, ANTONINY, TEOFIPOL, BAZALIA, and also occupied more than 500 other settlements, including large ones, with fighting settlements ZHOLOBKI, KATRYNBURG, SURAZH, YUROVKA, PALACE, MIKHNOV, ZHILIINTSY, GORODISCHE, KLEMBOVKA, SHUMBOR, UNIEV, BELOGORODKA, CHIZHYOVKA, PODGAITSE, VYAZOVETS, POGORELTSY, POLYAKHOVA, TERNAVKA, BORSUKI, NAPADIVKA , VYZHRUDEK. BYALOZURKA, SVIATETS, SHIBENO, YAKHNOVTSY, KUPEL, DENISOVKA, NOVO-LABUN, SASANOVKA, ONATSKOVTSY, VELIKIE MACEVICHY, MARTYNOVKA, PROVALOVKA, railway stations KLEMBOVKA, BELOGORODKA, ZHYZNIKOVTSY, SUKHOVOLYA, LEPESOVKA, LANOVTSY, BEREZHANKA, BYALKA, VYSHEGRUDEK, and are fighting on the approaches and railway station VOLOCHISK.

March 6, 1944. Uman-Botoshan operation. The 2nd Tank Army of S.I. Bogdanov with its main forces broke through the enemy’s defenses and entered the operational depths.
From the evening of March 5 and the afternoon of March 6, the 5th Guards Tank Army encountered the approaching units of the 13th and 14th German tank divisions and managed to defeat them.
On March 6, the 6th Tank Army, consisting of the 5th Guards Tank and 5th Mechanized Corps, received the task of capturing an important railway junction and enemy stronghold - Khristinovka - with a roundabout maneuver from the north-west, and then advancing in a south-western direction to the town Vapnyarka and Vapnyarka station, preventing the enemy from retreating in the southern and southwestern directions.
Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation. The Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya offensive operation of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front began, which lasted until March 18, 1944.
At dawn on March 6, the troops of the 46th and 8th Guards armies of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, after strong artillery and air preparation, went on the offensive in the direction of New Bug. Auxiliary strikes were carried out by the 57th, 37th, 6th, 5th shock and 28th armies. The ground forces were supported by the 17th Air Force.
The enemy's defense front in the direction of the main attack was broken through on the very first day of the offensive. Formations of the 8th Guards Army of V.I. Chuikov knocked down the enemy from the first defense position. By the evening of March 6, the fighting continued with the same intensity. To increase the force of the strike, the front commander decided to introduce I. A. Pliev’s cavalry-mechanized group (4th Guards Cavalry and 4th Guards Mechanized Corps) into the battle. Under pouring rain and along soggy roads, the formations of the cavalry-mechanized group approached the front line. Late in the evening of March 6, they reached the front line and, together with rifle units, knocked down the enemy from their occupied line.
Sovinformburo. During March 6, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Tarnopol region the city of ZBARAZH, VYSHNEVETS, LANOVTSY, NOVOYE SELO, the regional centers of the Kamenets-Podolsk region FRIDRICHOVKA, GRITSEV, and also occupied more than 200 other settlements with fighting , including large settlements BASHKOVTSE, ZALESTSE, ZHESNIVKA, LOPUSHNO, SHILY, KOSHLYAKI, OZHIHOVTSI, KURILOVKA, VOLOCHYSK, LOZOVA, MANACHIN, BIG ZHEREBKI, BORSCHOVKA, KOLKI, RESHNEVKA, VLASHANOVKA, NECHAYEVKA , MOKEEVTSI, RASHTOVKA, PISAREVKA, GUBIN, YUZEFOVKA, OZHAROVKA, MSHANETS, MOTOVILOVKA and railway stations KARNACHEVKA, ZARUDECHKO, KRASNOSELTSE, ZBARAZH, VOLOCHYSK, VOITOVTSY. NARKEVICHI.
Our troops cut off the enemy's most important communications line - the PROSKUROV - TARNOPOL railway.

March 7, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. By March 7, the 60th Army of I. D. Chernyakhovsky and the 1st Guards Army of A. A. Grechko of the 1st Ukrainian Front of G. K. Zhukov reached the Ternopil - Proskurov line, cutting off the important Lviv - Odessa railway.
Fierce fighting ensued along the entire front. The troops of the front's strike group not only retained the railway line in the Volochisk - Black Island section, but also pushed back the enemy in a number of areas to the south of the railway.
Uman-Botoshan operation. By the end of the 6th and in the afternoon of March 7, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front reached the Gorny Tikich River. As they approached the river, the forward detachments began to cross it on the move.
The 40th Army brought the 50th Rifle Corps from the flank group into the breakthrough and captured a number of settlements and the outskirts of the village of Kishentsy.
The 27th Army, developing an offensive in the general direction of Khristinovka, reached the line south of the village of Kishentsy.
The 6th Tank Army, together with units of the 27th Army, captured the village of Kishentsy and fought for Nesterovka.
The 2nd Tank Army, having broken enemy resistance on the southern bank of the Gorny Tikich River, by the end of March 7 was fighting in the Potash area near the railway south and southwest of Zheludkov.
The 52nd Army reached the line - the western outskirts of Popuzhentsy, Vesely Kut.
During March 6 and 7, the 4th Guards Army advanced to a depth of 17 km.
The 5th Guards Tank Army, consisting of the 18th, 20th, 29th Tank Corps and the 59th Guards Tank Regiment, repelled attacks by the enemy's 13th and 14th Tank Divisions, reached the northern bank of the Gorny Tikich River, section Kardashovka, Dalnyaya and fought for the crossing.
The 53rd Army, using the success of the 4th Guards Army, launched an offensive on the flank and reached the village of Stebnaya.
As a result of the first three days, the front armies in the direction of the main attack expanded the breakthrough to 80 km and advanced into the depth of the enemy’s defense to 50 km. As a result of the rapid actions of the 2nd Tank Army of S. I. Bogdanov and the 5th Guards Tank Army of P. A. Rotmistrov, the enemy’s defensive line along the Gorny Tikich River was overcome on the move, and the opportunity opened up to strike at Khristinovka and Uman. During all three days the weather remained unflyable.
Sovinformburo. During March 7, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional center of the Ternopil region, the city and large railway station PODVOLOCHYSK, the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region OLD SINYAVA, and also occupied more than 200 other settlements, including RYDOML, PIGS, OLD OLEXYNETS, DOBROVODY, IGROVITSKA, KLEBANOVKA, KORSHYLOVKA, VERBOVTSY, BIG BUBBLES, DRACHI, ZELENTSY, ZHABCHE, MALES, PORK, LADYGI, LAZHAVA, DESEROVKA, PASECHNA, IVKI, TER ESHPOL, KACHANOVKA, SKARYNCY, BESPECHNA and railway stations QUARTERS, BIG BUBBLES, SUCKS.

March 8, 1944. Uman-Botoshan operation. On March 8, at 7:50 a.m., after a 56-minute artillery barrage, troops of the 5th and 7th Guards armies went on the offensive from the area southwest of Kirovograd in the general direction of Novo-Ukrainka. On the same day, they broke through enemy defenses in a 12 km area and advanced to a depth of 7 km.
In the main, Uman direction, the enemy attempted to eliminate the breakthrough by throwing reserves into battle. In the area of ​​Potash station, our tank forces fought intense battles with units of the 11th, 13th and 14th tank divisions.
Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation. At dawn on March 8, the horse-mechanized group of I. A. Pliev attacked the Novy Bug station on the move. After a 15-minute battle, the station was cleared of enemy troops, and our units rushed to the city of Novy Bug. On the shoulders of the retreating Germans, units of the 9th Guards Cavalry Division from the east, the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps from the northeast and the 30th Cavalry Division from the south and southwest burst into the outskirts of New Bug. By 8 o'clock in the morning on March 8, Soviet troops had completely captured the New Bug, cutting the Dolinskaya - Nikolaev railway. From the Novy Bug area, units of the cavalry-mechanized group struck to the south, rapidly advancing towards the rear of the enemy troops operating in the Bereznegovatoye - Snigirevka area.
At the same time, the 6th, 5th shock and 28th armies of the front launched attacks on the enemy from the east and southeast. 13 fascist German divisions defending in the Bereznegovatoye - Snigirevka area found themselves under the threat of encirclement. The forces of one cavalry-mechanized group were not enough to create a strong internal encirclement front. Sovinformburo. During March 8, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region BLACK ISLAND, and also occupied more than 100 other settlements, including the large settlements of ZAKHAROVTSY. GRUZEVYTSYA, BIG and SMALL ZOZULINTS, TERESHKI, MAZEPINTSY, KREMENCHUGI, SMALL CHERNYATYN, BUTOVTSY, KAPUSTIN, KRASNOSYOLKA, ZHERENKI, NEMIRENTSY, VOLOSOVTSY, PILYAVA, LISANOVTSY, BUGLAI, TELIZHINTS Y, VOITOVTSY, SALNITSKA, MOROZOVKA, MARKUSHI. Our troops came close to the city of STAROKONSTANTINOV and started fighting on the outskirts of the city.

March 9, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. The 28th Rifle Corps of the 60th Army fought with the enemy's 357th Infantry Division and the Prützmann police group east of Zalozhtsa, which had again arrived from the reserve. The 15th Rifle and 4th Guards Tank Corps of the 60th Army advanced to the approaches to Ternopil and on March 9 began fighting directly outside the city, where the enemy pulled up units of the 68th and 359th Infantry Divisions that arrived from Western Europe. The 23rd and 18th Guards Rifle Corps of the 60th Army, together with the troops of the 4th Tank Army, fought stubborn battles in the Volochisk area with units of the 7th Panzer Division and the SS Panzer Division Adolf Hitler.
The 1st Guards Army, developing an offensive from the Labun, Brazhentsy area, on March 9, with the assistance of the 7th Guards Tank Corps of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, captured Starokonstantinov and started fighting on the approaches to Proskurov, where the enemy concentrated the 1st, 6th , 16th and 17th tank divisions.
Uman-Botoshan operation. During March 8 and 9, the troops advancing in the Uman direction advanced to a depth of 25-30 km and expanded the offensive front to 170 km. By the end of March 9, the 40th Army of F. F. Zhmachenko, overcoming enemy resistance, reached the Sarna line.
By the same time, the 27th Army had reached the line Shukovoida, Khristinovka, Verkhnyachka, the western outskirts of Velikovka, the eastern outskirts of Rososhka.
The 6th Tank Army of A. G. Kravchenko took the lead in a roundabout maneuver and by the end of March 9 was fighting for the capture of Khristinovka.
By the end of the day on March 9, the troops of the 52nd Army were fighting for Uman. The 2nd Tank Army started street fighting in the city itself.
Sovinformburo. During March 9, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing to develop the offensive, as a result of a flanking maneuver combined with a frontal attack, captured the city and the railway junction of STAROKONSTANTINOV - an important stronghold of the German defense in the PROSKUROVSKY direction, and also occupied more than 100 others with battles settlements, including MSHANEC, OBAZHANCIE, IWACHOW, DYCZKOW, ROMANOWKA, CHODACZKOW MALY, CHMIELISKA, KAMIONKA, MOLCHANOVKA, KLININY, PAKHUTYNTSY, NIKOLAIV, CHERNELEVKA, LAHODINCY, VERCHNYAKI, MATRONKI, IGNATOV TSY, TERESHEVTSY, MYTKOVTSY, SHRUBKOV, NEW SINYAVKA, BEREZNA and railway stations IVASKOVCE, KURNIKI, SHLIAKHCHINTSE, BORKI VELIKIE, STROJEVKA, MAKSIMOVKA, BOGDANOVKA, ROSOHOVATS, ANTONINY. Our troops broke into the city of TARNOPOL, where street fighting broke out.
To the west and southwest of the city of KAZATIN, our troops, going on the offensive, captured the regional center of the Vinnitsa region ULANOV, and also fought to occupy more than 40 other settlements, including the large settlements of PUSTOVOITY, LUZNA, KUSTOVTSY, ROGINTSY, ANTOPL, OLD PIKOV , LYULINTSY, NAPADOVKA, RADVKA, ZALIVANSCHINA, CHEREPASHINTSY and the KRYZHANOVKA railway station.
The troops of the 3rd UKRAINIAN Front, going on the offensive, crossed the INGULETS River and, having broken through the strong German defenses along the western bank of this river, in four days of offensive battles advanced from 30 to 60 kilometers and expanded the breakthrough to 170 kilometers along the front.
During the offensive battles, the front forces inflicted a heavy defeat on three German tank and six infantry divisions, captured the regional centers of the Nikolaev region NEW BUG and KAZANKA, occupied over 200 other settlements, including the large settlements TERNOVATKA, LOZOVATKA, ANASTASYEVKA, MIKHAILOVKA, NEW VLADIMIROVKA , NOVOLAZAREVKA, AVDOTYEVKA, KRASNOVKA, NIKOLSKOYE, ORLOVO, TROITSKO-SAFONOVO, DRENDELEVO, SKOBELEVO, AFANASYEVKA, NOVOKONSTANTINOVKA, EFREMOVKA, NOVO-POLTAVKA and railway stations NEW BUG, ​​GOROZHANY, MOSEEEV KA, RAKHMANOVKA, LATVKA, and interrupted the DOLINSKAYA - NIKOLAEV railway.

March 10, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. By the end of March 10, the troops of the main group of the 1st Ukrainian Front advanced 70-80 km. The 18th Army of E.P. Zhuravlev advanced from 20 to 30 km, liberated the city of Khmelnik and developed an offensive in the direction of Dunaevtsy.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On the morning of March 10, units of the 2nd Tank Army, with the assistance of the 5th Guards Tank and 52nd Combined Arms Armies, rushed into the city of Uman and, as a result of fierce fighting, completely captured the city.
At the same time, units of the 6th Tank and 27th Armies captured the city and the large railway junction of Khristinovka, located 20 km northwest of Uman.
On March 10, the front's immediate mission was largely completed in the main direction. The enemy's defenses were broken through 170 km along the front and 65 km in depth. In the direction of the auxiliary attack, the enemy front was also broken through, and the 5th and 7th Guards armies advanced 7-10 km within 24 hours. In the context of the successful advance of the troops of the main group of the front, the enemy’s withdrawal also began to appear in the zone of the 53rd Army.
Sovinformburo. During March 10, our troops, overcoming enemy resistance and counterattacks, continued to fight street battles in the city of TARNOPOL.
In the PROSKUROVSKY direction, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region KRASILOV, and also occupied several other settlements with fighting, including the large settlements of ZAVKA, TSITSENEVKA, GRIGOROVKA, SKOVORODKI, MOLOMOLYNTSY, STAVNYTSYA, GORBASOV, CHAPLYA, NOVOKONSTANTINOV, SVICHNA.
South-west of the city of KAZATIN, our troops fought forward and captured the regional center of the Vinnytsia region, the city of KHMELNYKI, and also occupied more than 30 other settlements, including SOKOLOVO, WHITE SLEEVE, SERBINOVKA, KRIVOSHEINTSY, KOLYBABINTSY, SHIROKAYA GREBLYA, TOMASHPILE, KLETISHCHE, ZABIZHYE, YANOV, BAIKIVKA, PISARIVKA, KORDY LEVKA, TARASVKA and railway stations NOVO-KURILOVKA, ULADVKA, KHOLONEVSKAYA, LYULINTSY.
The troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front, having resumed the offensive, broke through the strong German defenses in the UMAN direction and in 5 days of offensive battles advanced from 40 to 70 kilometers, expanding the breakthrough to 175 kilometers along the front. As a result of the operation, front troops captured the city of UMAN, the city and important railway junction of KHRISTINOVKA, the regional centers of the Kiev region the city of TALNOE, BUKI, MANKOVKA, BABANKA, EKATERINOPOL, the regional center of the Vinnitsa region MONASTYRISCHE and occupied more than 300 other settlements, including large ones populated areas SOKOLOVKA, KISHENTSY, IVANKI, ANUFRIEVKA, ZALESSKOE, GUSAKOVO, TSYBULIV, IVANOVKA, MOLODETSKOYE, MASHUROV, KOLODSTOYE, KAPUSTINO, SARNY, VERKHNYACHAKA, DMITROVSKOE, DOBROVODY, VISHNOPOL, MAIDANETSKOYE , GULAYPOLE, ROMANOVKA, SHUKAIVODA, ROSSOSHKI, KOCHERZHINTSY, SUSHKOVKA, OKSANINO, KAMENECHYE and railway stations ZVENIGORODKA, ROSSOHOVATKA, TALNOE, SHALASHEVSKY, MOSHUROVO, POTASH, PODOBOBOE, YAROVATKA, SHUKAEVO, SEVASTYANOVKA, MONASTYRISCHE, KOOPERATIVENaya and VAKHNY...
The troops of the 3rd UKRAINIAN Front, continuing to successfully develop the offensive, captured the regional center of the Kirovograd region NOVGORODKA, the regional center of the Nikolaev region BASHTANKA and occupied more than 150 other settlements, including the large settlements BRATOLYUBOVKA, GUROVKA, FEDOR-SHULICHINO, NOVA SKELEVATKA, SOFIEVO -GEIKKOVKA, NOVO-GRIGOREVKA. ALEXANDROVKA, NIKOLAEVKA, NOVO-DMITROVKA, ANDREEVKA, NOVO-BEREZOVKA, KHRISTOFOROVKA, BARATOVKA, NOVO-POVLOVKA, ARKHANGELSKOYE, PETROPAVLOVKA, NEW KAMENKA, KACCHKAROVKA, DOBRA and railway stations GEYKOVKA, UTESHNOE, KAZANKA, DOBROVOLSKY, NOVOPOLTAVKA, YAVKINO.

March 11, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. Fierce fighting broke out at the Tarnopol (Ternopil) - Volochysk - Proskurov line between March 11 and 19.
By March 11, the troops of the 3rd Guards Tank Army advanced to the Black Island area, enveloping the Proskurov enemy group from the west.
On March 11, at 11:45 a.m., the strike group of the 38th Army of K. S. Moskalenko, after artillery preparation, went on the offensive from the Bogdanovka line, Art. Lipovets, Vladimirovka, Mervin, Lopatinka. Having broken through the enemy front line at a front of over 20 km, the troops of the 38th Army crossed the main page defense and advanced 4-8 km per day. On the evening of March 11, the 70th Guards Rifle Division of I. A. Gusev and the 211th Rifle Division of N. A. Kichaev of the 38th Army approached the enemy stronghold Lipovets, located on the Kazatin-Vinnitsa highway. Heavy fighting raged all night.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On March 11, the headquarters of the Supreme High Command demanded that I. S. Konev more decisively pursue the enemy in the direction of the main attack, and not give him the opportunity to organize a defense on the Southern Bug. The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front reached the Southern Bug at the same time as the retreating enemy, and in some areas even earlier.
The 42nd Guards Rifle Division of F.A. Bobrov's 40th Army was the first to break into Ladyzhin (25 km southwest of Bratslav).
At 22:00 on March 11, units of the 16th Tank Corps of the 2nd Tank Army entered Dzhulinka as part of a tank brigade, reinforced with motorized infantry and artillery. At 11 p.m., the advance detachment reached the bridge over the Southern Bug in the area southwest of Dzhulinka, but the bridge was blown up by the enemy.
On the evening of March 11, the 29th Tank Corps of the 5th Guards Tank Army captured the city of Gaivoron.
In the Novo-Ukrainian direction, the right-flank formations of the 5th Guards Army went on the offensive, in front of which the enemy began a general retreat. In the main direction southeast of Maryanovka station, the 5th Guards Army fought forward.
Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation. On March 11, 1944, during the offensive from Ingulets to the Southern Bug, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command ordered the 3rd Ukrainian Front to increase the pace of pursuit of the enemy, prevent him from retreating beyond the Southern Bug, and seize river crossings in the Konstantinovka, Voznesensk, New Odessa sector, consistently capture Nikolaev, Tiraspol and Odessa and continue the offensive with the aim of reaching the Prut and Danube - the state border Soviet Union.
On March 11, units of the 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps - the 4th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of M. I. Lyashchenko and the 5th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of F. A. Safronov - with a swift blow liberated the city of Berislav, located on steep bank Dnieper.
Sovinformburo. During March 11, our troops, overcoming enemy resistance and counterattacks, continued to fight street battles in the city of TERNOPOL.
In the PROSKUROVSKY direction, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied more than 30 settlements, including ZELENAYA, KRISHTOFOVKA, BAGLAI, BOLSHAYA BUBNOVKA, PEDOSY, MITYNTSY, SLOBODA KRASILOVSKAYA, GOLYUNKI, ZAPADINTSY, KUZMIN, PECHISKI, ARKADIEVTSY, DAVIDKOVTSY and railway station KRASILOV.
North-west, west and south of the city Uman, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, took possession of the district center of the Kiev region Ladyzhinka, and also occupied more than 100 other settlements with battles, including large settlements of Balabanovka, Prince-Krynytsia, Redean, Terlitsa, Naraevka, Velikaya Savistyanovka, Ivangorod, Krasnopolk , STRAZHGOROD, ROSSOSHA, KUZMINA-GREBLYA, OSITNA, RYZHEVKA, GORODNITSKA, TEKUCHA, KRUTENKOE.
North-west and west of the city of KIROVOGRAD, our troops fought offensive battles, during which they captured the regional centers of the Kirovograd region, the city of ZLATOPOL, the city of NOVOMYRGOROD, BOLSHAYA VISKA, and also occupied more than 40 other settlements with battles, and among them the large settlements LISTOPADOVO, KAMENOVATKA, MARTYNOSH, PANCHEVO, MARYANOVKA, NOVO-ALEXANDROVKA, NIKOLAEVKA and railway stations SHESTAKOVKA, MARYANOVKA.
North-west and west of the city of Krivoy Rog, our troops fought forward and occupied more than 50 settlements, including INGULO-KAMENKA.
BATYZMAN, ALEXANDROVKA, NIKOLO-GRIGOREVKA, BOGDANOVKA, KASHIROVKA, TARASVKA and railway stations MARZHANOVKA, TIMKOVO, VISUN. Our troops came close to the DOLINSKAYA railway junction.
South-west and south of APOSTOLOV, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Nikolaev region, the city of BERISLAV (on the western bank of the Dnieper) and fought to occupy more than 60 other settlements, including GOROZHENO, KONSTANTINOVKA, PESKI, NOVO-GEORGIEVKA, MIROVKA, RAVNOPOLYE, NOVO-DMITRIEVKA, PYATIKHATKA, BOROZENSKY, SUKHANOVA, ULYANOVKA, MIKHAILOVKA, DREMAILOVKA and the BLAKITNOE railway station.

March 12, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On the morning of March 12, units of the 38th Army broke into Lipovets from the east, while at the same time bypassing it from the north. The battle for Lipovets lasted four hours. The enemy garrison defending the city was almost completely destroyed.
Uman-Botoshan operation. By 4 a.m. on March 12, the approaching main forces of the 16th and 3rd Tank Corps of the 2nd Tank Army had completely completed the liberation of Dzhulinka.
On March 12, in the Shumilov area, tank crews of the 2nd Tank Army transported seven tanks along the river bottom at a depth of 2 m. Quickly pushing back the enemy, these tanks ensured the expansion of the bridgehead in the Shumilovo-Beryozki sector.
The advanced units of the 4th Guards and 5th Guards Tank Armies reached the Southern Bug and captured the bridge in the Khashchevaty area. Parts of our main forces that arrived on the same day knocked out the enemy from Sotomia, Yuzefpol and Kazovchin.
Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation. March 11-12 49th Guards Rifle DivisionV. F. Margelova and the 295th Rifle Division of A.P. Dorofeev from the 28th Army began to cross the Dnieper in the Kakhovka region. Under the cover of artillery fire, they crossed the river and began fighting with the enemy on its right bank.
Sovinformburo. During March 12, in the PROSKUROVSKY direction, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied several settlements X among them NEMIRENTSY, BRONEVKA, PETRYKOVTSY, MALASHOVTSY, MATSKOVTSY, MALINICHY, NOW VOKOVTSY, ORLYNTSY, KHODKOVTSY, ZARUDYE. Our troops cut the PROSKUROV-GUSYATIN railway.
West and south of the city of UMAN, our troops, continuing to successfully develop the offensive, captured the regional center of the Odessa region, the city of GAYVORON, the regional centers of the Vinnitsa region, TEPLIK, DZHULINKA, and also occupied more than 60 other settlements, including large settlements KITAY-GOROD, GRANOV, MIKHAILOVKA, CHECHELIVKA, KUBLICH, VELIKAYA: MOCHULKA, MYSHAROVKA, SHLYAKHOVA, KAMENAYA KRYNITSYA, OLCHOVATA, etc. railway stations IVANGOROD, ROSKOSHEVKA, MARKOVKA, KUBLICH.
North-west and west of the city of KIROVOGRAD, our troops fought offensive battles, as a result of which they captured the regional center of the Kiev region MOKRAYA KALIGORKA and occupied more than 30 other settlements, including the large settlements of PETRAKOVKA, LISICHYA BALKA, SUKHAYA KALIGOROKA, ANTOnovKA, YANOPOL, DUKOVA, OSITNAYA, ELENO-KOSOGOROVKA, PETROPILYA.
North-west and west of the city of Krivoy Rog, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional center of the Kirovograd region, the city of SHEVCHENKOVO and the DOLINSKAYA railway junction, and also fought to occupy more than 50 other settlements, including the large settlements of NOVO-SAVITSKOE, NOVO- GRIGORYEVKA, BEREZOVKA, PEREPELITSA, MARFOVKA, SERGEEVKA, DMITRIEVKA, HOWWARMING, MEDOVA and railway stations PYSANKI, NOVO-DANILOVKA.
West and southwest of APOSTOLOV, our troops fought forward and captured the regional centers of the Nikolaev region PRIVOLNOYE (on the western bank of the Ingul River), BOLSHHAYA ALEXANDROVKA and occupied more than 60 other settlements, including SOFIEVKA, ULYANOVKA, MAYEROVKA, LENino, NOVO- PRIVOLONOYE, MALAYA ALEXANDROVKA, NOVAYA KUBAN, NOVO-SIBIRSK, SVOBODNY, FRIENDLY, VOLODYEVKA, LVOV, TYAGINKA.

March 13, 1944. Vitebsk operation. The Vitebsk offensive operation of the Western and 1st Baltic Fronts ended. Soviet troops bypassed the city from the north and reached its immediate approaches.
Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. During March 13, the troops of the 38th Army advanced 20 km and expanded the breakthrough front to 95 km. On the right flank and in the center of the strike group, the advanced units that day began fighting for two regional centers of the Vinnitsa region - Vakhnovka and Voronovitsa.
Uman-Botoshan operation. Troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front continued crossing the river. Southern Bug along almost the entire offensive zone. By three o'clock in the afternoon on March 13, two rifle regiments of the 42nd Guards Rifle Division crossed the river in the Ladyzhin area. To increase the force of the strike, the front commander brought the 6th Tank Army into the battle, which was tasked with crossing the river. Southern Bug in the zone of the 27th Army and advance on Vapnyarka, Mogilev-Podolsky.
On the same day, the 15th and 57th motorized rifle brigades of the 2nd Tank Army began to cross at Dzhulinka. By 2 p.m. they had captured a bridgehead on the opposite bank of the river. The advanced units that crossed the river repulsed all enemy counterattacks and ensured the crossing of the main forces.
The successful actions of the troops of the right wing of the front contributed to the success of the troops of the left wing of the front - the 5th and 7th armies.
By the end of March 13, that is, within nine days of the operation, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front in the direction of the main attack had fought up to 120 km off-road in the spring thaw. The Southern Bug was crossed by Soviet troops on the move for up to 120 km, from the village of Stardashev to Khashchevaty. In a number of areas, the forward units that crossed captured a bridgehead up to 10-12 km deep, which ensured the successful crossing of the main forces. The entry of troops of the 27th, 52nd, 4th Guards Armies, 5th Guards and 2nd Tank Armies into the Southern Bug created the possibility of encircling the enemy’s Novo-Ukrainian grouping.
Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation. By March 12-13, units of the cavalry-mechanized group of the 3rd Ukrainian Front reached the river. Ingulets south of Snigirevka, cutting off the retreat routes of the main forces of the enemy 6th Army to the west. 13 German. divisions in the Bereznegovatoye and Snigirevka areas were under threat of encirclement.
Having abandoned a significant part of their equipment, units of the enemy's 17th and 44th Army Corps left with huge losses beyond the Southern Bug in the direction of Nikolaev.
At the same time, troops of the 6th, 5th Shock and 28th Armies were pushing back units of the 6th German Army from the east and south. Developing an offensive along the northern bank of the Dnieper, the troops of the 28th Army crossed the river. Ingulets in its lower reaches and began fighting for Kherson. Despite stubborn enemy resistance, units of the 49th Guards and 295th Rifle Divisions liberated this city on March 13.
Sovinformburo. During March 13, our troops, advancing southwest of the city of VOLOCHISK, captured the regional center of the Tarnopol region, the city of SKALAT, and the large settlements of TOUSTOLUG, KOLODZIEIVKA, OLD SKALAT, KACHANOWKA, IVANOVKA, CHERNISHOVKA.
In the PROSKUROVSKY direction, our troops, overcoming resistance and counterattacks of enemy infantry and tanks, continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied several settlements.
In the VINNITSA direction, our troops, going on the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Vinnitsa region LIPOVETS, ILIINTSY, DASHEV and fought to occupy more than 60 other settlements, including the large settlements of ZOZOV, SHAPLIVAYA, SVODNOE, POPOVKA, PARIVKA, KHRYNIVKA, ZHADANY, MERCHANTS, SEMIRECHKA.
South-west and south of the city of UMAN, our troops continued to develop a successful offensive.
To the west of the city of KIROVOGRAD, our troops, developing an offensive, captured the regional center of the Kirovograd region MALIYE VISKI, and also occupied more than 100 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of KALNI-BOLOTO, NADLAK, KOROBCHINO, POLEEVKA, ROSSOHOVATKA, ZLINKA, WICER TASHLYK, IVANOVKA, ZAKHAROVKA and railway stations VISKA, WICKER TASHLYK.
West of the city of Krivoy Rog, our troops fought forward and captured the regional center of the Kirovograd region Ustinovka, and also occupied more than 50 other settlements, including the large settlements of KAMYSHEVATA, PETROVKA, NEW YEGOROVKA, NOVO-KIEVKA, IZRAILEVKA, CHERVONY PRAPORO.
South-west of APOSTOLOV, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Nikolaev region VLADIMIROVKA and with battles occupied more than 100 other settlements, including large settlements SERGEEVKA, FEDOROVKA, CAUCASUS, DAVYDOV BROD, KOSTROMKA, KRUSTOVODVIZHENKA, GALAGANOVKA, LIMANTSY , TIMOFEEVKA , PONYATOVKA, NIKOLSKOYE and the Belaya Krinitsa railway station.
The troops of the 3rd UKRAINIAN Front, having crossed the Dnieper River in the lower reaches, on March 13, as a result of street fighting, captured the city of KHERSON - a large junction of railway and water communications and an important stronghold of the German defense at the mouth of the Dnieper River.

March 14, 1944. Sovinformburo. During March 14, in the PROSKUROVSK direction, our troops, overcoming resistance and counterattacks of enemy infantry and tanks, continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied several settlements. When repelling counterattacks by enemy infantry and tanks, our troops inflicted heavy losses in manpower and equipment.
In the VINNITSA direction, our troops, continuing the offensive, fought and occupied more than 30 settlements, including the large settlements of PRILUKI, VAKHNOVKA, ZHURAVA, ELENOVKA, IZABELOVKA, STEPANOVKA, ZARUDINTSY, MIKHAILOVKA, KOMAROV and the railway station GUMENNOE (15 kilometers southeast VINNITSA).
West and south of the city of UMAN, our troops, developing an offensive, captured the regional center of the Vinnytsia region, the city of GAYSIN, and also occupied more than 60 settlements with battles, including the large settlements of SHABELINA, BUDI, KRISHTOFOVKA, KARBOVKA, KUNA. ZYATKOVTSY, BUBNOVKA, SOBOLEVKA, GUBNIK, POBOKA, GLUBOCHEK, METANOVKA, ZAVADOVKA, CHERNYATKA, STAVKI, KHASHCHVATOE, MOGILONO, TAUZHNA, GRUZSKOE and railway stations KRYSHTOFOVKA, ZYATNOVTSY, GUBNIK, MELESHNY, DUKLYA, HENRY KHOVKA, ROUGH, PAVED, TAUZHNA.
The west of the city of Kirovograd, our troops, continuing the offensive, took possession of the district centers of the Kirovograd region Podvykoye, Novo-Arkhangelsk, Khmelevoy, and also occupied more than 70 other settlements with battles, including large settlements of Nehruba, a trade, Copenovat, Rossokhovatka, Skalevoy, Timofeevka, ERDELEEVKA, MYROLYUBOVKA, ANASTASIEVKA.
In the NIKOLAEV direction, the troops of the 3rd UKRAINIAN Front continued to successfully develop the offensive and captured the city of SHIROKA BALKA (on the northern bank of the Dnieper estuary), the regional centers of the Nikolaev region BOLSHAYA SEYDEMINUKHA, BELOZERKA, and also occupied more than 60 other settlements, including large ones, with fighting settlements YAVKINO, NOVO-ALEXANDROVKA, BARMASHOVO, KISELYOVKA, CHERNOPOLYE, NOVO-PETROVKA, SPASSKAYA, MALEEVKA, NOVY OCHAKOV, PETROPAVLOVKA, KALUZNE, MURAKHOVKA, VASILYEVKA, PAVLOVKA, SHKURINOVO-ZAGORYANOVKA, MUZYKOVKA, CHERNOBAEVKA, KASPEROVKA and railway stations BEREZNEGOVATA, CHEKHOVICHY .
Troops of the 3rd UKRAINIAN Front in the area of ​​the settlements BEREZNEGOVATOYE - SNIGIROVKA surrounded a large group of Germans consisting of several divisions.

March 15, 1944. Polesie operation. The Polesie offensive operation of the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front began. A. Kurochkin, which lasted until April 4, 1944. During the first half of March, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front regrouped. The main forces of the divisions of the 47th and 70th armies were pulled up to the line of the river. Stokhod, and their advanced detachments crossed to the western bank of the river and occupied bridgeheads in a number of places. The main forces were directed towards them. On March 15, the 47th and 70th armies launched an attack on Kovel.
Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On March 15, at 9 a.m., the troops of the 13th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front went on the offensive, delivering one blow from the Torgovitsa, Mlynov area to Brody with the forces of the 27th Infantry, 1st and 6th Guards Cavalry and 25th Tank corps, and the other by the forces of the 24th Rifle Corps from the area west of Shumskoye to Kremenets, Brody. The right-flank 76th Rifle Corps attacked the enemy in the direction of Torchin. On the very first day, in the zone of the 27th Rifle Corps, the 25th Tank and 1st Guards Cavalry Corps were brought into battle.
On March 15, the 38th Army reached the Southern Bug on a 60-kilometer front from the Mizyakovskaya settlement to Mikhailovka. On the same day, army units broke into the eastern, left-bank part of Vinnitsa. To the south of the city, one of the regiments of the 151st Infantry Division crossed the river in the Sutiski area and on its western bank captured the settlements of Voroshilovka, Shershni and Guta.
Uman-Botoshan operation. At noon on March 15, units of the 16th Tank Corps of the 2nd Tank Army - the 107th Tank Brigade of T. P. Abramov, the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade of P. M. Akimochkin - with the assistance of the 156th Tank Regiment of the 6th Tank Army unexpectedly for the enemy, they broke into the city and the large railway junction of Vapnyarka, cutting off the important railway communication Zhmerynka - Odessa.
Sovinformburo. During March 15, in the PROSKUROVSKY direction, our troops repulsed counterattacks by large forces of enemy infantry and tanks and inflicted heavy losses on them in manpower and equipment.
In the VINNITSA direction, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Vinnitsa region, the city and railway junction of KALINOVKA, TURBOV, VORONOVITSA, SITKOVTSY, and also fought to occupy more than 50 other settlements, including the large settlements of PAVLOVKA, KHOLYAVINTSY, KOSAKOVKA, BIG KRUSHLYNTSY, PISAREVKA, YANKOV, LILYAVA, KHVSTOVTSY, ZHORNISHCHE, KRIKOVTSY, OMETYNTSY, MELNIKOVTSY and railway stations GULEVITSY, TURBOV, VORONOVITSYA, FERDINANDOVKA, SITKOVTSY.
South-west of UMAN, troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front successfully crossed the SOUTH BUG River on a 100-kilometer front and, having broken enemy resistance on the right bank of the river, moved forward from 20 to 30 kilometers. Front troops captured the regional centers of the Vinnytsia region, the city of BERSHAD, the city of TROSTYANETS, OBODOVKA, OLGOPOL, and with battles occupied more than 100 other settlements, including the large settlements MACHUKHA, MIKHALYOVKA, KHOLODOVKA, KLEBAN, KIRNASOVKA, DEMKOVKA, SAVINTSY, LEVKOV , TSYBULIVKA, ZHABOKRICHKA, BANDUROVKA, WHITE STONE, KIDRASOVKA, LYAKHOVA and railway stations LADIZHIN, ULYANOVKA, DEMKOVKA, TROSTYANETS, USTYE, BERSHAD. South of the city of UMAN, troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front captured the regional centers of the Odessa region GRUSHKA, GOLOVANEVSK, the settlements SHAMRAEVKA, DANILOVA BALKA, MEZHIRICHKA, SHIPILOVKA and the railway stations GRUSHKA, GOLOVANEVSK.
West of the city of KIROVOGRAD, our troops fought forward and captured the regional center of the Kirovograd region TISHKOVKA, and also occupied more than 60 other settlements, including the large settlements of POKATYLOVO, TERNOVKA, KARBOVKA, NOVO-NIKOLAEVKA, KAZAK-BALKA, AFANASYEVKA, DRUZHELYUBOVKA, NOVO -MARYANOVKA, ZLINKA, KAMNY BRIDGE, VORONOVKA and railway stations KAPUSTINO, NOVAKOVKA.
West of DOLINSKAYA, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied more than 50 settlements, including GROMUKHA, VODYANAYA, SOFIEVKA, STARY REBOVKA, BOGODAROVKA, SHEVCHENKO, ORLOVA BALKA.
In the NIKOLAEV direction, our troops captured the regional centers of the Nikolaev region BEREZNEGOVATOE, SNIGIROVKA, and also occupied more than 50 other settlements with fighting, including the large settlements SEMENOVKA, VODYANO-LORINO, AKIMOVKA, SUKHOI ELANETS, SUVOROVKA, KRASNO-VLADIMIROVKA, BUKHOL TSEVO, KISELEVKA , NADEZHDOVKA, STANISLAV, ALEXANDROVKA and railway stations TURKULY, SNIGIRYOVKA, GALAGANOVKA, KOPANI. The enemy group surrounded in the BEREZNEGOVATOYE - SNIGIREVKA area is dismembered into separate parts and is successfully destroyed by our troops.

March 16, 1944. Polesie operation. In the Stolip direction, the main forces of the 61st Army went on the offensive.
Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On March 16, in the zone of the 27th Rifle Corps of the 13th Army, the 6th Guards Cavalry Corps was brought into battle. Army troops crossed the river. Ikva and rushed deep into the enemy defense, bypassing the strong stronghold of Dubno from the north and south.
On March 16, units of the 151st Infantry Division of D.P. Podshivailov of the 38th Army reached the approaches to Zhmerinka, which the enemy had turned into a powerful center of resistance. To the north and south of the city, the 100th and 237th rifle divisions of the 67th rifle corps of D.I. Kislitsyn were advancing.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On March 16, units of the 2nd Tank Army broke into the city and the large railway junction of Vapnyarka, cutting off the enemy’s most important communications - the Zhmerinka - Odessa railway.
By the end of March 16, the 5th and 7th Guards Armies, having overcome stubborn enemy resistance, expanded the breakthrough along the front to 120 km and in depth to 70 km.
Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation. On March 16, the 394th Infantry Division of the 46th Army reached the Troitskoye area towards the Southern Bug. In two-day battles, the division defeated the enemy's rearguard units and threw them back across the river.
By the end of March 16, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, having defeated the enemy in the Bereznegovatoye and Snigirevka areas, captured Bobrinets and New Odessa.
Sovinformburo. During March 16, in the PROSKUROVSKY direction, our troops successfully repelled counterattacks by enemy infantry and tanks and inflicted heavy losses on them in manpower and equipment.
In the VINNITSA direction, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Vinnitsa region, the city of NEMIROV, TYVROV, and also occupied more than 40 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of SALNIK, MEDVEDKA, SOSONKA, STADNITSA, TYAZHILOV, VITAVA, VOROSHILOVKA, SUTISKI, LUKA NEMIROVSKAYA, STRELCHINTSY, KAROLINA and railway stations TYUSHKI, GNIVAN.
The troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front, developing the offensive, as a result of a rapid attack by tank formations and infantry, captured a large railway junction and the city of VAPNYARKA, thus cutting the most important railway line Zhmerynka - Odessa, the regional center of the Vinnytsia region, the city of TULCHIN, and also occupied more than 30 other settlements, including large settlements DOLZHEK, GRINENKI, KRISHINTSY, VOITOVKA, LIPOVKA, SLOBODA SHARAPANOVKA, SOKOLOVKA, GERBINO.
South-west and south of the city of KIROVOGRAD, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Kirovograd region, the city of BOBRINETS, ROVNE and fought to occupy more than 60 other settlements, including the large settlements of ANDREEVKA, LIPNYAZHKA, GLODOSY, EVDOKIMOVKA, SHUTENKA, KARKAZELEVKA, GRIGOROVKA, ALEXEEVKA, SOLONTSEVATKA.
In the NIKOLAEV direction, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they captured the regional center of the Nikolaev region NEW ODESSA, and also occupied more than 40 other settlements, including the large settlements MIKHAILOVKA, TROITSKOYE, HRISTOFOROVKA, BALATSKOYE, NOVO-DANZIG, DOBRAYA KRINITSKA and railway stations LOTSKINO, GREIGOVO. In the BEREZNEGOVATOE - SNIGIROVKA area, our troops completely eliminated the remnants of the encircled enemy group. A large number of trophies and many prisoners were captured.

March 17, 1944. 1000th day of the war.
Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. Formations of the 27th Rifle, 25th Tank, 1st and 6th Guards Cavalry Corps, advancing north of Dubno, reached the Pelcha area (15 km southwest of Dubno) on March 17, creating a threat to the rear of enemy troops. At this time, units of the 172nd Infantry Division N.V. Korkishko and the 149th Infantry Division A.A. Orlov burst into the city from the east. Under the onslaught of Soviet troops, the enemy's 13th German Army Corps began to hastily retreat. On March 17, our units completely captured the city of Dubno.
At dawn, the infantry of the 151st Infantry Division of D.P. Podshivailov of the 38th Army burst into Zhmerinka from the east. At the same time, other units of the division bypassed the city, striking the enemy garrison from the flank and rear. By 24 hours on March 17, Soviet troops completely liberated Zhmerinka.
Units of the 183rd Infantry Division of L.D. Vasilevsky, advancing on Vinnitsa from the east, were approaching the city. Having broken the enemy's resistance at the railway embankment, our units infiltrated into the eastern part of the city and, as a result of stubborn fighting, knocked out the enemy from it by noon on March 17. The Germans blew up the crossings across the Southern Bug.
The commander of the 38th Army K.S. Moskalenko decided to cross the Southern Bug north and south of Vinnitsa. North of Vinnitsa, units of A.F. Vasilyev’s 305th Infantry Division began to move forward and soon reached the Lukashevka area (20 km west of Vinnitsa), cutting off the Vinnitsa-Proskurov highway. Units of the 221st Rifle Division V.N. Kushnarenko crossed the Southern Bug south of Vinnitsa and captured the village of Shkurintsy (12 km southwest of Vinnitsa).
Uman-Botoshan operation. Early in the morning of March 17, the advanced units of the 16th Tank Corps of I.V. Dubovoy of the 2nd Tank Army reached the Dniester and, after an intense battle, captured Yampol.
At 13:00, formations of I. F. Kirichenko’s 29th Tank Corps of the 5th Guards Tank Army approached the Dniester, a kilometer east of Soroka. The motorized infantry of the corps crossed the river and, together with the partisans, captured the city of Soroki.
The 97th Guards Rifle Division of I. I. Antsiferov of the 5th Guards Army and the 16th Mechanized Brigade of M. V. Khotimsky of the 7th Mechanized Corps captured Novo-Ukrainka, and the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps reached the crossings across the Southern Bug .
By the end of March 17, the 7th Guards Army, having captured the Pomoshchnaya railway junction, fought at the line Gerasimovka, Roventsy.
Sovinformburo. The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, developing the offensive, on March 17, as a result of a flanking maneuver, captured the city of DUBNO - an important stronghold of the German defense in the Lvov direction, and also fought to occupy more than 40 other settlements, including the regional center of the Rivne region DEMIDOVKA and large settlements VELNICHE, TRADER, VOINITSA, BOKUYMA, SMORDVA, RUDKA, PELCHA.
During March 17, in the PROSKUROVSK direction, our troops continued to repulse counterattacks of enemy infantry and tanks and inflicted heavy losses on them in manpower and equipment.
South of the city of VINNITSA, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied several settlements, including POTOKI, SIDAVA, GRISHEVTSI, MAYANIV, HORNETS, VASILEVKA, ZVONIKHA, KOLYUKHOV, KANAVA.
West and southwest of the city of UMAN, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Vinnitsa region, the city of BRATSLAV, the city of TOMASHPOL, the city and large railway station of KRYZHOPOL, CHECHELNIK, the regional center of the Odessa region PESCHANA, and also occupied more than 150 other settlements with fighting , including large settlements ZHABOKRICH, ORLOVKA, YURKOVKA, ZHURAVLYOVKA, VELIKAYA RUSAVA, IGNATKOVO, KLEMBOVKA, MYASTKOVKA, OLSHANKA, GORYACHKOVKA, GORODISHE, VERBKA, STRATIEVKA, KAMENOVATO and railway stations YURKOVKA, ZHURA VLYOVKA, KNYAZHEVO.
South-west of the city of KIROVOGRAD, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Kirovograd region, the city and the large railway station NOVO-UKRAINKA, DOBROVELYCHKOVKA, and also occupied more than 100 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of NOVO-ALEXANDROVKA, VESYOLY KUT , LEONTOVICHY, NOVO-YEGOREVKA, TSIBULKI, VARVAROVKA, TRUDOLUBOVKA, BERDIKHINO, Krivonosovka, MARYANOVKA and the ADABASH railway station.
South-west and south of the city of BOBRINETS, our troops fought forward and occupied more than 70 settlements, including the large settlements of BOBRINKA, PENKOVO, NOVO-ALEXANDROVKA, SHEVCHENKO, VODYANO-MIKHAYLOVKA, BASELEVO, OLGOPOL, VOSSIYATSKOE, BOGODAROVKA, SHCHERBANY.
In the NIKOLAEVSKY direction, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied more than 30 settlements; Among them are NOVOPETROVSKOE, KOSTICHI, LOBRIVKA, INGULKA, ELENOVKA, KOPANI, TSAREVODAR.

March 18, 1944. Polesie operation. Operating in difficult conditions of wooded and swampy terrain, the 47th and 70th armies advanced 30-40 km by March 18th. Enemy troops were thrown back to Kovel, and the city garrison was blocked by units of the 60th, 143rd, 175th and 260th rifle divisions of the 47th Army. In Kovel, units of the combined Bach group, the 177th regiment of the 213th security division, the 17th police regiment, the 12th railway security battalion, the 19th and 9th Hungarian infantry divisions and the SS Viking tank division were surrounded.
Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On March 18, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front liberated the city and large railway junction of Zhmerinka. Moscow saluted the front troops in honor of the victory.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On the night of March 18, sappers of the 2nd Tank Army, who went to the Dniester River together with the advanced detachments, restored the pontoon bridge captured from the enemy. During the night, under enemy fire, the motorized infantry of the forward detachments crossed to the right bank of the river, entered into battle with enemy units, and by the morning of March 18 captured the bridgehead.
Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation. The Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation, which took place from March 6 to March 18, 1944, ended. The troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front reached the Southern Bug and the approaches to the city of Nikolaev. Over 13 days of fighting, the front troops, despite the difficult conditions of the spring thaw, advanced in a zone of about 200 km to a depth of 140 km and liberated a significant part of the territory of Right Bank Ukraine.
Sovinformburo. During March 18, to the west and southwest of the city of DUBNO, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, fought and occupied more than 50 settlements, including the large settlements of VOLNOVOYE, BORATYN, KHOTYN, IVASCHUKI, KOZIN, BELKE GARDENS, PIRATYN, TARAKANOV.
North-west of VINNITSA, our troops crossed the SOUTHERN BUG River and, having broken the enemy’s resistance, captured the strongly fortified strongholds of his defense POPOVTSY, DUMENKI, LELETKA, VUGRINOVKA, GOLODKI, KURILOVKA, NIKOLAEVKA, PIKIVSKAYA SLOBODKA.
The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, as a result of two days of stubborn fighting, on March 18 captured an operationally important railway junction and the city of ZHMERYNKA. South-west of the city of UMAN, our troops, developing an offensive, reached the DNIESTER River and captured the city of YAMPOL, and also fought to occupy more than 100 other settlements, including the regional centers of the Vinnitsa region CHERNEVTSY, PESCHANKA, large settlements BEREZOVKA, BOROVKA, BABCHINTSY , DZYGOVKA, GALZBIEVKA, KACCHIVKA, OLSHANKA, BATRATSKOYE, POPELYUKHI, CHERNOMYN and railway stations RUDNYTSYA, POPELYUKHI.
The troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front, continuing the offensive, captured the city and the important railway junction POMOSHNAYA, and also fought to occupy more than 80 other settlements, including the regional center of the Kirovograd region SANDY BROD, the regional center of the Odessa region Olshanka, large settlements DOBRYANKA, NOVO-STANKOVATA, NOVO-LUDKOVKA, FURMANOVKA, NOVO-MIKHAYLOVKA, NIKOLAEVKA, ANTOnovKA, ANNOVKA, FADEYEVKA, and NIKOLSKAYA railway station.
South-west of the city of BOBRINETS, our troops, developing an offensive, fought and occupied more than 100 settlements, including the large settlements SOFIEVKA, VITYAZEVKA, LASHKUL, NIKOLO-BABANKA, BURDEY, BRATOLYUBOVKA, MALO VOSSIYATSKOE.
In the NIKOLAEVSKY direction, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied more than 30 settlements, including the large settlements of KASPEROVKA, SPIRIDONOVKA, NOVO-PETROVSKOE, SEBINO, NOVO-MATVEEVKA, PERESADOVKA, SHEVCHENKO, BUBBLES, EFIMOVKA, and the railway station KOTLYAROVO.
German losses and trophies of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front during the fighting from March 6 to 16 of this year.
3rd Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General Malinovsky after breaking through the German defenses on the Ingulets River and reaching the Southern Bug River, that is, from March 6 to 16 this year. g., actually completely defeated the 6th German Army of Colonel General Holidt. The main defeat was inflicted on the enemy during the period March 13-16. g., when the German command, in connection with the entry of the guards group of Lieutenant General Pliev into the German rear, lost all control of the troops and gave the order to break through to the west in small groups and even in single formation. After this, a number of enemy columns were surrounded and destroyed in isolation by the quick and decisive actions of our divisions and corps, and the destruction of the enemy proceeded so quickly and decisively that the enemy was unable to gather his cut-off troops into general group, which gave us the opportunity to destroy them in parts, mainly in the area of ​​Novo-Sevastopol, Novo-Sergeevka, Shevchenko farm and in the area of ​​Bereznegovatoye, Yavkino, Snigirevka...
During this period, 13,859 German soldiers and officers were captured, 36,800 people were killed and remained on our territory...

March 19, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. The troops of the 24th Rifle Corps of the 13th Army reached the approaches to the city of Kremenets. This city was a powerful natural fortress on the ridge of the Kremenets Mountains, reinforced by a developed network of artificial defensive structures. The 350th Infantry Division of G.I. Vekhin bypassed Kremenets, cutting off the roads leading to the city from the south. The 107th Infantry Division of P. M. Bezhko bypassed the city from the north. The enemy had only one exit left - to the northwest. At this time, units of I.P. Pankratov’s 287th Infantry Division attacked the city from the front. On March 19, Soviet troops liberated Kremenets, defeating the garrison that defended it.
Divisions of the 74th Rifle Corps of the 38th Army continued to bypass Vinnitsa and push back the enemy in the city itself. On March 19, the battalion of the 183rd Infantry Division L.D. Vasilevsky crossed the Southern Bug directly in Vinnitsa itself and occupied the suburb of Sadki. The 67th Rifle Corps fought in the suburbs of Brailov and in the western part of Zhmerinka, and the 101st completed the maneuver to the left flank of the army.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On the night of March 19, in the area of ​​Serebria, Yaruga, infantry and part of the artillery of the advanced units of the 27th Army of S. G. Trofimenko and the 6th Tank Army of A. G. Kravchenko crossed the Dniester.
Early in the morning of March 19, V. S. Troshin’s 156th Tank Regiment of the 5th Mechanized Corps of the 6th Tank Army broke into the outskirts of Mogilev-Podolsk and began to push the enemy to the Dniester. Then other units of the 5th Mechanized Corps and the 35th Guards Rifle Corps of the 27th Army approached the city. By evening the entire city was in the hands of our troops. The enemy managed to blow up a bridge in Mogilev-Podolsky and destroy transportation facilities in this area. But in the zone of the 52nd Army, on the night of March 19 and during the day of March 19, sappers organized five landing-ferry crossings, one for each division. With the help of these crossings, engineering units completely transferred the forward detachments of the 52nd Army to the right bank on March 19 and began crossing the main forces of the army. By the end of March 19, a number of bridgeheads were occupied on the western bank of the Dniester. In the Soroki area, a special crossing for tanks was being prepared.
The 53rd Army crossed the Southern Bug in the Zavalye area with two divisions and fought in the Puzhaikovo and Osichki areas.
3rd Ukrainian Front. On the night of March 19, units of the 394th Rifle Division of the 34th Rifle Corps of I. S. Kosobutsky of the 46th Army crossed the Southern Bug River, captured a bridgehead and by 8 o’clock captured the settlement of Andreevka-Erdeleva located on the opposite bank.
Sovinformburo. The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, as a result of a flanking maneuver and attack from the front on March 19, captured the city of KREMENETS - a powerful natural fortress on the ridge of the Kremenets Mountains, reinforced by the Germans with a developed network of artificial defensive structures, and also occupied more than 40 other settlements, including large settlements PLASCHOWKA, SESTRATYN, SREBNO, KRUPETS, MICHALOWKA, PODZAMCHE, KRUKI, SITNO, YANOWKA, BIALOGRUDKA, KAMENICA and railway stations KAMENICA VOLYNSKA, RUDNIA POCHAJUWSKA, MICHALOWKA.
During March 19, north-west of VINNITSA, our troops fought forward and captured the large settlements of LUKA, KOZHUKHOV, MEDVEDOVKA, KUSIKOVTSY, IVCHA, OSOLYNKA, NIKOLAEVKA, MAIDAN, MIZYAKOVSKIE HUTORS, Strizhavka.
To the south of the city of ZHMERYNKA, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Vinnitsa region STANISLAVCHIK, SHPIKOV, and also occupied more than 50 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of TARASOVKA, PENKOVKA, MIKHAILOVKA. MURAFA, FOREST RAKHNY, DEREBCHIN, ZVEDENOVKA, DZHURIN, KHOMENKI, POLITANKI, KARLOVKA, ROTMISTROVKA, SEREBRIYA and railway stations BUDKI, YAROSHENKA, RAKHNY. Our troops approached the city of MOGILEV-PODOLSKY and started fighting on the outskirts of the city.
The troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front reached the DNIESTER River at a front of more than 100 kilometers, crossed it over a section of more than 50 kilometers, occupied more than 40 settlements on the right bank of the river, including the district town of the Moldavian SSR SOROKA.
South-west of NOVO-UKRAINKA, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied more than 80 settlements, including large settlements DOROZHINKA, YUZEFPOL, SUKHOI TASHLYK, LASCHEVKA, PODGURYE, STANKOVATA, MIKHAILOVKA, LYUBOMIRKA, TRUDOLUBOVKA, NOVO-GRIGOR EVKA , VOEVODSKOE, ZHUKOVO and railway stations BESHKETOVO, GLINYANAYA.
South-west of the city of BOBRINETS, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional center of the Nikolaev region ELANETS, the regional center of the Odessa region BRATSKOE, and also fought to occupy more than 70 other settlements, including the large settlements KAMENOVATKA, CROVE POSTOSH, NOVO-ALEXANDROVKA , IVANOVKA, NADEZHDOVKA, NIKOLSKOYE, MIKHAILOVKA, MALOYE SOLONOE, RATSEV, BELOUSOVKA.

March 20, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. By March 20, the troops of the 13th Army continued to develop their offensive to the west and southwest and reached the approaches to the city of Brody.
South of Vinnitsa, our troops of the 38th Army captured a bridgehead on the right bank of the Southern Bug River near the village of Sobariv. To avoid encirclement, the Vinnitsa enemy group began to retreat from Vinnitsa to the southwest. Having reached the Zhmerinka area, the retreating group entered into battle with our units and somewhat pushed them back. Enemy troops broke into the western part of the city. Fierce fighting ensued. On March 20, the enemy was finally driven out of Zhmerinka.
On March 20, the right-flank 74th Rifle Corps of the 38th Army, as a result of an assault with the crossing of the Southern Bug and an outflanking maneuver from the flanks, captured the regional center and a large industrial city of Ukraine - Vinnitsa.
Uman-Botoshan operation. At 2 o'clock on March 20, the main forces of the 5th Mechanized Corps of M.V. Volkov of the 6th Tank Army began crossing the Dniester.
By March 20, the main forces of the 27th Army crossed the Dniester.
On March 20, troops of the 5th Guards Army approached Pervomaisk, located at the confluence of the river. Sinyukha in the Southern Bug, which made it easier for the enemy to create advantageous defensive positions. Directly on the city from the north were units of the 13th Guards Rifle Division of G.V. Baklanov of the 32nd Guards Rifle Corps, as well as the 16th Mechanized Brigade of M.V. Khotimsky of the 7th Mechanized Corps. From the northeast, the city was bypassed by units of the 25th Guards Rifle Corps of G. B. Safiulin.
3rd Ukrainian Front. On the morning of March 20, the enemy attacked Soviet units on a bridgehead near the village of Andreevka-Erdeleva. Units of the 394th Infantry Division of the 46th Army, repelling numerous enemy counterattacks, defended the bridgehead, and subsequently expanded it.
Sovinformburo. During March 20, southwest and south of the city of DUBNO, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Rivne region, the city of CHERVONOARMEYSK (RADZIVILOV), and also fought to occupy more than 50 other settlements, including the large settlements of VERBEN, OSTROV, MYTNYTSYA, KOROLOVKA, KORSUV, LESHNIOW, SHNYROV, TURYA, BEREZHCE, LOSYATYN, LEDUCHOV, NOVE ZALASTSY and railway stations SMYGA, RADZIVILOV.
On March 20, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, as a result of an assault and a flanking maneuver, captured the regional and large industrial center of Ukraine, the city of VINNITSA, which the Germans turned into a powerful stronghold of defense on the Southern Bug, and also occupied more than 30 other settlements, including including the regional center of the Vinnytsia region, the city of LITYN, and the large settlements of POGORELOYE, DYAKOVTSY, LITYNKA, KULYGA, SOSNY, SELISHCHE, BALYN, PENKOVKA, MAYDAN SUPRUNOVSKY.
The troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front, as a result of a rapid maneuver of tank formations and infantry, yesterday, March 19, captured the city of MOGILOV-PODOLSKY - a large railway junction and an important stronghold of the German defense on the DNISTER.
During March 20, troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front continued to conduct successful battles to expand the bridgeheads captured on the right bank of the DNISTER.
To the southwest and south of NOVO-UKRAINKA, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied several settlements, including LONG PISTAN, TOKAROVKA, NOVO-PAVLOVKA, OBUKHOVKA, SERGEEVKA and the railway stations SHAITOROVO, LYUDMILOVKA.
South-west of the city of BOBRINETS, our troops, continuing the offensive, fought and occupied more than 30 settlements, including OZERINOVKA, VOROSHILOVKA, BOLSHAYA SERBULOVKA, BOLSHOE SOLONOYE, PETROPAVLOVKA.

March 21, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On March 21, the main strike group of the 1st Ukrainian Front, having repelled enemy counterattacks in the areas of Ternopil, Volochisk, Proskurov, resumed the offensive, striking from the Volochisk, Black Island line to Chertkov and Chernivtsi. Troops of the 60th and 1st Guards Armies, with the assistance of the 4th, 1st and 3rd Guards Tank Armies, broke through the defenses of the 4th German Tank Army on the very first day.
By the end of March 21, the 38th Army reached the Lysenka, Lyudovka, Brailov line and further west along the Rov River to Mankovets.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On March 21, the troops of the right wing of the 2nd Ukrainian Front continued crossing the Dniester and fought to capture the bridgehead on the right bank, expanding it to 80 km along the front and to 40 km in depth. On March 21, the entire 5th Mechanized Corps of the 6th Tank Army crossed over to the bridgehead. On March 21, the 40th Army crossed the Dniester northeast of Mogilev-Podolsk with its advanced units, and then, having transported the main forces to the opposite bank of the river, began to develop an offensive in the general direction of Khotyn.
In the May Day direction, on March 21, troops of the 7th Guards Army reached the Southern Bug and began fighting for the crossings.
3rd Ukrainian Front. By the end of March 21, the 57th Army had reached the line running from the western edge of the Bug Canal to Aleksandrovka.
Sovinformburo. During March 21, southwest of the city of DUBKO, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Rivne region VERBA, the regional center of the Lviv region PODKAMEN. and also fought and occupied more than 60 other settlements, including large settlements: STOLBETS, GRADA, BUNINA, SUKHOVOLYA, NAKVASHA, NEMYACHA, LOPUSHKA.
West and southwest of the city of VINNITSA, our troops continued the offensive and fought to occupy more than 50 settlements, including the large settlements of SUSLOVTSY, BAGRINOVTSY, BORKIV, MIKULINTSY, DASHKOVTSY, YUZVIN, MEDVEZHYE USHKO, SHIROKAYA GREBLYA, BRAILOV, KOROSTOVTSY, STEPANKI, KUD IEVTSY , NOSKIVTSY and railway stations BRAILOV, MATEIKOVO.
To the south of the city of ZHMERYNKA, our troops, developing an offensive, captured the regional centers of the Vinnytsia region, the city of SHARGOROD, KOPAIGOROD, and also occupied more than 80 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of PASYNKI, MOVCHANY, PLEBANOVKA, SNITKOV, VYSHYY OLCHEDAEV, LUCHINETS , LAZOVA, TROPOVO, SUGAKI, VENDICHANY, LOMOZOV and railway stations KOTYUZHANY, NEMERCHY, VENDICHANY, ISRAILEVKA, SULYATITSKAYA.
South of the city of MOGILEV-PODOLSKY, our troops continued to conduct successful battles to expand the bridgeheads on the right bank of the DNISTER, captured the regional center of the Moldavian SSR ATTACKS, and also occupied more than 40 other settlements with battles, among them large ones - ARKONESHT, VISOKA, KOTOVA, MYNDYK, DROCIA , SHURELI, NETROSY, ZGURITSA and cut the BALTI - CHERNOVITSI railway.
South-west of NOVO-UKRAINKA, our troops fought offensive battles, during which they captured the regional centers of the Odessa region BLAGODATNOE, ARBUZINKA, and also occupied more than 50 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements SINYUKHIN BROD, NOVO-ALEXANDROVKA, LYSAYA GORA , SOFIEVKA, NIKOLSKOYE, NOVOKRASNOE, DEMIDVKA, IVANOVKA, ALEXEEVKA and railway stations SINYUKHI, PODGORODNAYA, BANDURKA, NOVOKRASNOE, KAVUNY.
South-west of the city of BOBRINETS, our troops continued the offensive and fought to occupy more than 40 settlements, including the large settlements of NOVOSYOLOVKA, NIKOLAEVKA, ZELYONY YAR, TRIKRATY, VOZNESENSKY, VORONOVKA.

March 22, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On March 22, troops of the 1st Guards Army, together with units of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, deeply enveloped the Proskurov group from the west. Formations of the 107th Rifle Corps of D.V. Gordeev of the 1st Guards Army attacked the enemy defending Proskurov from the north and northeast.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On March 22, the 5th Guards Army captured Pervomaisk, crossed the Southern Bug in this area and fought to expand the bridgehead. In the Ananyevsk direction, the enemy hastily withdrew their rear and equipment to the western bank of the Dniester.
On March 22, I. S. Konev received a directive from the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, which noted that due to the lag of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front caused by strong enemy resistance on the lower reaches of the river. Southern Bug, in order to encircle this enemy group and prevent it from retreating beyond the river. Dniester, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command orders the troops of the left wing of the 2nd Ukrainian Front to strike south along the eastern bank of the Dniester, capture the border of Bendery, Tiraspol, and push the enemy back to the Black Sea, preventing him from retreating beyond the Dniester. The troops of the right wing of the front should reach the Prut, the state border, along the western bank of the Dniester with the task of capturing the Ungheni-Chisinau line.
3rd Ukrainian Front. The 57th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front fought on March 22 with the goal of crossing the Southern Bug in the Konstantinovna-Aleksandrovka sector.
Sovinformburo. During March 22, to the west and southwest of the city of Kremenets, our troops, overcoming enemy resistance and counterattacks, continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied several settlements.
To the west and southwest of the city of VINNITSA, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, as a result of which they occupied more than 30 settlements and among them the large settlements of VERBKA, BOKHNY, BELETSKOE, SAKHNI, MAIDAN SOVIN, STAMPIVKA, LYSA GORKA, POCHAPINETS, LYSENKA, LYUDOVKA, SEVERINOVKA, MANKOVTSY, MALCHEVTSY, MARTYNOVKA, VOLODIIVTSY and railway stations BAR, MYTKI, KOPAY.
To the south of the city of ZHMERYNKA, our troops captured the regional centers of the Vinnytsia region MUROVANYE KURILOVTSY, YARYSHEV.
South of the city of MOGILEV-PODOLSKY, our troops, continuing to fight to expand the bridgehead on the right bank of the DNISTER, occupied more than 15 allocated points, including the regional center of the Moldavian SSR NADUSHITA.
On March 22, troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front, after two days of stubborn fighting, captured the city of PERVOMAISK - an important railway junction and a strong stronghold of the German defense on the middle reaches of the SOUTH BUG.
South-west of the city of BOBRINETS, our troops continued the offensive and fought to occupy more than 30 settlements, including the large settlements of SEMYONOVKA, IVANOVKA, ALEXEEVKA, KONSTANTINOVKA, BUGSKY, ALEXANDROVKA and the railway stations KONSTANTINOVKA, TRIKRATNOE, ALEXANDROVKA.
In the NIKOLAEVSKY direction, our troops, as a result of stubborn offensive battles, captured the settlements of KALINOVKA, GOROKHOVKA, BOGOYAVLENSK, BALABANOVKA and the GOROKHOVKA railway station.

March 23, 1944. Polesie operation. Beginning on March 23, the enemy, trying to relieve the encircled Kovel garrison, launched several strong counterattacks.
Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On the morning of March 23, units of the 1st Tank Army of M.E. Katukov captured an important road junction in the city of Chertkov.
Uman-Botoshan operation. During March 22-23, the troops of the right wing of the 2nd Ukrainian Front continued fighting to expand bridgeheads on the right bank of the Dniester. In the zone of the 40th Army, the Germans sharply increased their resistance. On March 23, their units, with the support of aviation, launched an attack on Muravannaya Kurilovtsy, but were unsuccessful. On March 23, front troops captured the large railway stations of Tarnovo and Floresti. On the same day, the enemy began to withdraw from the Kotovsk area.
Sovinformburo. During March 23, southwest of the city of KREMENETS, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they captured the regional centers of the Tarnopol region ZALOZHTSY, GLUBOCHEK VELIKY, and also occupied more than 20 other settlements with battles.
The other day, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front resumed the offensive in the TARNOPOL - PROSKUROV sector and, having broken through the enemy’s defenses, moved forward from 40 to 60 kilometers in three days of offensive battles. During the offensive, our troops captured the regional centers of the Tarnopol region - the city and large railway junction of KOPICHINTSY, the city and large railway station of TREMBOVLYA, MIKULINTSY, GRIMAILOV, the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region FELSHTYN, and also occupied more than 200 other settlements, including large ones settlements BEREZOVITSA BELKA, MYSHKOVITSA, NASTASOV, SUSCHIN, PLAVCHE, GLESCHAVA, IVANOVKA, MSHANETS, YABLONOV, KHOROSTKOV, OSTAPE, TUROVKA, RYPNA, SOLOMNO, NEMIRINTSY, ALEXANDROVKA, VAROVTSY, BORSHCHOVKA, KUZM IN, ALEXINETS-POLESNY, ALEXINETS-POLNY, KADIEVKA , ANDREYKOVTSY and railway stations BEREZOVITSA-OSTROV, PROSHOVA, MIKULINTSY-STRUSV, DERENYUVKA, KHOROSTKOV, GRIMAILOV. Under the attacks of our troops, the enemy suffered heavy losses in manpower and equipment.
To the west and southwest of VINNITSA, our troops, overcoming enemy resistance and counterattacks, continued the offensive and captured the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region, the city of LETICHIV, and also fought to occupy more than 25 other settlements, including the large settlements of BUTSNI, GOLENISHCHEVO, DUBOVAYA, KURILOVTSY, LOPATENTSY, RAZHEPS, GOLODNY, MIGALEVTSY, YALTUSHKOV.
South of the city of MOGILEV-PODOLSKY, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive on the right bank of the DNISTRU, captured the regional centers of the Moldavian SSR, the city of RYSHKANOVKA, TYRNOVO, VERTYUZHANY, and also occupied more than 40 other settlements with fighting.
South-west and south of the city of GAYVORON, our troops fought forward and captured the regional center of the Odessa region, the city and the large railway station of KODIMA, and also occupied more than 30 other settlements, including BASHTANKOVO, IVASHKOVO, VOLOVA, SHLYAKHOVO, RAKULOVO, YUZEFOVKA.
In the NIKOLAEVSK direction, our troops, continuing to fight to clear the eastern bank of the SOUTH BUG River from the enemy, captured the settlements of BULGARKA, RAKOVO, NOVO-GRIGOREVSK, ARNAUTOVKA, SANDS, GUREVKA, KONSTANTINOVKA.
Our troops came close to the city of VOZNESENSK and started fighting on the outskirts of the city.

March 24, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. At 10 o'clock on March 24, units of the 8th Guards Mechanized Corps of I.F. Dremov of the 1st Tank Army of M.E. Katukov reached the Dniester. In the Zalishchiki area, the 20th Guards Mechanized Brigade of A. Kh. Babajanyan approached the Dniester, and in the Ustechko area (20 km northwest of Zalishchiki) - the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of V. M. Gorelov and the 21st Guards Mechanized Brigade I I. Yakovleva. To the left, units of A. L. Getman’s 11th Guards Tank Corps reached the Dniester. Behind the mechanized and tank corps, formations of the 11th Rifle Corps of I. T. Zamertsev, transferred to the subordination of the commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army, advanced.
Troops of the 1st and 4th Tank, 60th and 1st Guards Combined Arms Armies made a hole in the enemy's defenses and split the front of Army Group South into two parts. On March 24, the 336th and 322nd rifle divisions of the 15th rifle corps of the 60th army surrounded the garrison of Ternopil, and units of the 23rd, 28th and 106th corps advanced 15-20 km west of the city, forming an external encirclement front.
The German 4th Tank Army was thrown back to the west, to the line of Ozerna, Kozlov, Mariampol, and part of the forces of this army were surrounded in Ternopil. The enemy's 1st Tank Army, operating with the main forces in front of the 1st Guards, 18th and 38th Armies, was enveloped from the west by our 4th Tank Army. Due to the fact that Army Group South was dissected in this area, the German command transferred the 8th Army from Army Group South to Army Group A on March 24.
Sovinformburo. During March 24, north-west of the city of TARNOPOL, our troops, having successfully crossed the SERET River, fought forward and occupied more than 30 settlements, including the large settlements of ZVYZHYN, MANAYUV, TROTSYANETS, LOPUSHNY, BYALOGLOVY, BZOVITSA, NESTEROVITSA, TSEBROV, ANELIOWKA and the railway station CEBROW. Our troops cut the railway and highway TARNOPOL - LVIV.
The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing to successfully develop the offensive, in four days of offensive battles advanced from 60 to 100 kilometers, captured the city and the operationally important railway junction CHERTKOV, the regional centers of the Tarnopol (Ternopil) region - the city of GUSYATYN, the city and railway junction of ZALESHIKY on the DNISTER River, the city and large railway station TLUSTE, the city of STRUSOV, and also with fighting they occupied more than 400 other settlements, including large settlements MARYANKA, YUZEFOVKA, LADICHIN, VARVARYNTSY, KOBYLOVLOKI, YAGELNITSA, DZVINYAG, SHUPARKI, EZEZHANY, PRO BUZNA , VELIKIE CHARNOKONTSE, TLUSTENKE, VASYLKOVTSY, CHABAROVKA, GOLENISHCHEVO, KUZMINCHIK, FORESTERS, KRESHENNAYA, NOVOSELKI, OLD and NOVE PORECHYE and railway stations CHABAROVKA, VASYLKOVTSY, VYGNAKA, YAGELNITSYA, VORVUL INCI...
In the PROSKUROVSKY direction, our troops fought offensive battles, during which they captured the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region, the city of MEDZHIBOZH. and also fought to occupy more than 40 other settlements, including the large settlements of OLESHIN, ZARECHYE, LEZNEVO, DAVIDKOVTSY, PIROGOVTSY, RUSANOVTSY, TRIBUKHOTSY, RUDNIA, VOITOVTSY, CHERNILIVTSI. Our troops came close to the city of PROSKUROV and started fighting on the outskirts of the city.
To the west and south of the city of MOGILEV-PODOLSKY, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional center of the Chernivtsi region SEKURYANY, the regional center of the Moldavian SSR FLORESHTY, and also occupied more than 50 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements OKNITSA, BYRNOVA, CHERNOLEUKA, KORBU, TSAUL, MIKHAILEN, PELINIYA, KUBOLTA, FRUMUSHIKA, GVOZDOVA, KOSHERNITSYA and railway stations SOFIA, PETRENI, PELINIYA. Our troops came close to the city of BALTI and started fighting on its outskirts.
South-west of the city of GAYVORON, our troops fought forward and captured the regional center of the Moldavian SSR, the city of KAMENKA (on the left bank of the DNISTER), and also occupied more than 20 other settlements, including the large settlements of PODYMA, ZAGNITKOV, PISAREVKA, SHERSHENTSY, LABUSHNAYA , BUDEY, SMOLYANKA, SARAZHINKA.
The troops of the 3rd UKRAINIAN Front, after two days of stubborn fighting, captured the city and the large railway station VOZNESENSK - a strong enemy stronghold in the lower reaches of the SOUTH BUG.

March 25, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. The troops of the 11th Guards Tank and 8th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 1st Tank Army crossed the Dniester on the move and rushed south. The 64th Guards Separate Heavy Tank Brigade I. N. Boyko crossed the interfluve of the Dniester and Prut and by 23:00 on March 25 captured the Moshi railway station, reaching the approaches to Chernivtsi from the north. A German train with tanks and ammunition was captured at the station. The brigade commander organized reconnaissance of fords across the river. Prut near the city of Chernivtsi.
Soviet troops, who surrounded the Ternopil garrison, presented him with an ultimatum to surrender. However, the enemy rejected the ultimatum. On March 25, the 94th Rifle Corps (99th and 117th Guards Rifle Divisions) was brought up to the city. Then the 4th Guards Tank Corps was regrouped here.
On March 25, the city of Proskurov (now Khmelnitsky) was liberated by units of the 127th Infantry Division of I.P. Govorov, the 304th Division of M.M. Muzykin of the 1st Guards Army and the 2nd Guards Airborne Division of S.M. Black.
On March 25, the 38th Army captured the city of Bar and fought on the line of Borshchi, Yaltushki, Biliciya, and Zamekhov.
Uman-Botoshan operation. Troops of the 27th and 52nd armies, pursuing defeated enemy units in the area between the Dniester and Prut rivers, crossed the river. Reut and by the end of March 25, the advanced units reached the river. Rod.
The troops of I.M. Managarov’s 53rd Army, developing an offensive to the south, reached the approaches to the city of Balta on March 25, and then almost completely surrounded it. The enemy garrison put up stubborn resistance.
Sovinformburo. The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, after stubborn battles on March 25, stormed the city and the large railway junction of PROSKUROV - a strong stronghold of the German defense and, continuing to develop the offensive, fought to occupy more than 150 other settlements, including regional centers of the Kamenets-Podolsk region - the city and large railway station DERAZHNYA, the city of SATANOV, the city of GORODOK, VOLVKOVTSY, CHEMIROVTSY, ORININ, regional centers of the Tarnopol region - the city of BUCHACH, the city of BORSHCHEV, SKALA, BUDANOV, large settlements BENYAVA, DARAKHOV, KHMELYOVKA, DOBROPOLE, LYASKOVTS , WERZBOWIEC, USTECHKO , LETAVA, LYANTSKORUN, OLKHOVTSY, SVIRZHKOVTSY, IVAKHNOVTSY, WISDOMHEADS, SKAZINTSY, KOPISTIN, MASIOVTSY, GATNA DERAZHNYA, GALUZINTSY, LUKI BARSKY, KOMAROVTSY, IVANOVTSY and railway stations ZAKUPNOE, FORESTRY, VIC TORIYA, SKIBNEVO, KOMAROVTSY, BUCHACH, BELOBOZHNITSA.
Our troops came close to the city of KAMENETS-PODOLSK, started fighting on its outskirts and reached the DNIESTER River at a front of up to 80 kilometers.
To the west and south of the city of MOGILEV-PODOLSKY, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Moldavian SSR, the city of EDINTSY, BRATUSHANY, and also occupied more than 50 other settlements, including the large settlements of OZHEVO, KOBOLCHIN, GVOZDOVTSY, MENDYKOVTSY. , KORISTOUTSY, MARKOVTSY, CHEPELEVTSY, ALEXANDRENY, STOLNICHANY, ZAHAYKANY, PYRZHOTA, STURDZYANY, BALAN, STRYMBA, REUCEL and railway stations DONDUSHENI, GRINAUTSY, OKNITSA, SEKURYANY, REUCEL.
South-west and south of the city of GAYVORON, our troops fought forward and occupied more than 40 settlements, including large settlements RASHKOV, KATERINOVKA, STROINTSI, BOLSHOVY MOLOKISH, KRASNENKOYE, KRUTYE, SLOBOZEA, KSENDZOVKA, MOSHNYAGI, MIRONY, BENZARY, NE MIROWSKOE, PASAT, and ABAMELEKOVO railway station.
In the NIKOLAEV direction, our troops, overcoming stubborn resistance and enemy counterattacks, continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they captured the heavily fortified strongholds of POGORELOV, MESHKOVO, SHIROKA BALKA and the railway stations KULBAKINO, VODOPOY (3 kilometers southeast of the city of NIKOLAEV).

March 26, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On March 26, units of the 4th Tank Army broke into Kamenets-Podolsky and liberated it from the enemy.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On March 26, the main forces of the 27th and 52nd armies reached the 85-kilometer section from Lopatnik (25 km southeast of Lipkana) to Skulana (20 km north of Iasi) to the Prut River - the state border of the USSR.
Odessa operation (1944). The Odessa offensive operation of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front of R. Ya. Malinovsky began with the assistance of the forces of the Black Sea Fleet, which lasted until April 14, 1944.
On the night of March 26, 55 sailors from the 384th Marine Battalion and 12 soldiers from one of the units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front secretly landed in the Nikolaev port. The landing force had the task of facilitating the capture of the city by actions behind enemy lines. The paratroopers occupied the buildings of the new elevator and port. In the morning, a fierce battle ensued with the enemy, who was forced to bring up three battalions of infantry, guns, mortars and tanks. The paratroopers held the elevator until the approach of Soviet troops. Of the 67 people, only 12 survived, the rest died the death of the brave.
During March 26-27, the 3rd Ukrainian Front fought intense battles for the city and port of Nikolaev, crossing the Southern Bug and capturing bridgeheads on its right bank. The troops of the 5th Shock Army of V.D. Tsvetaev, the 28th Army of A.A. Grechkin and the 6th Army of I.T. Shlemin attacked the enemy defenses from different sides until they cleared all of Nikolaev from the enemy in a night assault.
Sovinformburo. During March 26, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region MIKHALPOL, the regional center of the Vinnitsa region the city of BAR, the regional centers of the Tarnopol region KOZLOV, ZOLOTNIKI, and also occupied more than 100 other settlements with fighting. including large settlements ROSOKHOVATETS, KOTUZOV, GNILOVODY, VISHNEVCHIK, KUPIN, MALAYA KARABCHEEVKA, SAVVINTSY, SHUMOVTSY, KORZHOVTSI, ZAGINTSY, BOZHIKOVTSY, ZHENISHKOVTSY, IOLTUKHI, ZAMEKHOV, STROGA, and railway stations KORZHOVTSY, BOGDANOVTSY. Our troops surrounded the enemy garrisons in the city of TARNOPOL and in the city of KAMENETS-PODOLSK.
The troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front, continuing their rapid offensive, crossed the DNISTER River a few days ago over a 175-kilometer stretch, captured the city and the important railway junction BALTI, fought to occupy the regional centers of the Moldavian SSR, the cities of FALESHTY, GLODYANY, BOLOTINA and, developing the offensive, left to our state border - the PRUT River - on a front stretching 85 kilometers.
To the west and southwest of the city of PERVOMAISK, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied several settlements.

March 27, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. At 7 o'clock in the morning on March 27, units of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of V. M. Gorelov of the 1st Tank Army attacked the enemy in the city of Kolomyia and by 16 o'clock captured the railway station. The city garrison, consisting of an infantry battalion with tanks, put up stubborn resistance.
Uman-Botoshan operation. The 40th Army (F.F. Zhmachenko) on the morning of March 27 repelled the enemy’s counterattack and by the end of the day the army reached the Kucha, Neporotovo, Novoselitsa, Viyshora line.
The 27th Army (S.G. Trofimenko) reached the Prut, advanced detachments captured the opposite bank of the river and fought to expand the bridgeheads.
The 52nd Army (K.A. Koroteev) with its right flank reached the Prut on the front of Goreshty, Skulany, the main forces, due to the lag of the left flank of the 4th Guards Army, fought, turning their front to the southeast.
The 4th Guards Army (I.V. Galanin) repelled enemy counterattacks. The enemy tried to delay the army's advance and sent its tank troops here.
The 53rd Army (I.M. Managarov) fought for Balta and captured most of it. On the left flank, the army advanced up to 20 km, repelling several counterattacks by enemy infantry and tanks.
The 5th Guards Army (A.S. Zhadov) advanced up to 20 km during the day of the battle, by the end of the day its divisions reached the Belousovka, Berezki line.
The 7th Guards Army (M.S. Shumilov) developed an offensive on the right bank of the Southern Bug and advanced up to 10 km per day, reaching the Bolkumary, Ivanovka, Semyonovka line by the end of the day. The 27th Guards Rifle Corps of the 7th Guards Army was transferred to the 52nd Army to strengthen the group in the Yasy direction.
Odessa operation (1944). On the night of March 27, troops of the 57th (N.A. Gagen), 37th (M.N. Sharokhin), 46th (V.V. Glagoleva) and 8th Guards Army (V.I. Chuikova ) began crossing the Southern Bug with the main forces. During March 27, the greatest success was achieved by the troops of the right wing of the 3rd Ukrainian Front - the 57th Army of N. A. Gagen and the 37th Army of M. N. Sharokhin. In this regard, R. Ya. Malinovsky decided to transfer the main efforts of the front to the zone of these armies.
Sovinformburo. The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, developing the offensive, yesterday, March 26, as a result of a swift attack by tank formations and infantry, captured the regional center of Ukraine, the city of KAMENETS-PODOLSK - a strong stronghold of the German defense on the DNISTER...
During March 27, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Tarnopol region - the city of MONASTYRISKA, KOROPETS, GOLDEN STREAM, the regional centers of the Kamenets-Podolsk region - the city of YARMOLINTSY, SMOTRIC, VONKOVTSY, NOVAYA USHITSA, DOLZHOK, and also occupied with battles more than 80 other settlements, including large settlements LENCZOWKA, GOLGOCZE, ŠWEIKOW, BARYSH, PORCHOWA, SOKOLOW, SNOWIDOW, KOSCELNIKI, BEREMYANY, LOTACZ, KADIIVTSY, SHAROWSKA, PETRASHI, DASHKOWTSY, GOVORY, KUCHA. The front troops, having successfully crossed the DNISTER River, captured the regional center of the Stanislav region, the city and large railway station of GORODENKA, and the regional centers of the Chernivtsi region, the city of ZASTAVNA, SADAGURA.
Troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front, continuing to develop the offensive between the DNISTER and PRUT rivers, captured the regional centers of the Moldavian SSR, the city of BRICHANY, SKULYANY, and also occupied more than 100 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of MIKHALKOVA, ROMANKOVTSY, SHUBUTINTSY, YANOUTSY , BUZOVICY, NOVOSELTSI, TABANY, KARAKUSHANY, KORZHEUTSI, TITSKANY, KARPACZ, KOSTESTI, BRANESTI, KUHNESHTI, KALINESHTI, STOLICANY, SKUMPIA, MARANDENI and railway stations ROMANKOVCI, VASKAUCI, JANOUCI, MA RANDENI, KATRANYK, SKUMPIA, STOLICHANY.
West and southwest of the city of PERVOMAISK, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they captured the regional center of the Odessa region SAVRAN, and also occupied more than 30 other settlements, including BAIBUZOVKA, BAKSHA, KAPUSTNIKA, STRUTINKA, MIKHALKOVO, OCHERETNA, TRIDUBY, BURILOVO, SECRETARY, LENIN, BOGACHIVKA, KONETSPOL, GOLTA, GRUSHEVKA.
In the NIKOLAEV direction, our troops fought to capture the settlements of BALOVNAYA, MATVEEVKA, TERNOVKA (4 kilometers north of the city of NIKOLAEV), WATERPOYA and started fighting on the outskirts of the city of NIKOLAEV.

March 28, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. By March 28, the German 1st Tank Army of Army Group South was captured in the area north of Kamenets-Podolsk by troops of the 3rd Guards and 4th Tank, 1st Guards, 18th and 38th combined arms armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front G.K. Zhukov and the 40th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front I.S. Konev.
At dawn on March 28, units of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of the 1st Tank Army attacked Kolomyia from the northeast and northwest. Tank units broke into Kolomyia and by 9 o’clock in the morning they completely liberated it.
The 64th Guards Tank Brigade I. N. Boyko started fighting for Chernivtsi. The enemy managed to blow up the bridge over the Prut River. At 17:00 on March 28, the 64th Guards Tank Brigade began to ford the Prut in the Kalanchak area (5 km east of Chernivtsi) in order to strike Chernivtsi from the east. At the same time, the 45th Guards Tank Brigade of N.V. Morgunov and the 24th Infantry Division of F.A. Prokhorov arrived and began crossing the river in the Lenkovtsy area (2 km northwest of Chernivtsi), bypassing Chernivtsi from the west. The enemy, operating in the Chernivtsi region, began to hastily retreat to the south.
Uman-Botoshan operation. By March 28, the 163rd Rifle Division of F.V. Karlov of the 40th Army reached a line 15 km from Khotin, and the 240th Rifle Division of T.F. Umansky and the 4th Guards Airborne Division of A.D. Rumyantsev, deployed along the right bank of the Dniester at the line south of Staraya Ushitsa, Lipkovtsy, repelled attempts by small groups of the enemy to cross the river in the area of ​​Staraya Ushitsa and west of this point.
Odessa operation (1944). On the night of March 28, the 61st Guards Rifle Division of L.N. Lozanovich and the 243rd Rifle Division of M.I. Togolev from the 6th Army crossed the river using improvised means. Ingul and at 3 o'clock on March 28 they broke into Nikolaev from the north. By 4 o'clock, Soviet units broke through into the city center. At the same time, the 130th Infantry Division of the 5th Shock Army under the command of Colonel K.V. Sychev crossed the river. Ingul and, together with other army divisions advancing from the east, broke into Nikolaev. Units of the 28th Army were advancing on the city from the south. By the morning of March 28, Soviet troops completely cleared Nikolaev.
The enemy's 5th airfield, 302nd and 304th infantry divisions holding Nikolaev were thrown back to the western bank of the river. Southern Bug. During the retreat, the enemy managed to blow up a bridge across the river in the Varvarovka area. Units of the 37th Rifle Corps of the 5th Shock Army began crossing the Southern Bug in this area.
By the end of March 28, the 57th Army and the 37th Army had expanded the bridgehead on the right bank of the Southern Bug to 45 km along the front and from 4 to 25 km in depth. The cavalry mechanized group and the 23rd tank corps, located in the area northeast of New Odessa, in the zone of the 46th army, are regrouped in the zone of the 57th and 37th armies.
Sovinformburo. During March 28, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Stanislav region, the city of GVOZDETS, the regional center of the Chernivtsi region, the city of KITSMAN, the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region, MINKOVTSY, and also occupied more than 70 other settlements, including of which the large settlements SOROKA, KISELOV, KADOBOVTSY, VERENCHANKA, POGORELOVKA, POPTETS, OLD and NEW SOKOLOVKA, BARANOVKA, ZINKOV, POKUTINTSY, MALIEVTSY, SINYAKOVTSY, LYSETS, SOKOLETS and the railway stations WINDOWS, YURKOVTSY, KISEL YOV, YASENEV POLYN.
To the west of the city of MOGILOV-PODILSKY, our troops, advancing between the rivers DNISTER and PRUT, captured the regional center of the Chernivtsi region KELMENTSY, and also occupied several other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of BABYNO, LINKOVTSY, VOLCHENETS, NELIPOVTSY, VARTIKOVTSY, MEDVEZHA and railway stations LARGA, MEDVEZHA.
To the south and east of the city of BALTI, our troops continued to conduct offensive battles, during which they occupied more than 30 settlements, including the large settlements of COSENI, CHETROSI, BILICENI, DRAGANESTI, CHUTULESTI and the railway stations of ALEXANDRENI, PUTINESHTI, MARCULESTI, CIRA, ROGOZHENI .
Northeast, east and southeast of the city of Rybnitsa, our troops fought and captured the SLOBODKA railway junction, and also occupied several other settlements, including the large settlements MIKHAILOVKA, KOLBASNAYA, VORONKOVO, TIMKOV, ZATISHYE, GONORATA and the railway stations KOLBASNAYA, VORONKOVKA .
South-west of the city of PERVOMAISK, our troops, as a result of offensive battles, captured the settlements of YASINOVO, BOLSHOY BOBRIC, KRICHUNOVO, VOLOSCHINO, LUKANOVO, BIG KUMARY, KODYMKA and the railway stations KONETSPOL, KAMNY BRIDGE.
North-west of the city of VOZNESENSK, our troops, having successfully crossed the SOUTHERN BUG River, fought forward and captured the regional center of the Odessa region DOMANEVKA, and also occupied more than 40 other settlements, including the large settlements STEPCOVKA, GREEN GUY, VIKTOROVKA, NOVOSYOLKI, ANETOVKA, AKMECHET, ZABARA, SLAVA.
Troops of the 3rd UKRAINIAN Front today, March 28, after stubborn fighting, stormed the large regional and industrial center of Ukraine, the city of NIKOLAEV - an important railway junction, one of the largest ports on the Black Sea and a strong stronghold of the German defense at the mouth of the SOUTH BUG.

March 29, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. The commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, G.K. Zhukov, decided that the enemy, captured in the area north of Kamenets-Podolsk, would try to break through to the south through Kamenets-Podolsky to Khotyn and from the line Lyantskorun, Gumentsy to Skala, Zalishchiki. Therefore, the main efforts of the front troops were aimed at cutting off the enemy from the crossings on the Dniester and capturing them. The enemy's persistent attacks in the western direction and the fact that the Soviet 4th Tank Army was holding back the attacks with great difficulty were seen as the enemy's desire to break through to the crossings across the Dniester in Zalishchiki.
At noon on March 29, units of the 11th Guards Tank Corps of A.L. Getman of the 1st Tank Army and the 24th Rifle Division liberated the city of Chernivtsi from the German occupiers.
Uman-Botoshan operation. On March 29, units of the 25th Guards Rifle Division of G. A. Krivolapov and the 94th Guards Rifle Division of G. N. Shostatsky of the 53rd Army captured Balta.
Odessa operation (1944). By the end of March 29, the 57th Army and the 37th Army had expanded the breakthrough to 45 kilometers along the front and from 4 to 25 kilometers in depth. The 23rd tank corps of A. O. Akhmanov and the cavalry mechanized group of I. A. Pliev, having crossed to the western bank of the Southern Bug River, began to advance after the 57th and 37th armies, which reached the river on March 29. Tiligul.
By the morning of March 29, units of the 37th Rifle Corps of the 5th Shock Army crossed the Southern Bug and captured Varvarovka.
Sovinformburo. The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, as a result of skillful maneuvers of tank formations and infantry, captured the city and the large railway junction of KOLOMYYA - an important stronghold of the German defense in the foothills of the Carpathians...
During March 29, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Kamenets-Podolsk region SOLOBKOVTSY, OLD USHITSA. Front troops crossed the Prut River, approached the city of CHERNOVITSY and began fighting on its outskirts.
West of the city of Mogilev-Podolsky, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the settlements of KONOVKA, PERKOVTSY, LIVINTSY, MIKHAILOVKA, TOLBURYANY, BALKOVTSY, LARGA, BELYAVINTSY, SHIROVTSY, PERERITA.
To the south and east of the city of BALTI, our troops fought forward and captured the regional centers of the Moldavian SSR KISHKARENI, SINDZHEREI, KOTUZHANI, and also occupied more than 30 other settlements.
South-west of the city of PERVOMAYSK, our troops, continuing the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Odessa region, the city of BALTA, Krivoe LAKE, BOLSHAYA VRADIEVKA, and also occupied more than 40 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of LYUBOMIRKA, POSITSELY 1st and 2 -e, ZHEREBKOVO, MIKHAILOVKA, GVOZDAVKA, IVANOVKA, SYROVO, ADAMOVKA, MARINOVKA and railway stations KIRILLOVKA, BOLSHAYA VRADIEVKA, SYROVO, ZAPLAZY, CHIKHACHEVO, ZHEREBKOVO, PERLET, BALTA.
To the west, south and southeast of the city of VOZNESENSK, our troops, successfully developing the offensive, occupied more than 80 settlements with battles, including large settlements TSAREDAROVKA, KOPANI, NOVOSELOVKA, ALEXANDROVKA, VLADIMIROVKA, LIDIEVKA, MOLDAVKA, OLD KANTAKUZENKA, DMITRIEVKA , NEW VOSKRESENSKOE, POKROVSKOE, KATERINENTHAL, KARLSRUHE, KOVALYOVKA, TERNOVATAYA and railway stations YASTREBINOVKA, MOLDAVKA.

March 30, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. By March 30, the German 1st Tank Army was covered by the troops of the 4th Tank, 1st Guards, 18th, 38th and 40th combined arms armies in the area of ​​Chemerovtsy, Dunaevtsy, Studenitsa, Kamenets-Podolsky. Two divisions of the 30th Rifle Corps deployed at the indicated line while repelling strong enemy attacks. Our 13th Army reached the line Tristen, Berestechko, Podkamen, covering Brody from the north and south. The 60th Army, having encircled the enemy in Ternopil with part of its forces, advanced with its main forces to the Zalozhtsy, Podgaitsy, Mariampol line. At the same time, the 18th Guards Rifle Corps of I. M. Afonin, after reaching the Podgaitsy, Mariampol line of up to 35 kilometers by March 30, was transferred to the 1st Guards Army. By the end of March 30, the 47th, 107th and 17th Guards Rifle Corps of the 1st Guards Army reached the Chemerovtsy, Smotrich area. The 1st Tank Army, reinforced by the 11th Rifle Corps, operated south of the river. Dniester on a wide, 150-kilometer front from Stanislav to Storozhynets.
Odessa operation (1944). In the first half of the day on March 30, the 23rd Tank Corps, advancing in the 57th Army zone, entered the battle in the Stryukovo area.
On March 30, units of the 1st Guards fortified area, the forward detachment of the 295th Infantry Division of the 5th Shock Army and parts of the Black Sea Fleet captured Ochakov and the Red Lighthouse Fort at the mouth of the Dnieper-Bug Estuary with a strike from land and sea.
Sovinformburo. The troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, developing the offensive, crossed the PRUT River and stormed the regional city of Ukraine - CHERNOVITSY (Chernivtsi), an important economic and political center of Northern Bukovina and a powerful stronghold of the German defense on the PRUT River, covering the approaches to the borders of Hungary and Romania...
During March 30, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Stanislav region: the city of TLUMACH, the city of TYSMENITSA, the city of NADVORNA, the city of DELYATIN, the city of OBERTIN, the city of ZABOLOTOV, the city of SNYATYY, the regional center of the Chernivtsi region, the city of STOROZHYNETS, as well as More than 100 other settlements were occupied by battles, including large settlements PYADYKI, TSENEVA, GANKOVTSY, ZADUBROVTSY, STETSOVA, IVANKOVTSY, LUZHANY, RARANCHE, TOPOROVTSI, NESTEROVTSY, GANOVKA, PODLESSNY MUKAROV, NEFEDOVTSY, MRUSHANOVKA, KITAYGOROD .
To the west of the city of MOGILEV-PODOLSKY, our troops captured the regional center of the Moldavian SSR, the city and the large railway station LIPKANY, and fought to occupy several other settlements.
To the south and east of the city of Baltsy, our troops, continuing the offensive, with battles occupied more than 50 settlements, among which large settlements, points of Petershta, Todorest, Teshcur, Dumbovitsa, Sinesti, Onishkan, Myndresti, Shysch, ash, Ordashi, Prosepeni , OLISHKANI, SHOLDANESTI, PORIAN, POPAUTSI, CHORNA and railway stations KOBILNYA, SHOLDANESTI, REZINA.
The troops of the 2nd UKRAINIAN Front, as a result of stubborn battles, captured the regional center of the Moldavian SSR, the city and the large railway station RYBNITSA.
South-west of the city of PERVOMAYSK, our troops fought forward and captured the regional center of the Odessa region LYUBASHEVKA, and also occupied more than 60 other settlements, including the large settlements of LIPETSKOE, TOCHILOVO, NOVO-GEORGIEVKA, PETROVKA, BOKOVO, SOFIEVKA, YANOVKA, MARYANOVKA, LYAKHOVA, GULYANITSKOYE, TARASVKA, NOVO-PAVLOVKA. Our troops have completely cleared the PERVOMAISK - SLOBODKA - RYBNITSA - BALTI railway from the enemy.
To the west and south of the city of VOZNESENSK, our troops, pursuing the retreating German troops, captured the regional centers of the Odessa region MOSTOVOE, VESELINOVO, and also occupied more than 150 other settlements, including the large settlements VESYOLAYA, ALEXEEVKA, KARATAEVO, VASILYEVKA, SOFIEVKA, NIKOLAEVKA 2 -ya, KAPITANKA, NOVO-POKROVKA, MIKHAILOVKA, WATERLOO, VESYOLY KUT and railway stations MARTYNOVSKAYA, MOSTOVOE, VESELINOVO, ANNOVKA.
In the area of ​​the city of NIKOLAEV, our troops successfully crossed the YUZHNY River. The BUG and the Bug estuary and to the west of NIKOLAEV, more than 60 settlements were occupied with fighting, including the regional center of the Nikolaev region, the city of VARVAROVKA and the large settlements of PETROVSKOE, BOLSHAYA KORENIKHA, NOVAYA BOGDANOVKA, ILYINSKOE, KRINICHKI, PETROVKA, VLADIMIROVKA, BELYAKOVICHI, NECHAENNOE, BALA NEW , TURKISH.

March 31, 1944. Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation. On March 31, troops of the 15th, 94th Rifle Corps of the 60th Army and parts of the 4th Guards Tank Corps broke into Ternopil from the north, east and south.
The 4th Tank Army, with G.S. Lazko’s 30th Rifle Corps attached to it, fought fierce battles with strong enemy tank groups breaking through from the area north of Kamenets-Podolsk to the west. At the same time, formations of the 1st Guards, 18th and 38th armies, striking from the east and northeast, drove the enemy out of Dunaevtsy, Borshchev and a number of other settlements.
On March 31, the 44th Guards Tank Brigade of the 1st Tank Army in the area southwest of Khotin established contact with units of the 40th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.
Uman-Botoshan operation. The 40th, 27th and 52nd armies of the 2nd Ukrainian Front crossed the Prut at a number of points and expanded their bridgeheads. The armies of the central group - the 4th Guards, 5th Guards Tank, 5th Guards and 53rd - struck along the Dniester to cut off the German group retreating from the Southern Bug and assist the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front.
Odessa operation (1944). On March 31, A. O. Akhmanov’s 23rd Tank Corps, operating ahead of the combined arms armies, fought with enemy tanks already at Zhovtnya and Tsebrikovo. On March 31, troops of the 37th Army and the cavalry-mechanized group of I. A. Pliev crossed the Tiligul River and knocked down the enemy from the heights of the right bank. In battles during the crossing of the river. Tiligul, during an enemy air raid on March 31, the commander of the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps, participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces T. I. Tanaschishin was killed. Major General of Tank Forces V.I. Zhdanov took command of the corps. Units of the cavalry-mechanized group, having captured Berezovka, continued to move to Razdelnaya and to the Kuchurgan valley.
Sovinformburo. During March 31, the troops of the 1st UKRAINIAN Front, continuing the offensive, captured the regional center of the Kamenets-Podolsk region, the city of DUNAEVTSY - an important road junction and a strongly fortified stronghold of the German defense, and also fought to occupy the settlements of SMOTRICHEVKA, ZELENCHY, CHANKOV, ZALESTSY, PANASOVKA, VOROBEEVKA, IVANKOVTSY, DZERZHANOVKA, YATSKOVETSKAYA GUTA, KSAVEROVKA, KNYAZHPOL, VYKHVATNEVTSY, STUDENITSA, DEMSHIN, FURMANOVKA, VRUBLEVTSY.
South of the city of KAMENETS-PODOLSK, our troops, advancing between the DNISTER and PRUT rivers, captured the settlements of DARABANY, KAPLYOVKA, DANKOVTSY, BELEVTSI, KISHLA SALIEVA, MAMALYGA, KRIVA and the railway stations of KRIVA, MAMALYGA.
In the CHISINAU direction, our troops fought forward and occupied more than 40 settlements, including the large settlements of PARCANI, SHIPOTENI, PEPENI, VADULEKA, BRYNZENI, TYRSHITSEY, SYRNOVA, TSARENI, VYKHVATINTSI, ZOZULANY, POPENKI, KULNA and the railway SHIPOTEN station, thus cutting the CHISINAU - IASSI railway.
In the TIRASPOL direction, our troops, continuing to develop the offensive, captured the regional centers of the Odessa region, the city and large railway station of KOTOVSK, the city of ANANEV, ANDREEVO-IVANOVKA, and also occupied more than 100 other settlements with battles, including the large settlements of VALYARKA, ELIZAVETOVKA, GONDRABURA, SHELEKHOVO, EKATERINOVKA, POKROVKA, NIKOLAEVKA, ISAEVO, OSTROVKA, IVANOVKA, and CHUBOVKA railway station.
In the ODESSA direction, our troops, pursuing the retreating enemy, captured the regional center of the Odessa region, the city and large railway station BEREZOVKA, the regional center of the Nikolaev region TILIGULO-BEREZANKA (SUVOROVO), and also occupied more than 160 other settlements, including large settlements STRYUKOVO. , SHVARTSEVO, PETROVKA, BOGOROZHESTVENKA, OSCAROVKA, ZAVODOVKA, VORMSA, RORBACH, OSNOVA, IGNATOVKA, KOMISSAROVKA, ADAMOVO, ANDREEVKA and railway stations KOLOSOVKA, KALAGLEYA.
The troops of the 3rd UKRAINIAN Front, developing the offensive, captured the fortress and city of OCHAKOV - an important stronghold of the German defense, blocking the entrance to the Dnieper-Bug estuary.

Monument to soldiers of the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps. The city of Snigirevka (Nikolaev region). Ukraine

By the spring of 1944, in the southwestern strategic direction, the Red Army completed the first stage of the operation of a group of fronts to liberate the territory of Right Bank Ukraine. The main result of the winter offensive of Soviet troops in Right Bank Ukraine was the creation of a favorable environment for further development offensive in order to complete the liberation of the southwestern regions of the USSR and reach the state border. The Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation was an integral part of the second stage of the liberation of Right Bank Ukraine and was carried out with the goal of defeating the Nikolaev enemy group.

By the beginning of March 1944, the German 6th and Romanian 3rd armies of Army Group A (Field Marshal E. Kleist) were operating in the Bereznegovato-Snigirevsky direction, consisting of 33 divisions, including four tank and one motorized. The enemy group numbered up to 500 thousand people, 3,386 guns and mortars, 359 tanks and assault guns, and about 600 aircraft. The German command took emergency measures to strengthen the defense on the flooded river. Ingulets in order to stop the advance of Soviet troops and retain the remaining regions of Ukraine. The command of Army Group A and the 6th Army relied on a stubborn defense on the river. Ingulets, Arkhangelskoye, Dudchino to delay the advance of Soviet troops, and with mobile reserves (3rd and 24th tank divisions) to fend off possible breakthroughs on one or another section of the front. The defense was single-echelon, only the first line was occupied and defended from one position, which was equipped with one or two, and in some directions, three trenches. The densest grouping of enemy troops was created in front of the armies of the center of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, especially opposite the bridgeheads captured by the 46th and 8th Guards armies.

In the event of a breakthrough of the first line of defense, it was planned to contain the advance of Soviet troops at intermediate lines (Ingulo-Kamenka, Shevchenkovo, Kazanka, Vladimirovka, Bereznegovatoye, Snigirevka, the Ingulets River and the line of the Ingul River) and only as a last resort to retreat to the line of the Southern Bug River.

By directive of February 28, 1944, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (SHC) assigned the task of defeating the Nikolaev group of enemy troops to the 3rd Ukrainian Front (commander - Army General). The front was ordered to cross the Ingulets River and, by attacking in the Nikolaev direction, clear the southern part of Ukraine between the Ingulets and Southern Bug rivers from the enemy. By the beginning of the operation, the 3rd Ukrainian Front was significantly strengthened. It included the 57th, 37th, 46th, 8th Guards, 6th, 5th Shock, 28th Combined Arms, 17th Air Army, 23rd Tank, 2nd and 4th 1st Guards Mechanized and 4th Guards Cavalry Corps (total 57 rifle and 3 cavalry divisions). The front numbered 500 thousand people, 7184 guns and mortars, 573 tanks and self-propelled artillery units (SPG), 593 aircraft and outnumbered the enemy in artillery by more than 2 times and in tanks by 1.6 times. In terms of people and aircraft, the forces of the parties were approximately equal.

In accordance with the task received, the front commander decided to deliver the main blow with the forces of the 46th (Lieutenant General) and 8th Guards (Colonel General) armies from bridgeheads on the right bank of the Ingulets River in the general direction of the New Bug, and then develop the offensive behind enemy lines operating east of Nikolaev. In the zone of the 46th Army, it was planned to introduce the 23rd Tank Corps into the breakthrough, and in the zone of the 8th Guards Army - a cavalry mechanized group of the lieutenant general, consisting of the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps, the 4th Guards Cavalry Corps and the 5th separate motorized rifle brigade. The command had special hopes for this group. With access to the New Bug area, it was supposed to concentrate efforts in a southern direction and strike at the rear of the enemy troops located east of Nikolaev. Thus, the commander’s decision was characterized by the desire to encircle the enemy, using the capabilities of mobile troops. At the same time, the enemy could have expected attacks from the bridgeheads, so the front command decided to decisively mass the forces and assets in these directions. Thus, the 8th Guards Army was built in two echelons. The battle formations of its rifle corps and divisions were also built in two echelons. As a result, superiority over the enemy was increased to 4 times in infantry and up to 10 times in artillery, and the tactical density here was one battalion, 2.5 tanks and self-propelled guns and 63 guns and mortars per 1 km of front.

The 57th (lieutenant general), 37th (lieutenant general), 6th (lieutenant general), 5th shock (colonel general) and 28th (lieutenant general) armies were supposed to provide auxiliary crushing blows and pin down enemy actions in your offensive zones. The main aviation forces of the 17th Air Army (Lieutenant General of Aviation) were involved in supporting the offensive of the 46th, 8th Guards armies and the cavalry mechanized group.

The main content of the short preparatory period was the expansion and occupation of bridgeheads by troops of shock groups, replenishment of troops with people, ammunition, food, fuel and lubricants. The supply of funds was complicated by the separation of troops from supply stations, the destruction of railways and bridges on them, and exceptional impassability on the dirt supply routes. Front engineering troops built and restored bridges and roads, equipped crossings, and cleared mines. By the start of the operation, we managed to bring in the minimum amount of material needed to start the operation. By the end of March 5, preparations for the offensive were basically completed.

At 10 o'clock on March 6, the troops of the main group of the front, after powerful artillery and aviation preparation, attacked enemy positions from the bridgeheads. On the same day, the armies on the right and left wings of the front went on the offensive. It was taken into account that the neighboring 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts were also carrying out an offensive. Thanks to the secret concentration of troops and simultaneous attacks on a wide front, the German command was misled as to the direction of the main attack, and surprise was achieved.

The enemy stubbornly defended, launching numerous counterattacks. To do this, he used fortified settlements and flooded rivers. Particularly fierce character fighting worn in the Troitsko-Safonovo area. After the formations of the first echelon of the 8th Guards Army broke through the first position of the enemy defense, their advance slowed down. To increase the force of the attack, at 22:00 on March 6, a cavalry-mechanized group was introduced into the battle, which came as a complete surprise to the enemy.

Decisively developing an offensive in depth and knocking the enemy from their occupied lines, the cavalry-mechanized group, in difficult weather conditions, approached Novy Bug by the morning of March 8th. Units of the 9th Guards Cavalry Division, Major General, from the east, the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps, from the northeast, and the 30th Cavalry Division, Major General, from the south and southwest, broke into the outskirts of the city. The Dolinskaya - Nikolaev railway, which had important for the enemy, was cut off, and the defense front of his 6th Army was dismembered. Conditions were created to cover the enemy group operating in the area of ​​Bereznegovatoye, Snigirevka, Bashtanka.

In order to cut off the enemy’s escape routes to the west, the cavalry-mechanized group, by decision of the front commander, left the 5th separate motorized rifle brigade in the Novy Bug area, and with its main forces struck at Bashtanka and further to the south. Advancing at a pace of more than 20 km per day, on March 10, it captured Bashtanka, and by March 12, advanced units reached the Ingulets River south of Snigirevka, cutting off the retreat routes of the German 6th Army to the west. At the same time, troops of the 6th and 5th shock armies and the 28th armies attacked the enemy from the east and south.

The report of the Military Council of the 3rd Ukrainian Front to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief dated March 10 noted that in 5 days of fighting, front troops advanced from 10 to 60 km, liberated 200 settlements, defeated seven enemy divisions, destroyed up to 9 thousand soldiers and officers, They captured 825 people, and captured 175 guns, 67 tanks, and a large amount of other enemy equipment and property as trophies. A group of enemy troops consisting of 13 divisions was under threat of encirclement. To complete it, it was necessary to quickly advance the right-flank formations of the 8th Guards Army in a southern direction. But most of its forces at this time were drawn into heavy battles with the German 29th and 4th Army Corps in the Vladimirovka and Bashtanka areas. Here, from March 12, the 23rd Tank Corps was used to repel enemy attacks. The forces of a cavalry-mechanized group alone were not enough to create a strong internal encirclement front.
On the afternoon of March 12, the command of the German Army Group A, realizing the futility of trying to eliminate the breakthrough of the 46th and 8th Guards Armies with counterattacks in the Bashtanka area, and also fearing the encirclement of four corps in the Bereznegovatoye, Snigirevka, Bashtanka area, made a decision withdraw all the forces of the 6th Army to the line of the Southern Bug River. Acting in accordance with this decision, units of the enemy's 17th and 44th Army Corps managed to break through the Southern Bug and in the direction of Nikolaev, abandoning most of their equipment. However, a significant part of the enemy group sandwiched in the Bereznegovatoye and Snigirevka area was destroyed.

Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya offensive operation March 6-18, 1944

On March 11, the Supreme Command Headquarters clarified the mission of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. His troops had to immediately cross the Southern Bug, liberate Nikolaev, Kherson, and subsequently Tiraspol, Odessa, and continue the offensive in order to reach the state border. Developing an offensive along the right bank of the river, the troops of the 28th Army, unexpectedly for the enemy, crossed the Ingulets River in its lower reaches and liberated the city of Kherson on March 13, which was reported to the General Staff. On March 15, Bereznegovatoye and Snigirevka were liberated.

The right-flank 57th and 37th armies of the front operated successfully. During the pursuit of the retreating enemy, on March 12, they liberated the large Dolinskaya railway junction, and on March 16, the Bobrinet railway junction.

On March 17, 1944, the command of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that during the operation from March 6 to 16, “the 6th German Army of Colonel General Hollidt was virtually completely destroyed... The Germans lost 50,659 people captured and killed, 1,218 guns , 1012 mortars, 274 tanks, 192 assault guns and many other equipment.”

The offensive continued. The troops of the 57th and 37th armies reached the Southern Bug in the Konstantinovka, Voznesensk sector, and the troops of the 37th Army, after two days of stubborn fighting, liberated the city of Voznesensk on March 24, capturing an important bridgehead.

In the zone of the 46th Army, at the cost of enormous efforts, units of the 394th Infantry Division managed to cross the Southern Bug in the Troitskoye area and on March 19 captured a strong enemy stronghold in Andreevka-Erdeleva. In stubborn battles, repelling numerous enemy counterattacks, units of the 394th Infantry Division defended the bridgehead, and subsequently expanded it, creating favorable conditions for the development of an offensive in this direction.

However, it was not possible to cross the Southern Bug along the entire front offensive zone on the move. The enemy, having managed to withdraw significant forces to the right bank of the river in the Nikolaev area, organized a strong defense at this advantageous line. Further advance of the front troops was stopped.

During the Bereznegovato-Snigirev operation, the 3rd Ukrainian Front inflicted a heavy defeat on the German 6th Army, its nine divisions were destroyed. The commander of the 6th Army, Colonel General K. Hollidt, was removed from his post on March 20, and General Z. Henrici was appointed in his place. On the same day, an editorial in the Pravda newspaper noted that the second “6th Army” repeated the fate of the first “6th Army,” which ceased to exist at Stalingrad. “She,” the newspaper emphasized, “has been crossed out by the Red Army from the lists of the German armed forces.”

Front troops advanced 140 km, liberated a significant territory of Right Bank Ukraine between the Ingulets and Southern Bug rivers and took up an advantageous position for delivering subsequent attacks on the enemy in the Odessa direction. His total losses during the operation were about 30 thousand people.

The operation was characterized by short preparation times, a decisive massing of forces and assets in the direction of the main attack, the skillful use of bridgeheads to deliver the initial strike, and the simultaneous delivery of two auxiliary strikes, which ensured the operational and tactical surprise of the troops going on the offensive. During the operation, an attempt was made to strike towards the flank in order to encircle a large enemy group with forces on one front. The actions of the horse-mechanized group played a huge role in this. However, due to the unsuccessful distribution of forces, it was not possible to create a strong encirclement front. In its eastern sector there were 2/3, and in the western sector only 1/3 of rifle and cavalry divisions.

The operation was carried out under difficult conditions. The early onset of the spring thaw greatly hampered the movement of troops, the delivery of materiel, and the use of airfields. The troops were forced to advance off-road and cross rivers that overflowed their banks while on the move, showing courage and heroism.

The order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief dated May 1, 1944 summed up the main results of the spring offensive of the Red Army, including in Right Bank Ukraine. “As a result of a successful offensive, the Red Army,” it said, “reached our state borders for more than 400 kilometers, liberating more than 3/4 of the occupied Soviet land from the Nazi yoke. The metallurgy of the South, the ore of Krivoy Rog, Kerch and Nikopol, and the fertile lands between the Dnieper and Prut were returned to the homeland. Tens of millions of Soviet people were rescued from fascist slavery. Under the blows of the Red Army, the bloc of fascist states is cracking and falling apart. Fear and confusion now reign among Hitler's Romanian, Hungarian, Finnish and Bulgarian allies."

Assessing the actions of the Red Army troops, the Marshal of the Soviet Union said at a review of previous operations on June 8, 1944: “The March operations of the three Ukrainian fronts will go down in history as one of the best operations of the Great Patriotic War... They were a complete surprise for the enemy.”

The enemy's expectation that Soviet troops would not conduct large-scale offensive operations in conditions of spring mud and impassability, and that he would be able to recover from winter failures, did not come true. The Soviet command correctly assessed the situation and decided not to give the enemy a break, but to defeat his group even before the start of the summer campaign.

The courage and determination of the plan were skillfully embodied in the choice of directions for the main attacks of the fronts in the interests of achieving a common strategic goal, in determining the immediate and subsequent tasks. Using the example of spring operations, the algorithm of work of the Supreme Command Headquarters and its representatives, the General Staff, and front commands in planning and preparing operations is clearly visible.

The Supreme High Command headquarters organized clear interaction between the three Ukrainian fronts, strengthened them with new formations, and took measures to quickly replenish the troops with personnel, military equipment, ammunition, fuel, and food.

The Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya operation, prepared in a short time, as well as the Proskurov-Chernovitsky and Uman-Botoshanskaya operations, was an example of a dissection operation with extensive use of enemy encirclement for encirclement purposes. The troops skillfully broke through the enemy’s defenses and pursued them in difficult mud conditions. Mobile troops continued to play a huge role in operations. One of complex tasks, which the advancing troops successfully resolved, was the crossing of numerous flooded rivers. The pace of advance was incredibly high for such conditions. “The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, in the most difficult conditions of complete mud and impassability,” reported the front commander on March 26, 1944, “in 21 days, in the main direction with stubborn battles, they covered over 320 km.” This became possible thanks to the skillful management of the command, the coherence of headquarters and troops, the endurance, patience and true heroism of Soviet soldiers.

Soviet troops, having inflicted a heavy defeat on the enemy, cleared the area between the Ingulets and the Southern Bug and captured bridgeheads on the right bank of the Southern Bug, took a position for a direct attack on the Nikolaev-Odessa group of German troops, and created conditions for developing an offensive in the direction of Odessa and the lower reaches of the Dniester.

For the exemplary performance of combat missions, the 14 most distinguished units and formations were awarded the honorary names of Novobug, Kherson, and Borislav.

Vladimir Khokhlov,
Researcher at the Research Institute
(military history) Military Academy
General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,
member of the Writers' Union of Russia

The success of our offensive in Belarus forced the German command to transfer a significant number of formations from other sectors of the Soviet-German front, including eight infantry and one tank division from the Baltic states, to Army Group Center. At the same time, the 122nd Infantry Division and the 330th Assault Gun Brigade were transferred from TF Narva to Finland. This created favorable conditions for expanding the front of the strategic offensive of the Soviet troops and, in particular, bringing into action the Baltic and Leningrad fronts with the aim of defeating the enemy in the areas of Narva, Pskov, Rezekne, preventing the further transfer of his divisions to Belarus and Finland and capturing the Rakvere line, Tartu, Gulbene, Rezekne, Daugavpils. In the future, it was intended that the forces of the 2nd and 1st Baltic Fronts should develop an offensive in the direction of Riga in order to cut off the main forces of Army Group North from the rest of the German army. The 3rd Belorussian Front was supposed to deliver the main blow to Vilnius, liberate the capital of Lithuania, and then reach the Neman.

By July 10, when our offensive in the Baltic direction began, the Leningrad, 3rd and 2nd Baltic fronts included 67 rifle divisions and 6 fortified areas, one tank corps, four separate tank brigades, 9 artillery divisions, 17 separate artillery and mortar brigades and 9 aviation divisions. They were opposed in the zone from the Gulf of Finland to the Diena River by 30 divisions of Army Group North.

The offensive of our troops in the Baltic states resulted in a series of successive attacks on the fronts. The first to go on the offensive on July 10 were the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front, on July 17 the 3rd Baltic Front joined the offensive, and on July 24 - the troops of the Leningrad Front.

The unfolding operations of the fronts proceeded at a slow pace. The enemy, taking advantage of the very favorable conditions of the wooded and swampy terrain, put up stubborn resistance to the advancing troops, who did not have a sufficient amount of medium and large caliber artillery. The lack of ammunition also had its effect.

In the southern regions of Lithuania, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front advanced in the Vilnius-Kaunas direction. Already on July 13, they liberated the capital of the Lithuanian SSR, the city of Vilnius, from the German invaders, on August 1 - Kaunas, and later reached the border of Lithuania with East Prussia.

The main events in the Baltic states during July-August unfolded in the offensive zones of the three Baltic fronts. Troops of the 1st Baltic Front, advancing in the Siauliai and Riga directions, reached the eastern border of Lithuania from July 7 to 9, crossed the Daugavpils-Vilnius railway and marked the beginning of the liberation of the Soviet Baltic states. By mid-July, front troops liberated a significant part of the Lithuanian SSR, repelling strong enemy counterattacks on the approaches to Daugavpils and Panevezys from July 15 to 19, where the command of the North group transferred part of its forces from the Pskov region and further south. The troops of the 1st Baltic Front resumed their offensive on July 20 and began to quickly advance towards Riga and Siauliai. On July 27, the large Lithuanian city of Siauliai was liberated, as a result of which the Riga-Shauliai-Konigsberg railway, important for the enemy, was cut. On July 31, the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps of the 1st Baltic Front reached the Gulf of Riga in the Tukums area, which led to the temporary loss by the Germans of Army Group North's land communications connecting it with East Prussia.

Thus, already at the end of July, the troops of the 1st Baltic Front were on the closest approaches to Riga from the south and southwest. The armies of the 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts continued to fight the stubbornly resisting troops of the 18th and 16th German armies on lines located 150–250 km from Riga. In such a situation, an expedient solution suggested itself - to strengthen the troops of the 1st Baltic Front, castling part of the forces of the 2nd Baltic Front into its zone on the left bank of the Western Dvina River and from there deliver the most powerful blow to the enemy in order to consolidate the success achieved by the 1st Baltic Front in the Riga area. However, such a decision was not made by the Supreme High Command at that time. The troops of all three Baltic fronts continued to carry out their tasks in the previous grouping of forces and advance in converging directions towards Riga, pushing the enemy out of the Baltic states.

The German command was feverishly looking for a way out of the difficult situation in which Army Group North found itself. Hitler removed Colonel General Friesner from the post of commander of Army Group North as he could not cope with the organization of the defense of the Baltic states. Colonel General Scherner was appointed instead on July 24.

In August, the most acute situation developed in the zone of the 1st Baltic Front. The enemy command, having concentrated six infantry, six tank divisions and two brigades against the Soviet troops that had broken through to the sea, launched a strong counterattack from the areas west of Riga and Siauliai. The enemy managed to push the front troops away from the coast of the Gulf of Riga and restore communications between Army Groups North and Center.

At this time, troops of the 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts successfully attacked in the Riga direction. The 2nd Baltic Front resumed hostilities on August 1. During the first ten days, advancing through a swampy swampy lowland, he advanced 60 km. On August 13, the city of Madona was liberated. By August 28, the front troops, having reached the Gulbene-Gostin line, were 90 km from Riga. During the crossing of the Aiviekste River and in subsequent offensive battles, the soldiers of the 130th Latvian Rifle Corps showed high combat skill and massive heroism. The Soviet command highly appreciated the military successes of the Latvian soldiers. 1,745 soldiers and officers of this corps were awarded government awards.

The 3rd Baltic Front, having launched the Tartu operation on August 10, successfully advanced in the directions to Tartu and Valga. On August 25, the Estonian city of Tartu was liberated and the Tartu-Valga railway, which was the link between the Narva task force located in Estonia, and the rest of the forces of Army Group North, was cut. By the end of August, front troops reached the line from Lake Vyrts-Jarv to Valga.

To prevent the troops of the 3rd Baltic Front from breaking through to the rear of the Narva group and to strengthen the front at Valga, the command of Army Group North concentrated about six infantry divisions here. At the end of August - beginning of September, it launched a series of unsuccessful counterattacks to push our troops back south of Tartu and restore communication along the Valga-Narva railway. Having failed to achieve success, the enemy was forced to stop counterattacks on September 6.

The offensive actions of the Leningrad Front, which took place in August with the goal of clearing the Narva Isthmus of the enemy, did not produce the expected results. Nevertheless, they did not allow the enemy to transfer formations from this area, which contributed to the success of the Tartu operation of the neighboring 3rd Baltic Front.

So, successive attacks delivered against the enemy in the Baltic direction during July-August led to following results. The strong defense prepared in advance by the German command on the approaches to the Baltic states was crushed on a 300-kilometer front from Pskov to Polotsk. Soviet troops advanced in some places by more than 200 km. The enemy suffered significant losses, which, according to German data, amounted to over 70 thousand soldiers and officers in August alone.

An important political outcome of the summer offensive of Soviet troops in the Baltic states was the liberation of most of Lithuania, a significant part of Latvia and some of Estonia. The offensive of our troops in the Baltic states led to the expansion of the general front of the Red Army's strategic offensive. It pinned down large enemy forces in the Baltic direction and thereby contributed to the troops of the Belarusian fronts to complete the defeat of Army Group Center in Belarus.

The offensive in the Baltic states took place in September-October 1944 in a new, more favorable environment.

Over the course of three summer months, the army of Nazi Germany suffered a number of major defeats on the Soviet-German front. At the same time, in the West, German troops were forced to repel the offensive of the Anglo-American armies that landed in Northern France in June 1944. Under the crushing blows of the Red Army, the coalition of pro-Nazi states almost completely collapsed. The leaders of Germany took all measures to keep in their hands as long as possible such important political, economic and strategically territories such as the rest of the Baltic states, East Prussia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

In an effort to retain the Baltic territory, the enemy significantly expanded the construction of defensive lines and strengthened the grouping of its troops operating there. Already in August, eight divisions (including three tank ones) were transferred from Germany, as well as from other sections of the Soviet-German front, to the Baltic states. The number of infantry divisions was increased to 8–9 thousand people by replenishing them with personnel from the aviation, navy, rear units and institutions, as well as by mobilizing the elderly and minors. By September 1, the enemy had 56 divisions (including 7 tank and motorized) and 3 motorized brigades in the zone from the Gulf of Finland to the Neman. In addition, there was a significant number of various SS and security units and units. The total number of the enemy group was more than 700 thousand people. It was armed with about 7 thousand guns and mortars and more than 1,200 tanks and assault guns; from the air, its actions were supported by 300–400 aircraft of the 1st and 6th Air Fleets.

By the end of August, the enemy had prepared a number of defensive lines. In the Tallinn direction, the strongest defense was created on the isthmus between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipsi. The German command prepared a particularly well-developed defense in terms of engineering in the Riga direction - on the front from the southern tip of Lake Vyrts-Jarv to the Mitava region. A deep and highly developed defense was also created in the Memel direction.

In the current situation, the Soviet troops operating in the Baltic States were faced with the task of defeating Army Group North and completing the liberation of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics.

The plan of the new offensive, which went down in the history of the Great Patriotic War under the name of the Baltic operation, provided for the delivery of attacks by three Baltic fronts in converging directions towards Riga in order to cut off Army Group North from the rest of the German army, dismember and destroy its main forces - the 18th and the 16th Army and complete the liberation of Latvia and Lithuania. The liquidation of the enemy group in Estonia and the liberation of the Estonian SSR was planned to be carried out by the forces of the Leningrad Front, which, interacting with the Baltic Fleet, was supposed to deliver one powerful blow in the Tallinn direction. Coordination of the actions of the troops of the three Baltic fronts was entrusted to Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky. Headquarters retained the leadership of the actions of the Leningrad Front, whose troops were to advance in the coastal direction.

The Baltic strategic offensive operation included four front-line operations - Riga (from September 14 to 27), Tallinn (from September 17 to 26), Moonsund (from September 30 to November 24) and Memel (from October 5 to 22). Thus, the operation began on September 14 and ended on November 24, 1944.

In the period from August 26 to September 2, the Headquarters issued directives to the fronts to conduct operations. The Leningrad Front, having regrouped its troops on the isthmus between Lake Peipsi and Lake Vyrts-Jarv, was supposed to deliver the main blow with the forces of the 2nd Shock Army (commanded by Lieutenant General I.I. Fedyuninsky) from the Tartu region on Rakvere and together with the troops of the 8th 1st Army (commanded by Lieutenant General F.N. Starikov), operating from the Narva region, encircled the Narva enemy group. Subsequently, the front troops had to develop an offensive against Tallinn, liberate it and reach the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Red Banner Baltic Fleet, commanded by Admiral V.F. Tributs, was entrusted with the task of firing the ships of the 25th separate brigade river boats and ships of the fleet in the Gulf of Finland to assist the offensive of both armies of the Leningrad Front.

The 3rd Baltic Front was to deliver the main blow from the area south of Lake Vyrts-Jarv with the forces of the 67th and 1st Shock Armies (army commanders Lieutenant Generals V.Z. Romanovsky and N.D. Zakhvataev) in the direction of Valmiera, Cesis . The second blow was delivered by the 54th Army (army commander Lieutenant General S.V. Roginsky) on Smiltene. The 61st Army, arriving from the Headquarters reserve (army commander Colonel-General P. A. Belov), was planned to be brought into the battle west of Smiltene in the general direction of Riga.

The 2nd Baltic Front received the task, in cooperation with the 3rd and 1st Baltic Fronts, to defeat the enemy group north of the Western Dvina and capture Riga. The main blow was ordered to be delivered in the center of the front from the area west of Madona by the forces of the 42nd and 3rd shock armies (army commanders Lieutenant Generals V.P. Sviridov and M.N. Gerasimov) along the right bank of the Western Dvina in the general direction of Nitauri, Riga . The second blow was delivered on the right wing of the front by troops of the 10th Guards Army (army commander Lieutenant General M.I. Kazakov) in the direction of Dzerbene, towards the attack of the 54th Army of the 3rd Baltic Front.

The 1st Baltic Front launched one strike from the Bauska area with the forces of the 43rd and 4th shock armies (army commanders Lieutenant Generals A.P. Beloborodov and P.F. Malyshev) along the left bank of the Western Dvina in the direction of Riga, having the task of reaching the coast of the Gulf of Riga in the Riga region and preventing the withdrawal of troops of Army Group North towards East Prussia. In order to most reliably ensure the encirclement of enemy troops in the Baltic States, the Headquarters ordered the preparation of an offensive in the center of the front with a strike group consisting of the 51st, 5th Guards Tank Armies (army commanders Lieutenant General Ya. G. Kreiser and Lieutenant General of Tank Troops B T. Volsky) and the 1st Tank Corps. On the fifth day of the operation, the troops of this group were supposed to go on the offensive from the area west of Mitava in the direction of Temeri, defeat the enemy group operating south of Tukums, cut the Riga-Tukums railway and highway and reach the coast of the Gulf of Riga northwest of Riga.

Assessing the general plan of Headquarters for the Baltic operation and the tasks assigned to the fronts, it should be noted that the correct idea of ​​​​encircling and destroying the main forces of Army Group North in the Baltics by cutting them off from the rest of the troops of the German army and pressing them to the sea was not ensured by the corresponding distribution of forces . In the direction of the main attack, that is, in the offensive zone of the 1st Baltic Front, only two armies of this front were supposed to operate. Both other Baltic fronts continued to target Riga from the east and northeast, which not only limited the possibility of maneuver, but also inevitably only led to pushing out the enemy group in Riga. It must be assumed that it would be more expedient to regroup a significant part of the forces of the 2nd Baltic Front to the left, south of the Western Dvina, and aim them to strike Riga from the southeast, together with the troops of the 1st Baltic Front. The 61st Army, sent by Headquarters from its reserve to the 3rd Baltic Front, should also be transferred to the latter.

Preparations for the operation continued until mid-September. By the beginning of the offensive, the four fronts included 14 combined arms, one tank and four air armies, four separate tank and one mechanized corps, 129 rifle divisions and six fortified areas. Soviet forces in the Baltic states numbered 912 thousand people, about 20 thousand guns and mortars (all calibers), over 3 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns, more than 3.5 thousand combat aircraft.

However, the situation on the Leningrad Front at the end of August - beginning of September 1944 began to change, and not in favor of the Soviet troops. In response to a request from the front commander to Headquarters on September 10, he received a sharp rebuke: “Headquarters considers your report both about the sharp deterioration of the situation in the Tartu area and about the violation of the plan for the upcoming operation in connection with this to be unfounded. On the entire front, 70 km from Lake Peipsi to Lake Vyrts-Jarve, the enemy has only 2 infantry divisions, 8-9 battered regiments and battle groups and 50-60 tanks... The forces of the Leningrad Front in the Tartu region, not counting the 3 weak divisions you indicated , make up 11 rifle divisions and, in addition, you can use 3 more divisions in this direction, transferred from the Karelian Isthmus... Headquarters orders: 1. Stop unnecessary correspondence and begin preparing troops for the upcoming operation.” Next, advice and instructions were given on the order of operations of the troops of the Leningrad Front. But the offensive was allowed to be delayed for three days.

By the beginning of the operation, the four fronts of the Soviet group had 900 thousand people, up to 17,500 guns and mortars, more than 3 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns, over 2,600 aircraft (together with long-range and naval aviation - about 3,500 aircraft). The Red Banner Baltic Fleet supported the operation from the sea and took part in it.

On September 14, the Baltic operation began with the simultaneous transition of troops from three Baltic fronts to the Riga direction. Three days later, the Leningrad Front also joined it.

The first day of the operation was marked by the success achieved by the troops of the strike group of the 1st Baltic Front, who crossed the Memele and Lielupe rivers and broke through the defenses to a depth of 14 km. Over the next two days, front troops advanced 50 km. The width of the breakthrough increased to 80 km. There were only 25 km left to Riga.

The enemy made desperate efforts to restrain the further advance of the front troops, which threatened with dire consequences. Not only all reserves were thrown into the battle, “but also numerous sapper, construction units and various combined detachments.” On September 15, Colonel General Scherner, assessing the situation in the Baltic states as very serious, reported to the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces: “Army Group North yesterday entered into a decisive defensive battle, which forces me to draw certain conclusions... In a number of sectors the enemy has significantly penetrated to the disposition of our troops (especially at Bauska), which poses the danger of a breakthrough to Riga. I can no longer talk about organized defense or a continuous front line... I urge the high command today to give the order for Operation Aster (the operation to withdraw troops of Army Group North to East Prussia. - Note auto). I ask you, do this urgently!.. Now is the last opportunity to leave. In addition, if the Russians come out at Tartu, then we may find ourselves cut off.”

The German headquarters, which had previously not even allowed the thought of leaving the territories of the Soviet Baltic states, was forced to agree with Scherner and on September 16 gave permission to begin the withdrawal of Army Group North troops along the entire front from the Gulf of Finland to the Western Dvina. The first to begin withdrawing from Estonia were the troops of the Narva group, whose formations were intended to be used to strengthen the front in the Valga area or to strengthen the defense south of Riga. In the future, it was planned to withdraw the troops of the 18th and 16th armies. The latter, before the passage of the remaining troops of Army Group North through Riga, had to stubbornly defend the front south of Riga in order to prevent Soviet troops from reaching the coast of the Gulf of Riga.

In the first three days of the operation, the offensive in the zones of the 3rd and 2nd Baltic Fronts developed much more slowly than on the 1st Baltic Front. Here our troops were able to break through only the main line in a number of sectors and advance only 5–6 km. The reasons for this were the weak strength of the initial strikes, as well as the presence of significant shortcomings in the use of artillery and tanks made during the organization of front-line and army operations.

On September 17, the Leningrad Front joined the operation. Exactly what the command of the North group feared most happened - the enemy was hit with a powerful blow from the Tartu area. Despite the dangers, the 2nd Shock Army advancing there successfully broke through the enemy defenses west of Lake Peipsi on the first day and advanced 18 km. This created a threat of encirclement of enemy formations defending on the Narva Isthmus. The German command had to begin the withdrawal of the Narva task force from Estonia a day earlier. In the offensive zone of the 3rd and 2nd Baltic fronts, the enemy tried to hold the occupied lines until the withdrawal of the Narva group formations.

The command of Army Group North, seeing that the greatest danger was threatening from the area south of Riga, took all measures to delay the advance of the troops of the 1st Baltic Front in the Riga direction and ensure the withdrawal of forces located north of the Western Dvina. To defuse the difficult situation that arose south of Riga, it launched two strong counterattacks: one from the area southwest of Mitava, the other from the Baldone area. The goal of the first counterattack, which involved units of five tank divisions of the 3rd Tank Army (up to 380 tanks and assault guns in total), was to cut off the Mitavi salient, clear the road necessary for the withdrawal of troops, and divert the main forces of the 1st Tank Army. Baltic front from the Riga direction. Having launched a counterattack on September 16, the enemy was able to advance only 5 km within seven days and on September 23 was forced to go on the defensive. And although the counterattack did not reach its target, the enemy still managed to delay the advance of the 1st Baltic Front.

The second blow was delivered with the task of preventing further advance of Soviet troops towards Riga from the south. Six divisions took part in it. In the period from September 19 to 21, the troops of the 43rd Army not only repulsed all attacks of this enemy group, but also, pushing the enemy to the north, captured the city of Baldone. Now they were only 16 km from Riga.

The offensive of the 3rd and 2nd Baltic Fronts north of the Western Dvina developed slowly. Taking advantage of the favorable conditions of the forested and swampy terrain, German troops put up stubborn resistance, trying to ensure the withdrawal of the Narva task force from Estonia. Only on September 23, the troops of the 3rd Baltic Front were able to proceed to pursue the troops of the 18th Army, which, fearing that formations of the 2nd Shock Army of the Leningrad Front would enter its communications, began to hastily retreat to the Sigulda line. German troops resisted especially stubbornly in the direction of the main attack of the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front. However, by September 22, the enemy defenses at the Cesis line were also broken through. In the following days, until September 27 inclusive, the 3rd and 2nd Baltic Fronts advanced to the pre-prepared defensive line "Sigulda", where they were stopped by the enemy. The troops of both fronts were now 60–80 km from Riga.

The battles to repel German counterattacks were difficult. Here is what Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky reported to Headquarters about this: “On the front of Chistyakov’s 6th Guards Army southwest of Dobele, the enemy launched an offensive in the eastern direction in the morning of September 17th with the forces of the 5th, 4th tank divisions and motorized divisions Greater Germany“. In total, about 200 tanks and self-propelled guns took part in the battle. Before the necessary tank and anti-tank weapons approached the area of ​​operations from our side, the enemy managed to wedge 4 to 5 km into our defenses. Further enemy advance has been stopped. During the day of the battle, up to 60 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns were knocked out and burned... From 10.00 on September 18, the enemy resumed the offensive. Until 13.00 all his attacks were repulsed."

During the period when the troops of the three Baltic fronts fought intense battles in the Riga direction, the troops of the Leningrad Front launched a successful offensive in Estonia. By September 26, they cleared the entire territory of the Estonian SSR from the enemy, with the exception of the islands of Ezel and Dago.

As a result of the ten-day September offensive of four fronts in the Baltic states, our troops liberated the entire mainland of Estonia, most of Latvia and drove the enemy back to the Sigulda line. At this stage of the strategic operation, it was not possible to cut off Army Group North from East Prussia and disrupt its connection with Army Group Center. The task of dismembering the Baltic group of Germans was not solved either. The enemy, due to the withdrawal of the Narva group and the 18th Army, concentrated a large group of its forces in the area of ​​the Riga bridgehead.

The main reasons for the failure to complete the tasks of the first stage of the Baltic operation include, first of all, the weak strength of the initial attacks of the 3rd and 2nd Baltic fronts, as a result of which the combat operations of the first operational echelon took on a protracted nature and took the form of “gnawing through” the defensive line. There were also significant shortcomings in the organization and conduct of reconnaissance by front-line means. The headquarters of the Supreme High Command did not achieve proper coordination of the frontal attacks, due to which the enemy could maneuver forces on a large scale. Among the shortcomings of the management is the fact that the Headquarters did not make a timely decision to regroup forces from the offensive zones of the 3rd and 2nd Baltic Fronts to the direction of attack of the 1st Baltic Front, where in the first days there was a major success.

At the end of September, a significant territory of the Soviet Baltic states, as well as the islands of the Moonsund archipelago, were still in enemy hands. The main forces of Army Group North were concentrated on a narrow front in the area of ​​the Riga bridgehead. 17 divisions were located north of the Western Dvina and 14 divisions south of the river (to Autse). In the Memel direction, in the sector from Autse to the Neman, at that time there were no more than 7-8 divisions of the 3rd Tank Army, reassigned to Army Group North on September 21. Taking this circumstance into account, on September 24, the Supreme High Command Headquarters decided to shift the main efforts to the Memel direction in order to cut off Army Group North from East Prussia and subsequently destroy it. At the same time, it was decided to launch actions to liberate the Moonsund Islands in order to close the enemy’s exit from the Gulf of Riga.

On September 24, preparations for the Memel operation began. It was to be carried out by troops of the 1st Baltic Front and the 39th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front (army commander - Lieutenant General I. I. Lyudnikov). To strike in the Memel direction, the 1st Baltic Front needed to regroup all its forces in the Siauliai area and prepare a new front-line offensive operation. The troops of the 3rd and 2nd Baltic Fronts were also supposed to regroup their forces and resume the offensive with the task of liberating Riga and clearing the coast from Riga to Libau of the enemy.

The German High Command also developed a new plan of action. On September 28, at a meeting with Hitler, where the commander of Army Group North was also present, it was decided to launch a counteroffensive in the Riga area at the end of October with 16 divisions. However, the enemy did not have time to carry out his operation. On October 5, the troops of the 1st Baltic Front delivered a powerful blow, unexpected for the enemy command, in the Memel direction. The main group of the front, deployed north-west of Siauliai, included the 6th Guards Army (commanded by Colonel General I.M. Chistyakov), the 43rd and 5th Guards Tank Armies. The second blow was delivered on the left wing of the front from the area southwest of Shaulai by troops of the 2nd Guards Army (commanded by Lieutenant General P. G. Chanchibadze). In the second echelon of the front, the 51st Army deployed from the depths to build up efforts. On the very first day of the offensive, the enemy's defenses were broken through. On the morning of the second day, the 5th Guards Tank Army was introduced into the breakthrough, which was rapidly moving towards the coast of the Baltic Sea. On the same day, the 39th Army began its offensive, striking at Taurage.

Seeing the danger that arose as a result of the breakthrough of our troops in the Memel direction, the enemy command on October 6 began to withdraw troops from the Riga area along the Baltic Sea coast to East Prussia. The enemy's retreat was promptly detected by the troops of the 3rd and 2nd Baltic Fronts, and they immediately began pursuit.

On October 10, formations of the 1st Baltic Front reached the Baltic Sea coast north and south of Memel and blocked the city from land; part of the front forces reached the border with East Prussia in the Taurage region. In these battles, which completed the liberation of the entire Lithuanian SSR, the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division under the command of Colonel A. I. Urbshas successfully operated as part of the 2nd Guards Army. An example of the high military skill and heroism of the division’s soldiers is the feat of Corporal G.S. Ushpolis, who repelled several German counterattacks with well-aimed gun fire and knocked out three enemy tanks and an armored personnel carrier. For his military feat, Corporal Ushpolis was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The troops of the 39th Army, having captured Jurburg and Taurage by October 10, crossed the border with East Prussia. By October 22, they had completely cleared the right bank of the Neman from the enemy from the mouth to Jurburg.

As a result of the entry of Soviet troops to the Baltic Sea coast, the German leadership's plan to withdraw Army Group North to East Prussia was thwarted. She had to retreat to the Courland Peninsula.

The troops of the 3rd and 2nd Baltic Fronts, continuing to pursue the retreating enemy, reached the outer Riga defensive contour by October 10. The period of direct struggle for the capital of the Latvian SSR began. By decision of the front commanders, five combined arms armies were involved in the capture of Riga, which were to strike in converging directions. As part of the 3rd Baltic Front, the 67th, 61st and 1st Shock Army brought in from the second echelon attacked the city north of the Western Dvina. In the 2nd Baltic Front, the 10th Guards Army and the rifle corps of the 22nd Army were to launch an offensive against the capital of Latvia from the southeast, along the left bank of the Western Dvina.

Having begun to break through the Riga city bypass on the morning of October 11, the advancing troops overcame its first line of defense and by the end of October 12 reached the second line. Fighting broke out directly on the outskirts of the city. The enemy, expecting the main attack of our troops southeast of Riga, somewhat weakened the defenses along the coast of the Gulf of Riga, which allowed the 67th Army to cross the lake area northeast of the city in amphibious vehicles on the night of October 12-13 and start fighting for the right bank part Rigi. By the morning of October 13, this part of the city was liberated from the enemy. At the same time, the 10th Guards Army continued to fight intense battles on the southern approaches to the city. Her attempts during October 13 and 14 to capture the left bank part of Riga were unsuccessful. On October 14, when army troops were still fighting intense battles on the outskirts of the city, the 130th Latvian Rifle Corps cut the Riga-Mitava road. On October 15, enemy resistance was finally broken, and Soviet troops completely liberated the capital of Latvia. The liberation of Riga essentially completed the expulsion of the German invaders from the Soviet Baltic states. In the battles for Riga, the 245th and 212th rifle divisions under the command of Major General V. A. Rodionov and Colonel V. G. Kuchinov especially distinguished themselves. Units of these divisions were among the first to break into the city from the north and east.

On October 16, the 3rd Baltic Front was disbanded, and the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front, in cooperation with the right-flank armies of the 1st Baltic Front, continued to pursue the retreating enemy in the directions of Tukums and Saldus. By October 21, they reached the Tukum defensive line, beyond which the divisions of the 16th and 18th armies of the North group retreated.

Simultaneously with the offensive of the Baltic fronts, the troops of the Leningrad Front and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, from September 29 to October 15, carried out an amphibious operation, as a result of which they captured the islands of Vormsi, Muhu, Dago and most of the island of Ezel. The Baltic operation was thus completed. More than 30 divisions (from 26 to 38 according to various sources, of which two tank divisions - the 14th and 16th, as well as two brigades of assault guns - the 202nd and 912th - escaped defeat during the offensive of the Soviet troops. Note auto) of the Baltic enemy group were pressed to the sea, where they remained until the surrender of Germany in May 1945.

From September 13, 1944 to May 8, 1945, German troops defending the Courland Peninsula experienced 6 large-scale offensives by the Red Army. And all of them were not particularly successful. A decisive 7th offensive was planned for the second decade of May, but due to the end of the war it did not have to be carried out.

From May 9, huge columns of German soldiers headed to prisoner of war camps stretched along the roads of the peninsula among forests and swamps.

One of the columns stretched for several kilometers along the highway. Heavy, tightly stuffed duffel bags stuck out behind the soldiers. Before the last campaign, practical Germans took new overcoats, boots, and blankets from warehouses. The gray, dusty soldiers of the defeated Reich walked dejectedly, line after line.

The commander of the Leningrad Front reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that by May 31, 1945, front troops had captured the headquarters of the Courland Army Group, the 16th and 18th field armies and seven army corps; 18 infantry, 2 security and 2 tank divisions, 2 combat groups, the Kurland motorized brigade, 50 separate battalions, 28 artillery formations (of which two brigades of assault guns: 202nd and 912th. - Note auto), as well as special parts. The Soviet troops were given 36 thousand horses, a large amount of weapons and equipment: about 145 thousand rifles and machine guns, almost 7 thousand machine guns, 930 mortars, 2,450 guns of various calibers, 478 tanks, self-propelled guns and assault guns, 269 armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles, more than 18 thousand cars, 675 tractors and tractors, 496 motorcycles, 153 aircraft, 1080 walkie-talkies.

Among the prisoners were generals from the command of Army Group "Courland": the commander - General of the Infantry Gilpert, Generals Ferch and Rauser, the commanders of the 16th and 18th Field Armies, Generals Volkamer and Beghe, the commander of the 1st Air Fleet, Lieutenant General Pflugbeil, commanders army corps and divisions.

Of the SS formations, the 19th Guards Division of the SS Troops (2nd Latvian) under the command of Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the SS Troops Bruno Streckenbach ended up in Courland. She was part of the 6th SS Corps of the 16th Army of the Wehrmacht. After the capitulation of the formation, the German SS men were sent to prisoner-of-war camps, and the Latvians, as citizens of the Soviet Union who betrayed their Motherland and took part in the extermination of the Jewish population of Latvia, were overwhelmingly shot.

Now let's look at the issues of the partisan movement.

The struggle of the Baltic peoples against the German invaders, as in other Union republics temporarily occupied by the enemy, was led by different forces - both communists and anti-fascists. The most active form of this struggle was the partisan movement. The activities of the partisans, which began after the Nazi repressions against civilians, especially intensified after the creation of the republican headquarters of the partisan movement, whose work was led by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The secretaries of the Central Committee of the communist parties of the Baltic republics were directly connected with the partisan commanders and commissars, with the party bodies working behind enemy lines: in Lithuania - A. Yu. Snechkus, in Latvia - N. E. Kalnberzin, in Estonia - N. G. Karotamm.

Along with the organized underground, spontaneously organized detachments that appeared under the influence of circumstances also fought the Germans. Thus, in Lithuania there was a significantly high percentage of the Jewish population, which, in order to avoid destruction, had to take up arms. In addition, the Germans did not classify Lithuanians as a “superior race” even after Germanization, which provoked (unlike Latvia and Estonia, where they decided to Germanize the population. - Note auto) the growth of underground struggle. That is why there were no Lithuanian SS formations - the Germans did not allow non-Nordic people to create them.

While carrying out combat missions, the Baltic partisans showed great courage and heroism. The working people of Latvia remember well the exploits of the brave underground partisan, leader of the Riga underground, Hero of the Soviet Union I. Ya. Sudmalis. The military operations and sabotage carried out under his leadership stunned the invaders with their audacity. Despite police surveillance, the fearless patriot traveled around Latvia, established contacts with underground fighters, partisan detachments, and prepared new sabotage and operations. Only with the help of provocateurs did the Germans manage to pick up the trail of the Riga underground organization and capture Sudmalis. In May 1944, the Nazis executed the glorious son of the Latvian people. The partisan detachment, headed by the brave twenty-year-old Lithuanian girl Maria Melnikaite, gained military glory. On July 8, 1944, while performing a combat mission, the fearless partisan, along with five of her comrades, was surrounded by punitive forces. Fighting them off, the young patriot destroyed seven enemy soldiers. But the forces were too unequal. She was captured by the Nazis and subjected to inhuman torture, and then executed on July 13 in the square of the town of Dukstas. Standing in front of the gallows, Maria Melnikaite proudly shouted: “I fought and am dying for Soviet Lithuania!..” By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, M. Yu. Melnikaite was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

The Red Army's offensive in the Baltics lasted almost four months - from the beginning of July to the end of October 1944. Troops from five front-line formations and one fleet took part in it. By its nature, the strategic offensive in the Baltic direction represented a series of interconnected operations of fronts and groups of fronts, consistent in depth and along the front. The offensive was carried out on a 1000-kilometer front, to a depth of over 450 km. During July-September 1944, each of the fronts involved in the offensive on the territory of the Soviet Baltic states carried out three front-line offensive operations.

The Red Army's offensive in the Baltic direction led to major political and strategic results. The most important political result was the liberation of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Soviet Socialist Republics from Nazi occupation. The plans of the German political and military leadership to retain this politically, economically and strategically important territory collapsed.

A major strategic result of the Red Army's offensive in the Baltic direction was the heavy defeat of Army Group North. Of the 59 formations that took part in the hostilities, 26 were defeated. The remaining forces found themselves isolated on the Courland Peninsula in the northwestern part of Latvia and blocked in Memel (Klaipeda). Thus, Army Group North lost its strategic importance and could no longer have a significant influence on the further course of the armed struggle on the Soviet-German front. The enemy lost the freedom of action of his fleet in the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland and in other areas of the eastern Baltic Sea.

As a result of the liberation of the Baltic states, the length of the front line was reduced by 750 km, which allowed the Soviet command to free up significant forces and use them in the winter of 1945 for an offensive in the main strategic direction, moving deeper into the Reich.

While noting the positive results of the Red Army's offensive in the Baltic direction, it is impossible not to note that the goal of the Baltic strategic operation was not fully achieved, although this operation cost great casualties and significant material costs. Soviet troops failed to achieve the final defeat of Army Group North, this large strategic grouping of the enemy on the Soviet-German front. Although she suffered a severe defeat, she still managed to retreat to the Tukum line and gain a foothold on the Courland Peninsula, where she pinned down significant forces of the Red Army until the end of the war. The most important reason for the incompleteness of the Baltic operation, as already mentioned, should be considered the weak strength of the initial attacks of the fronts, as a result of which a decisive defeat was not inflicted on the enemy in the tactical and immediate operational depths. The weakness and low effectiveness of the initial strikes were explained by the low staffing of the rifle divisions, the small limit of ammunition, the clearly insufficient number of tanks allocated for direct support of the infantry, poor knowledge of the grouping and nature of the enemy’s defense, and deficiencies in planning and artillery support at the fronts. There were some other subjective reasons that negatively influenced the development and final results of the Baltic operation.

In the offensive in the Baltic states, Soviet troops acquired new and varied experience in organizing and conducting large and complex operational regroupings both during the preparation of operations and during combat operations. In this regard, the most instructive is the regrouping of the 1st Baltic Front from the Riga direction to the Memel direction. Within ten days, five armies were regrouped at a distance of 120–140 km, including one tank (a total of over 50 divisions), one mechanized and four tank corps and all the reinforcement artillery. This was a rare example of a skillfully and secretly carried out regrouping of such a large number of forces and means during an offensive operation in order to transfer the main efforts to a new operational direction.

The offensive in the Baltic states was characterized by joint actions of ground forces and naval forces both during the offensive on the coastal flank and during the landing operation. During the operations, the advancing troops had to repeatedly cross rivers, operate in difficult conditions of wooded, swampy and lake terrain, pursue the retreating enemy, while breaking through a number of intermediate defense lines in its operational depth, and also often repel strong counterattacks.

The offensive in the Baltic states once again demonstrated the high moral and combat qualities of Soviet soldiers, their increased military skill, and mass heroism. Headquarters and the State Defense Committee highly appreciated the military successes of the troops in the offensive in the Baltic states. Over 332 thousand soldiers of the Leningrad and three Baltic fronts were awarded military orders and medals.

In the battles for the Baltic states, the representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky, also “suffered”. One evening he was driving from the CP from Eremenko to Bagramyan (from the CP of the 2nd Baltic Front to the CP of the 1st Baltic Front. - Note auto). A Willys jumped out towards the marshal's cars, racing at great speed. An officer was driving. He crashed into Vasilevsky’s car, and everyone sitting in it scattered head over heels in different directions. The marshal stood up, his head and side hurt badly. A drunken intruder, the commander of a front-line reconnaissance group, handed Vasilevsky a pistol and offered to shoot himself. But everything worked out, and the denouement came in a characteristic national style: the marshal broke two ribs and spent 10 days in his group headquarters, they wanted to put the senior lieutenant on trial by a military tribunal, and after the intercession of the victim Vasilevsky, they changed their minds - in our Fatherland everyone drinks. Moreover, this officer and the combat group again went behind enemy lines, brilliantly completed the combat mission and soon became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

The military operations to liberate the Baltic states represent one of the largest and most complex sets of operations. In the organization and conduct of these operations, along with positive experience, significant shortcomings were also revealed. It must be admitted that over the past years, the offensive operations of Soviet troops in the Baltic states in 1944–1945 have not yet been fully developed. Many issues of military art require further careful study. Remembering the liberation of the Baltic states, the author hopes that the presented work will cause a new upsurge in the study of these interesting events of the Great Patriotic War from the point of view of military art.

Liberation of capitals

The most important stage liberation of a national territory is the establishment of control over its capital. This part of the book is related to the operations to capture the main cities of the Baltic republics of the Soviet Union: Vilnius, Tallinn and Riga. The liberation of the capitals of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia by the Red Army became a landmark event for each of the republics - the German occupation ended and a new life began.

Fighting for Vilnius

The German invaders occupied Lithuania and the other Soviet Baltic republics for three years. Trying to implement the Ost plan developed by the Nazis, they sought to turn Lithuania, like the entire Baltic states, into their colony, resettle some Lithuanians, Germanize Latvians and Estonians, and destroy those who resisted. The German occupiers shot, burned and tortured about 700 thousand citizens of the republic, which amounted to more than a quarter of the population of Lithuania. Only in the town of Paneriai, near Vilnius, the Nazi invaders exterminated 100 thousand people. In the ninth fort of the Kaunas fortress they destroyed 80 thousand people. The inexorable occupiers left similar bloody traces in many other cities and villages of the Baltic states.

From the first days of the war, many Lithuanian citizens rose up to fight German troops. In 1944, 67 partisan detachments and groups fought in Lithuania. With the beginning of the offensive of the Red Army in the summer of 1944, the population of the republic sharply intensified the fight against the occupiers, in every possible way helping the troops of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian Fronts, which liberated the Lithuanian SSR.

The defeat of the main forces of Army Group Center and the liberation of a significant part of Belarus opened the way for Soviet troops to the capital of Lithuania - Vilnius.

The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front (front commander Army General I.D. Chernyakhovsky), pursuing the enemy, crossed the border of the Lithuanian SSR on July 6. The 277th Infantry Division of the 5th Army was the first on the front to enter Lithuanian soil, liberating the village of Podverzhizhna (4 km southeast of Podbrodze) on that day.

The most intense battles on the territory of Lithuania took place for the capital of the republic.

The German command took into account the advantage of defending the line along the Viliya and Vileika rivers with such an important administrative and political center as the city of Vilnius. It sought to cover the approaches to East Prussia with the defense of this line. Fresh forces from the depths of the Reich were hastily rushed here. The city garrison consisted of more than 15 thousand troops from different parts of the 3rd Tank Army. In addition, during our offensive, the enemy grouping in the Vilnius area was strengthened by arriving reinforcements. It had 270 guns, about 60 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, and up to 50 armored personnel carriers. A large number of names of units and formations involved in the defense of Vilnius indicated that the enemy was trying to reorganize the troops defeated in previous battles and create a defense at the line of the Viliya and Vileika rivers, the key point of which was Vilnius. Our aerial reconnaissance established the movement of reserves to the Vilnius area from the north and west.

It was necessary to immediately defeat the Vilnius enemy group. This was not an easy task, requiring a lot of effort from the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, tired and weakened during the long offensive.

One more important fact should be noted. If the troops had not shown maximum tension, the city of Vilnius could have been turned by the enemy into a strong fortress, which would have significantly hampered the advance of our troops to the west. Even in the limited time available to the enemy, Vilnius was prepared for defense. The Viliya River, cutting the northern part of the city and then passing along its western outskirts, presented a great obstacle to the advancing troops. And Vileika complicated the maneuver of troops in the eastern part of the city. Churches, monasteries and stone buildings, adapted by the enemy for all-round defense, were strong strongholds. The streets of the city were not visible from our side, and the enemy could easily use them to maneuver troops.

From the northeast, troops of the 5th Army (commander Colonel General N.I. Krylov) together with the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps (corps commander Lieutenant General of Tank Forces V.T. Obukhov) were advancing on Vilnius, and from the south - east - troops of the 5th Guards Tank Army (commander Marshal of the Armored Forces P. A. Rotmistrov). On July 7, our troops broke through the defenses and bypassed Vilnius from the north and south.

The advanced units of the 65th and 72nd Rifle Corps and the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps approached the eastern outskirts of Vilnius. From that moment on, street fighting began. On July 8, the 277th Infantry Division of the 72nd Corps, covering itself with part of the forces at the Mal line. Reshe, Novosady, with the main forces attacked enemy troops on the northwestern outskirts of Vilnius. The 215th division of this corps, reinforced by the 153rd tank brigade, fought fierce battles on the eastern outskirts of the city and drove out enemy troops from there in the afternoon.

Due to the neighbor's lagging behind, the right flank of the 5th Army was exposed, and it was necessary to immediately take measures to secure it, since, according to aerial reconnaissance, the enemy was advancing a strong group of infantry and tanks from the north. Securing the right flank of the army was entrusted to the formations of the 72nd Corps. They took up defensive positions in the Podvilany and Varna sector with a front to the north and northwest. In addition, the movement of infantry and tanks from the Koshedary (Kaishadoris) area was discovered. To cover this direction on the front sector north of the village of Bukhta and north-west of Dolna, the commander of the 5th Army nominated the 184th Infantry Division and one regiment of the 97th Infantry Division. At this time, the troops of the 65th Rifle Corps, fighting fierce street battles, slowly advanced towards the central part of the city. By the end of July 9, the city was completely surrounded. Trying to save their garrison, the German command launched a strong counterattack with infantry, reinforced by 150 tanks and self-propelled guns from the Maishegal and Evje areas. But the enemy troops stumbled upon the timely organized defense of the divisions of the 72nd Rifle Corps, which did not allow them to connect with the city garrison. Thus, thanks to the deployment of barriers to the north, north-west and west of Vilnius, the Germans’ attempts to come to the aid of their encircled garrison in the city were successfully eliminated. The commander of the 5th Army decided, simultaneously with the liquidation of the encircled enemy garrison, to go on the offensive with part of his forces in the general direction of Kaunas, and to use the 45th Rifle Corps, which was in the second echelon, to participate in the liquidation of the encircled enemy.

The 45th Rifle Corps (159th, 184th and 338th Rifle Divisions), commanded by Lieutenant General S. Poplavsky, before the start of the battles for the capital of the Republic of Lithuania, marched and concentrated 60 km east and southeast of Vilnius. It was intended to provide the personnel with a well-deserved rest in order to begin the next march the next day. However, at approximately 2 pm on July 8, an order was received to alert the corps divisions, move to the southeastern outskirts of Vilnius and be ready to take part in the assault on the city in the morning of July 9. Although the soldiers and officers were very tired, they greeted the order that the capital of the fraternal Lithuanian SSR was to be liberated with great enthusiasm. An hour later everything was in motion. To speed up the march, vehicles and horse-drawn carts were used. Local residents offered carts to transport troops. The 60-kilometer crossing was completed ahead of schedule.

On the afternoon of July 9, our aerial reconnaissance detected the advance of a large column of infantry with tanks from the west in the direction of Evye. The enemy tried to come to the aid of the surrounded garrison.

The 159th and 338th divisions, reinforced with anti-tank artillery, occupied the lines indicated by them in a timely manner to repel counterattacks from the west and north-west. The enemy was late in moving up reserves to assist the encircled garrison in Vilnius. Therefore, despite his fierce attacks on the front sectors occupied by the 159th and 338th divisions, he was unable to achieve a breakthrough to the city. Having lost many tanks and self-propelled guns, the German command abandoned counterattacks.

The 184th Division of the 45th Corps, having crossed to the northern bank of the Viliya southwest of Vilnius, together with formations of the 65th and 72nd Rifle Corps, began to destroy the enemy surrounded in the city.

Having failed to achieve success with external attacks, the German leadership tried to strengthen the blocked garrison by parachute landing. On the afternoon of July 10, it dropped 600 paratroopers in the Vilnius area. However, thanks to timely measures taken, units of the 65th Rifle Corps destroyed almost half of the paratroopers upon their landing, and the rest during the next day. Simultaneously with the landing in the city, the Germans launched a second counterattack from the Evye area with the aim of unblocking the Vilnius garrison. 40 tanks with infantry initially advanced successfully, but were met by the anti-tank reserves of the 5th Army, which were timely deployed in this direction. Having lost half of the tanks, the enemy retreated. Stubborn fighting in this area continued until July 13.

To speed up the liquidation of the encircled troops in Vilnius on July 11, our assault units were reinforced with flamethrower anti-tank weapons, backpack flamethrowers and one assault battalion. The assaulting troops captured the central part of the city, and by the end of July 12, the encircled group was cut into two isolated pockets: one in the prison area, and the other near the observatory. During 12 July these pockets were subjected to intense air bombardment, but the Germans continued to resist. Then, on the night of July 12-13, additional artillery, mortars and other means were brought to the centers of resistance.

At dawn on July 13, the enemy garrison in Vilnius made a desperate attempt to break out of the encirclement. During the fighting, a group of up to 3,000 soldiers and officers managed to break out of encirclement in the observatory area and through the western part of the city entered the forest southeast of Rykonta. Here this group, which suffered heavy losses during the breakthrough, united with enemy units advancing from the Evje area to provide assistance to the Vilnius garrison.

On July 13, 1944, after a three-year German occupation, our troops completely liberated the capital of the Lithuanian SSR, once again demonstrating high skill in the fight for large populated areas.

The enemy garrison was completely destroyed. About 5,200 German soldiers and officers, 156 guns of various calibers, 48 ​​mortars, 28 tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, more than 1,100 vehicles, many warehouses and other military property were captured as prisoners alone.

The liberation by Soviet troops of Vilnius, the ancient capital of Lithuania, the cradle of statehood and culture of the Lithuanian people, was greeted with jubilation not only by the residents of this city, but also by the population of other Lithuanian cities and villages, Estonians, Latvians and all peoples of the Soviet Union. The Lithuanian people intensified the fight against the German occupiers, helping in every possible way the advancing troops of the 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts. By the beginning of August 1944, most of the territory of Lithuania was liberated from the enemy.

The way to Tallinn

The liberation of Estonia began after the defeat of the Germans near Leningrad and Novgorod, when the troops of the Leningrad Front reached Narva in early February 1944 and immediately began crossing it. In fierce battles in the first half of February, our units captured small bridgeheads on the western bank of the Narva River, entering the territory of the Estonian SSR. Preparations began for the battle for the river. Narva.

The town of Narva was psychologically significant for both warring parties. It was from here that the “dog knights” of the Teutonic Order began their campaigns against Rus'. The castle of one of the masters of the order, Hermann von Salz (the tank reconnaissance battalion of the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland" bore his name. - Note auto), was located on the western bank of Narva, and just downstream stands the ancient Russian fortress of Ivangorod - the forefront of Orthodoxy and Russian Eastern European culture. At this point, our ancestors in ancient times met foreign invaders; from this point, the campaigns of Russian troops began to liberate the peoples of the Baltic states from German and Swedish rule.

To protect the Narva defense line, the German command formed a group of German forces, consisting of several formations of SS troops and Wehrmacht units. The most powerful of them was the 11th Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division of the SS Nordland. The regiments of this formation received numbers and names: 1st “Danmark”, 2nd “Norge”. Both regiments had three battalions, while the artillery regiment consisted of four divisions (three batteries each). On October 22, 1943, during the general change of numbers in the SS troops, the division regiments received new numbers: Norwegian - 23, Danish - 24, and all special units and divisions of the division (11th tank battalion, 11th self-propelled artillery regiment, 11 1st anti-aircraft artillery division, 11th field artillery division, 11th anti-tank fighter battalion, 11th tank engineer battalion, 11th communications battalion, etc.) - number 11. 11th SS pgd in that The period was commanded by Brigadeführer and Major General of the SS troops Fritz von Scholz.

Together with the SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", the 4th SS Panzergrenadier Brigade "Netherlands" was also formed under the command of SS Oberführer Jungen Wagner.

As part of the 3rd SS Panzer Corps, both of these formations were sent to the Soviet-German front and included in the 18th Field Army of Army Group North, immediately falling into the “very thick” of hostilities (in the area of ​​Kozhanovo in In January 1944, the 11th SS PGD lost the first battalions of the 23rd and 24th regiments, which were no longer restored. - Note auto). In the first days of February 1944, SS units of the 3rd SS Tank Tank withdrew to the Narva area. To the north of the city, on the right bank of the river, there were positions of the engineer battalion of the Netherlands brigade, between the Narva River and the village of Lilienbach - the motorized infantry regiments "De Ruyter" and "General Seyfardt" and the SS brigade "Netherland". The southern approaches to the city were covered by the 24th motorized infantry regiment "Danmark" of the 11th pgd "Nordland". On the western bank of the river, from north to south, the 54th SS artillery division of the Netherlands brigade, the main forces of the SS Nordland, the 11th SS self-propelled artillery regiment and the 23rd motorized infantry regiment Norge were stationed. The “bloody meat grinder” near Narva began on February 3, when the Soviet assault detachment captured the bridgehead on the left bank of the river, but was overthrown by the 11th SS tank reconnaissance battalion “Hermann von Salza” from the “Nordland” division. The struggle for the crossings continued with varying success until February 12, when the assault groups of the Red Army managed to capture and expand several bridgeheads and bridgeheads. An attempt by the Soviet command to land an amphibious assault force east of Sillamäe on the coast of Narva Bay ended in failure, but to the south, at Krivasso, our troops captured a bridgehead and, continuously feeding it with reinforcements, began to expand it in a southwestern direction. However, for the Soviet command these were only local operations.

Giving great importance for the rapid liberation of Soviet Estonia, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command on February 22 set the Leningrad Front the task of using three armies (8, 59 and 2 shock) to break through the enemy’s defenses on the Narva line and subsequently develop an offensive: with one army to Pärnu, cutting off the escape route to the south of the Tallinn group of German troops, and with two armies - to Tartu, Valga.

During the fierce battles that began on February 24, 1944, the troops of the Leningrad Front expanded the bridgehead on the western bank of Narva to 35 km along the front and up to 15 km in depth within a week. However, the task of liberating the Estonian SSR in the winter of 1944 turned out to be beyond the capabilities of the Leningrad Front. The troops were very tired from the previous month and a half of continuous offensive battles in difficult conditions of forested and swampy terrain and had significant losses in personnel and equipment. In February 1944, the Soviet command could not allocate additional forces to the Leningrad Front, since at that time all the reserves of the Red Army were used in operations in Right Bank Ukraine. As already mentioned, on March 1, 1945, the troops of the Leningrad Front were forced to stop the offensive and go on the defensive at the line of the Narva River, Lake Peipus and Lake Pskov. German troops, by order of the commander of Army Group North, Field Marshal V. Model, also retreated to the Panther defensive line and prepared to occupy the Tannenberg defensive line.

From the beginning of March 1944, the German group on the Panther line (now it became known as the Narva Operational Group. - Note auto) was reinforced by the 20th Estonian SS Volunteer Division (it was hastily reorganized from the 3rd Estonian SS Volunteer Brigade, which was transferred to Estonia from Belarus. - Note auto). The formation was commanded by Oberführer Franz Augsberger. A little later, the 5th SS Volunteer Brigade "Wallonia" under the command of SS Standartenführer Leon Degrelle and the 6th SS Volunteer Assault Brigade "Langemarck" under the command of SS Obersturmbannführer Konrad Schellong appeared on the theater of operations. The 15th and 19th Latvian SS volunteer divisions fought in the Pskov region from March 1944. The 15th SS Division from February 26 to mid-July 1944 was commanded by SS Oberführer Nikolaus Hellmann, and in the 19th Division, as many as three commanders were replaced in three months: until March 15, 1944 - Brigadeführer and Major General of the SS troops Hinrich Schuldt, with March to April 13, 1944 - SS Standartenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock, and from April 1944 - Gruppenführer and SS Lieutenant General Bruno Streckenbach.

Having gathered such significant forces, the German command hoped that with the help of a system of defensive lines it would be possible to repel attacks by Soviet troops for a long time, which, in principle, was possible. Positional battles in the Narva area, and in other sectors of Army Group North, continued until mid-July 1944.

In the Baltic defense plans, the enemy paid the greatest attention to Estonia, which had great military and political significance. Its loss would lead to a sharp deterioration in the situation in the Baltic Sea for Germany. The German leadership continued to maintain significant forces here to repel a possible offensive by the Red Army.

Such were the enemy's calculations. But they turned out to be untenable and were decisively overthrown in the summer of 1944 during the Belarusian operation. Our troops liberated Belarus, most of Lithuania, a significant part of Latvia, and reached the borders of East Prussia on a broad front. The German Army Group North was driven north and overwhelmed by Soviet troops from the east, south and west. Favorable conditions have developed for the complete liberation of the territory of the Soviet Baltic states.

During the Belarusian operation, troops of the Leningrad Front carried out the Narva operation, as a result of which on July 26 they liberated the city of Narva and a number of regions of North-Eastern Estonia. The operation began on June 24, 1944, its goal was to capture the enemy in a pincer movement. The northern sting of the pincers hit the renamed 20th SS Grenadier Division (Estonian No. 1) and forced it to retreat beyond Narva. On the same day, the SS units, still located on the eastern bank of Narva, quickly left the bridgehead and, going into the city, blew up the bridges behind them. By the end of the next day, all German troops left Narva. However, during the retreat to the Tannenberg Line, the Dutch regiment General Seyfardt was cut off from the main forces and destroyed. On July 26, the assault on German positions at Tannenberg began. And this time the enemy held out for a long time, despite the fact that the troops of the 3rd Baltic Front in August cleared the south-eastern part of Estonia with the cities of Tartu, Elva, Võru and captured a bridgehead in the Tartu region on the northern bank of the Emajõgi River. But the bridgeheads on the Narva and Emajõgi rivers captured by Soviet troops subsequently played a major role in the Leningrad Front’s offensive operation to expel the invaders from the Estonian SSR.

To completely defeat the German Army Group North and complete the liberation of the Soviet Baltic states, the Supreme High Command Headquarters at the end of August - beginning of September 1944 tasked the troops of the Leningrad, 3, 2 and 1 Baltic fronts with the task of delivering a series of strong simultaneous attacks on the enemy group with the purpose of its dismemberment and destruction in parts. The main efforts of the troops of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts were concentrated in the Riga direction. The Leningrad Front and the Baltic Fleet were entrusted with the task of defeating the enemy task force "Narva" and liberating the Estonian SSR.

The commander of the Leningrad Front, Marshal of the Soviet Union L. A. Govorov, decided to carry out the Tallinn operation in the second half of September 1944 by forces of the 8th, 2nd Shock and 13th Air Armies in close cooperation with the Red Banner Baltic Fleet.

The first stage of the operation envisaged a strike by troops of the 2nd Shock Army from the Tartu region in the general direction of Rakvere with the aim of defeating, in cooperation with the 8th Army, which was going on the offensive from the Narva bridgehead, the main forces of the enemy task force "Narva" defending Estonia from the east and south. Subsequently, our troops were to develop an offensive against Tallinn.

In preparation for the operation, the command of the Leningrad Front carried out a complex regrouping of the troops of the 2nd Shock Army. In ten days (from September 3 to September 13), she made a 300-kilometer journey and was advanced from the Narva bridgehead to the Tartu region. The 30th Guards Rifle Corps (45, 63, 64th Guards Rifle Divisions), the 8th Estonian Corps (7th and 249th Estonian Rifle Divisions), the 108th Rifle Corps (46, 90, 372) were transferred SD), a number of tank and artillery units and formations (300 tanks and self-propelled guns, 2040 guns and mortars). With the completion of the concentration of the 2nd Shock Army in the Tartu area, the 116th Rifle Corps (86, 321, 326th Rifle Divisions), which defended in the Tartu area along the Emajõgi River, was transferred to its composition from the 3rd Baltic Front.

On September 14, the offensive of the three Baltic fronts began in the Riga direction, which created favorable conditions for the offensive operation of the Leningrad Front to liberate the territory of Estonia.

On the morning of September 17, troops of the 2nd Shock Army went on the offensive from the area east and north of Tartu. In the sector of the 8th Estonian Corps and the 30th Guards Rifle Corps, the offensive began at 8 o'clock. 20 minutes. from crossing the Emajõgi River. The success of the crossing was largely ensured by carefully planned and skillfully executed artillery actions, supplemented by attacks by the 277th and 281st assault aviation divisions on manpower and artillery firing positions on the northern bank of the river.

On the Tartu bridgehead, units of the 108th Rifle Corps under the command of Lieutenant General V.S. Polenov went on the offensive at 8 o’clock. 40 min. The actions of the corps troops were supported by the 276th Bomber Aviation Division, which carried out powerful bombing attacks on enemy defense targets.

Having successfully crossed the Emajõgi River, the troops of the 2nd Shock Army broke through the defenses of the German 2nd Army Corps on a 30-kilometer front, inflicted heavy losses on its formations, and on the first day of the operation advanced from 3 to 18 km. The 8th Estonian Rifle Corps under the command of Lieutenant General L.A. Pern operated especially successfully. Units of this corps formation, formed in 1942, had considerable combat experience gained in the battles of Velikiye Luki, Novosokolniki and Narva. Estonian soldiers, burning with hatred for the German enslavers, sought to liberate them from them as soon as possible. native land. The 7th Estonian Rifle Division (commanded by Colonel K. A. Allikas), advancing through difficult wooded and swampy terrain, defeated the 207th enemy security division and advanced 18 kilometers in a day.

The command of the Narva task force, taking into account the heavy losses in the 2nd Army Corps on September 17 (3,000 killed and wounded, 690 prisoners), decided to withdraw its units to the north.

It should be noted that in the rapid breakthrough of the German defense, an important role was played by delivering the main blow where the enemy was not expecting it. The enemy command believed that our main attack would be delivered from a bridgehead on the Emajõgi River. But the 2nd Shock Army launched an offensive with the forces of the 30th Guards and 8th Estonian Rifle Corps in another area, east of the bridgehead. The enemy's attempts to eliminate the penetration of our troops with counterattacks turned out to be too late.

Having broken the resistance of enemy troops in the tactical defense zone, the troops of the 2nd Shock Army launched an offensive in the general direction of Rakvere. To increase the pace of the offensive, the commander of the 2nd Shock Army, Lieutenant General I. I. Fedyuninsky, created two mobile groups on September 18. Group No. 1 received the task of advancing in the zone of the 108th Rifle Corps, capturing the Jõgeva road junction and holding it until the main forces of the corps arrived.

The second mobile group was to develop an offensive in the zone of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General N.P. Simonyak.

On September 18, formations of the 2nd Shock Army advanced 28 km, and the breakthrough front expanded to 45 km. Introduced into the breakthrough on the night of September 18 from the second echelon of the 8th Estonian Corps, the 249th Infantry Division under the command of Major General I. Ya. Lombak advanced 30 km, crossed the Käpa River on the move and captured a number of settlements on its northern bank . The 108th and 30th Guards Rifle Corps also attacked successfully. The army mobile groups operating in their zones advanced 25–28 km in a day and captured the large populated areas of Roela and Voldi.

The successful offensive of the 2nd Shock Army to the rear of the formations of the 3rd SS Panzer Corps defending on the Narva Isthmus, as well as the unfavorable situation in the Riga direction, forced the enemy to begin the withdrawal of its troops from Estonia on the evening of September 18. Fearing encirclement, the German command decided to transport the main forces of the 3rd SS Panzer Corps to Riga in vehicles. To cover the withdrawal of the 3rd Tank Corps, the enemy created the Gerok battle group, which included marine battalions defending the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, corps tank destroyer units, as well as motorized units of the 11th and 20th infantry divisions. This group was supposed to retreat to Tallinn, consistently offering resistance on prepared defensive lines. Subsequently, the troops of the Gerok group were intended to be evacuated by sea to the Moonsund Islands. 24 vehicles were concentrated in Tallinn, which could evacuate up to 40 thousand people. The defeated formations of the 2nd Army Corps were withdrawn to the prepared line of Pärnu, Viljandi, Lake Vyrts-Jarv. It was planned to take them later to the Riga area.

Anarchy established in Tallinn. The so-called supporters of the “third way” - nationalists who dreamed of reviving Estonia’s state independence - decided to take advantage of the situation. Their interests were expressed by the National Committee formed in the spring of 1944, which united all the forces of Estonia, except for the Nazis and communists. On September 18, 1944, the Estonian government was formed in Tallinn, headed by the Prime Minister in the duties of President Jüri Uluots and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs Otto Tiif, who shortly before the events described, in August, was elected chairman of the National Committee. After this, Uluots evacuated to Sweden so that, as the holder of the highest constitutional power, he would be out of danger, while practical work was entrusted to O. Tiif.

The Tiifa government did everything possible to legalize it. Several issues of the State Gazette were published with a declaration of the government, a list of its composition and the appointments of senior officials, as well as the commander of the army. Most of the Estonians who fought on the German side, as well as the soldiers of the 200th Estonian Infantry Regiment who returned from Finland in August (the return of Estonian soldiers to their homeland to create their own armed formations occurred on the initiative of Estonian nationalists and was the result of their negotiations with Germany and Finland; Estonian soldiers returned unarmed and without a Finnish uniform, received an amnesty from the Germans for previous evasion of mobilization and were enrolled in German military units, but due to the retreat of the Germans from the “bastion of Estonia”, all these fighters were no longer available to the National Committee. - Note auto) retreated along with the Germans. The few volunteers who were ready to continue the fight for an independent Estonia were scattered throughout the country and did not have clear instructions and unified leadership. Only in Tallinn did supporters of the National Committee manage to prevent the destruction that the Germans were preparing and raise the Estonian blue-black-white flag on the Pikk Hermann tower instead of the German red one with a swastika. There were also several armed skirmishes with the retreating Germans. But that's where it all ended.

Due to the weak reconnaissance activity of the 8th Army and the Leningrad Front, the beginning of the withdrawal of formations of the 3rd SS Panzer Corps from the Narva defense sector was established only at 2 a.m. on September 19, that is, six hours late, which allowed the main forces of this corps to break away from our troops by 30–40 kilometers.

Having established the beginning of the withdrawal of enemy troops from the Narva line, formations of the 8th Army under the command of Lieutenant General F.N. Starikov began pursuit. At 2 a.m. on September 19, the forward battalions of the 125th and 120th Rifle Divisions of the 117th Rifle Corps went on the offensive, and in the morning, the main forces of the 8th Army. By the end of September 19, they had advanced up to 30 kilometers.

To increase the pace of pursuit, the commander of the Leningrad Front created a mobile front group. It was concentrated 15 km north of Tartu in readiness for an offensive in the zone of the 2nd Shock Army in the direction of Voldi, Tapa, Tallinn. In addition, two mobile groups were created in the 8th Army. Each of them consisted of one tank regiment, one self-propelled artillery regiment and one infantry battalion with vehicles.

In two days of pursuit (September 19 and 20), in difficult forested and swampy terrain, the formations of the 8th Army advanced up to 70 km, and on September 20 its mobile groups captured the city of Rakvere, an important stronghold on the approaches to Tallinn. On the same day, troops of the 8th Army linked up north of Lake Peipus with divisions of the 2nd Shock Army, which advanced 90 km in four days and expanded the breakthrough to 100 kilometers.

The capture of the city of Rakvere by the 8th Army and the connection with the troops of the 2nd Shock Army ended the first stage of the operation. During its course, Soviet troops achieved major results. Under the influence of the successful offensive of the Baltic fronts in the Riga direction and the 2nd Shock Army on Rakvere, the enemy was forced to leave strong defensive lines on the Narva Isthmus and hastily transfer formations of the 3rd Tank Corps to the Riga area.

The command of the Leningrad Front, assessing the situation in Estonia by September 21, believed that the enemy was continuing to withdraw its troops to Tallinn in order to maintain the outer defensive perimeter of the city and ensure the evacuation of its troops by sea. The withdrawal of enemy troops to Pärnu was considered by our command as his desire to cover the left flank of the 18th German Army. In reality, only the battle groups "Gerok" and "Hofer" and the remnants of the 11th and 20th infantry divisions retreated to Tallinn; the main forces of the Narva operational group retreated to the southwest through Pärnu.

Based on this assessment of the enemy’s intentions, the command of the Leningrad Front continued to focus on the Tallinn direction. The 8th Army was aimed there, reinforced by the 8th Estonian Corps and mobile group No. 2, transferred to it from the 2nd Shock Army, and the front mobile group with the task of liberating Tallinn by the end of September 22. After the 2nd Shock Army reached the Tamsalu area (25 km southwest of Rakvere), it was decided to turn southwest to attack Pärnu and Viljandi.

On the morning of September 21, our mobile troops launched a rapid pursuit of the enemy in the Tallinn direction. Having immediately crossed the Jagalajõgi River and shot down the enemy's covering detachments on the Piritajõgi River, by 11 o'clock on September 22, the mobile groups, having advanced more than 100 kilometers in a day and a half, approached Tallinn. The first to break into the city was the 2nd company of the 27th separate tank regiment of the 8th Army, led by Senior Lieutenant Ya. M. Lobov. By two o'clock in the afternoon she reached the southwestern outskirts of the city. At the same time, the advance detachment of the 8th Estonian Corps approached the city from the southeast, making a 100-kilometer trek from the Märi area (30 km south of Rakvere) on the night of September 22.

Three mobile groups of the 8th Army and the advance detachment of the 8th Estonian Corps that reached Tallinn, having organized close cooperation with each other, boldly attacked the remnants of German troops in the city. The enemy tried to organize at least some kind of defense of Tallinn with the help of the Gerok battle group in order to evacuate the retreating troops and material assets by sea. But these enemy plans were thwarted by the decisive actions of our troops, who quickly broke the German resistance on the outer defensive perimeter of Tallinn and entered the city from several sides.

The advance detachment of the 8th Estonian Corps broke into Tartumante Street. On the majestic tower of Vyshgorod, the victorious red banner, raised by an officer of the Estonian corps, Lieutenant I. T. Lumiste, again rose. The nationalist tricolor banner was removed. The advanced detachments of the 8th Army broke through to the center of Tallinn. Soldiers V. Vyurkov and N. Golovan hoisted a red flag on the building of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR.

The working people of Tallinn approvingly greeted the Red Army troops. The sons of all the peoples of the USSR, together with the valiant Estonian warriors, cleared the capital of Estonia and most of the territory of the republic from German occupiers. The complete liberation of Soviet Estonia was approaching.

By two o'clock in the afternoon on September 22, the capital of the Estonian SSR, an important naval base and a major port on the Baltic Sea - the city of Tallinn was liberated from the German occupiers. The formations of the 117th Rifle Corps under the command of Major General V.A. Trubachev, as well as the 7th and 249th Rifle Divisions of the 8th Estonian Corps, which arrived after the mobile units, quickly eliminated scattered pockets of resistance of small enemy groups.

Together with the nationalist resistance, Soviet soldiers saved the capital of Estonia from destruction with their rapid advance. The Nazis were preparing to blow it up. They brought tens of tons of tola there and planted time bombs in the houses. But the enemy only managed to blow up a telephone exchange and destroy several residential buildings. Soviet sappers, with the help of residents, quickly cleared the city of mines. Local residents of Tallinn also did a lot to save Tallinn and its industrial enterprises. Armed work detachments met with powerful fire groups of German soldiers who were trying to blow up enterprises and public buildings.

Together with the troops of the 8th Army, the forces of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet took part in the liberation of Tallinn. On September 22, eight torpedo boats with a landing force of marines left Lox towards the city. At 1 hour 30 minutes. On September 23, having overcome the main obstacles in Tallinn Bay, torpedo boats landed troops in the Mine Harbor and assisted the troops of the 8th Army in the liberation of the Tallinn port.

It was said above that the mobile group of the front was planned to be brought into battle in the Tallinn direction. But since the forces of the 8th Army operating here turned out to be quite sufficient to liberate Tallinn, the need to introduce a mobile group disappeared. This powerful formation, which had 319 tanks and self-propelled guns, was more appropriate to use in the direction of Viljandi, Ainazi to pursue the retreating formations of the 3rd SS Panzer Corps and the 2nd Army Corps, in order, together with the troops of the 2nd Shock Army, to prevent their withdrawal to Riga area.

After the liberation of Tallinn, the troops of the 8th Army continued to pursue the retreating remnants of the defeated formations in the direction of the ports of Paldiski and Haapsalu; The 2nd Shock Army, having deployed its troops in a south-eastern direction, successfully advanced towards Pärnu, Viljandi, and Ainazi. On September 26, formations of the Leningrad Front reached the coast of the Gulf of Finland and Riga from Tallinn to Ainazi, completing the liberation of the entire territory of the Estonian SSR, with the exception of the islands of the Moonsund archipelago. South of Ainaži, the 67th Army of the 3rd Baltic Front approached the coast of the Gulf of Riga.

The head of the nationalist government of Estonia, as well as some of his cabinet members, were soon arrested. O. Tiif himself, after serving a 10-year sentence in the camp, continued to live in Estonia, and died on March 5, 1976 in Tartu.

With the completion of the liberation of mainland Estonia, the Supreme High Command Headquarters on September 25 assigned the Leningrad Front and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet the task of expelling the enemy from the islands of the Moonsund Archipelago and depriving the enemy Army Group North of the sea route from the Gulf of Riga through the Irbe Strait.

To carry out the Moonsund landing operation, by decision of the commander of the Leningrad Front, the 109th Rifle Corps under the command of Lieutenant General I.P. Alferev and the 8th Estonian Corps under the command of Lieutenant General L.A. Pern were separated from the 8th Army. Of the forces of the Baltic Fleet, the 1st torpedo boat brigade and the 260th marine brigade took part in the operation.

The fighting to liberate the islands of the Moonsund archipelago began immediately after our troops reached the western coast of Estonia. On September 27, the 1st torpedo boat brigade landed troops from the 260th Marine Brigade on Vormsi Island. Supported by the fire of ships and military artillery from the coast of Estonia, the landing party broke the enemy's resistance and by the end of the day had completely cleared the island of enemy troops.

Following the island of Vormsi, the island of Muhu (Moon) was cleared during September 29–30. The 249th Estonian Rifle Division took part in its liberation, the landing of which was carried out by 12 torpedo boats and 90 amphibious vehicles.

On October 2, landings began on the island of Hiuma (Dago) from the 109th Infantry Division under the command of Major General N.A. Trushkin. Units of the division quickly defeated the enemy garrison of three separate battalions and completely cleared the island on October 3. Only one island, Saaremaa (Ezel), remained in enemy hands, the largest and most important militarily, since it controlled the exit from the Gulf of Riga through the Irbe Strait. Up to two divisions of enemy troops were concentrated on the island.

To liberate the island of Saaremaa, the commander of the 8th Army allocated the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps (7th and 249th divisions) and the 131st Rifle Division of the 109th Rifle Corps. After careful preparation, the landing began on October 5. Two regiments of the 131st Infantry Division under the command of Major General P. A. Romanenko were put on ships in the port of Haapsalu and landed on the northern coast of the island. The third regiment of the division from the island of Hiuma (Dago) also landed here. Units of the 8th Estonian Corps landed from the island of Muhu (Moon) through a narrow strait to the eastern coast of the island of Saaremaa.

In fierce battles, Soviet troops cleared almost the entire island of the enemy by October 9. The Germans, having retreated to the narrow Sõrve peninsula, carefully prepared for defense, put up stubborn resistance to our troops. The battles for the Sõrve Peninsula ended on November 24.

The liberation of Estonia by the troops of the Leningrad Front and the forces of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet was of great political and strategic importance. The long-suffering Estonian people, who had languished under the yoke of the bloody Nazi regime for three years, were finally liberated.

During the battles to liberate Estonia, the enemy suffered significant losses. In the period from September 17 to 26 alone, the troops of the Leningrad Front defeated four infantry divisions, five artillery regiments, and fifteen separate different battalions. In addition, two infantry divisions, the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", and the 4th SS Panzergrenadier Brigade "Netherland" suffered heavy losses. Enemy losses from September 17 to 26 amounted to 30 thousand killed and wounded, 17 thousand prisoners, not counting the losses inflicted by our aviation and navy during the evacuation of German troops by sea.

The liberation of Estonian naval bases and ports radically changed the conditions for the basing of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. The entry of our fleet into the vastness of the Baltic Sea significantly increased its role in supporting the offensive operations of Soviet troops in the Baltic direction from the sea in the fall of 1944 and in the first half of 1945.

The successes achieved by the troops of the Leningrad Front were the result of good preparation of units and formations for offensive battles, carrying out large regroupings in a short time and thereby creating significant superiority over the enemy in selected directions of the main attacks of the armies. Carefully developed and successfully implemented at the first stage of the operation, the interaction of infantry, tanks, artillery and aviation made it possible to break through enemy defenses at a high pace.

During the pursuit, aviation provided great assistance to the ground troops. The 13th Air Army, delivering powerful attacks on retreating enemy columns, ports and road junctions, assisted rifle formations and especially army mobile groups in inflicting significant losses on retreating enemy units.

The troops of the Leningrad Front, deeply aware of their historical mission as liberators of the fraternal Estonian people from Nazi occupation, fulfilled the task entrusted to them with honor.

On the approaches to Riga

In the liberation of Riga, the capital of the Latvian SSR, one of the most important roles was played by the 67th Army under the command of Lieutenant General V.Z. Romanovsky.

The most intense battles on the approaches to the capital took place after the capture of Tartu, when the 67th Army (111th, 112th and 122nd Rifle Corps) was turned southwest towards Riga. Together with other armies of the 3rd Baltic Front, it had to break through the first of two defensive lines created by the enemy on the approaches to the Latvian capital. About four infantry divisions and up to five separate enemy battalions were defending in the army zone.

On September 14, our troops went on the offensive. The enemy's defenses were broken through along the entire front, but heavy fighting broke out in its depths. Often in some areas it even came to hand-to-hand combat. In the first two days of the Red Army's offensive, enemy infantry, supported by tanks and self-propelled guns, launched fierce counterattacks in an attempt to stop the advancing units. However, all counterattacks were successfully repulsed with heavy losses for the enemy.

Due to the fact that the neighboring 2nd Shock Army of the Leningrad Front operated north of Lake Vyrts-Jarvi, during the offensive a fairly significant gap formed between both armies, reaching 40 kilometers or more. Having received information that large forces of the German task force, including formations of the 3rd SS Panzer Corps, were retreating from Estonia to the south, our command naturally had to take measures to ensure an open flank. It transferred part of its forces there in order to fend off a possible enemy attack, which could affect the success of the offensive not only of the 67th Army, but also of the 1st Shock Army neighboring on the left. On September 23, the commander of the front troops, Army General I. I. Maslennikov, arrived at the command post of the 67th Army. The army commander indicated to the front commander the situation and the tasks assigned to the army troops for the next day. General Maslennikov, with a dissatisfied look, made a remark to Romanovsky: “You did not understand the task of the army, and therefore you created the group incorrectly.” Romanovsky was very surprised by this. Without showing any sign, Army Commander 67 began to substantiate in detail the need to create such a group in the army. After listening to him, Maslennikov said: “Your justification convinces me even more that you do not understand the task at hand. Your army was given the task of breaking through the enemy’s defenses and, developing an offensive, to protect the main grouping of the front from enemy counterattacks from the right. In accordance with this task, you should have your main grouping on the left flank of the army, closer to the main grouping of the front. Cancel the orders you gave to the troops. Set new tasks and regroup troops towards the left flank. Otherwise, you will disrupt the entire front-line operation.”

Lieutenant General V.Z. Romanovsky tried several times to prove to him that the 67th Army needed to strengthen not the left, but the right flank in order to resist the enemy’s fresh forces with a stronger group, that the regrouping he proposed would slow down our offensive. However, all the army commander's attempts to convince General Maslennikov were unsuccessful. Romanovsky could only click his heels like a soldier, put his hand to his headdress and say: “Yes! I obey! Will be done!" Ivan Ivanovich Maslennikov was very pleased with this answer and said: “That’s good. Take action!” - got into the car and drove to his headquarters.

The head of the operational department of the army headquarters, Colonel P. Ya. Mordvintsev, who was present at this conversation, turned to the commander of the 67th Army with an alarming question: “What should we do now? After all, we won’t be able to move to the left flank without stopping the offensive. If we follow the order of the front commander, then we must stop the offensive for at least a day, or even two, but we will be held accountable for this?” Romanovsky answered him that since “the operation is going normally, we will not rush to regroup, because we cannot discount the enemy troops approaching our right flank. I take full responsibility for this. We will develop the offensive in the same grouping, we will quickly reach the sea, and then everything will be in order.”

It must be said that by not following the instructions of General Maslennikov, the commander of Army 67 took a considerable risk. But he would have to bear even greater responsibility if the enemy attacked the weakened open flank and disrupted the offensive.

On September 26, units of the 377th Infantry Division of the 111th Infantry Corps occupied the city of Limbazi, and the next day reached the coast of the Gulf of Riga. Since the army carried out its task successfully, General Maslennikov never inquired in which group it was operating.

Our offensive along the coast of the Gulf of Riga developed successfully. The troops acted coherently: at night, specially allocated units knocked the enemy out of position, and by morning the main forces pursued his retreating units.

On October 4, a directive was received from the front commander, in which the 67th Army was ordered by the end of October 5 to take the strip from the 1st Shock Army to the Gauja River and go over to a tough defense, reliably covering the Limbazi and Valmiera directions with one division. According to the directive, the 122nd Rifle Corps was withdrawn from 67 A and in its place the 119th Rifle Corps was included in the army. It took two days to implement the directive. The army command regrouped, led reconnaissance and organized fire combat with the enemy.

In connection with the retreat of the enemy, the front commander on October 8 set the army a new task: continuing to develop the pursuit, reach the outer defensive contour along the Gauja River, cross it and advance on the northern part of the city of Riga.

Since the army’s offensive line narrowed as it approached Riga, it was decided to conduct the offensive with all three corps in one echelon. The 111th Rifle Corps of General B.A. Rozhdestvensky was tasked with crossing the Gauja River and developing an offensive towards Vetsaki (north of Riga); The 112th Rifle Corps of General F. Ya. Solovyov to break through the defenses, cross the Gauja River and develop an offensive towards Jaunciems, and the 119th Rifle Corps of General N. N. Nikishin to break through the defenses on the western bank of the Gauja River and develop an offensive towards Tish-ezers. Meanwhile, hiding behind the rear guards, the enemy withdrew troops beyond the Gauja River and to the outer perimeter of the city of Riga. By October 10, his units were knocked down from the intermediate line, and our troops approached the Gauja River.

Here, on the banks of the River Gauja, heavy fighting broke out. When crossing the river, our soldiers fought heroically. Among the first to cross with his crew to the opposite bank was the machine gunner of the 4th Infantry Regiment of the 89th Infantry Division, junior sergeant P. M. Moskvin. He installed a heavy machine gun on the shore and ensured the crossing of units with fire. With the fire of his Maxim, the communist P. M. Moskvin destroyed more than twenty enemy soldiers. In another sector, a platoon of the 546th Infantry Regiment of the 191st Infantry Division under the command of V.I. Burmistenko was the first to cross the river and boldly attacked the enemy from the rear. At the same time, Burmistenko’s platoon captured an enemy battery and captured twenty enemy soldiers and officers.

On the night of October 12, our formations approached the last line before Riga, which ran along the western shores of lakes Tisch and Juplas Ezers. The army commander, Lieutenant General V.Z. Romanovsky, with the head of the operational department of the army headquarters, Colonel Mordvintsev, and the head of the intelligence department, Colonel A.P. Kostrov, puzzled for a long time: how to take Riga? It must be said that Lake Tish-Ezers was a very serious obstacle. Its width reached 3 km, and its length - 8 km. It almost completely blocked the offensive zone of our two corps. There was not enough strength to break through the strong defenses on the isthmuses between the lakes, mainly artillery. Having learned from intelligence data that the main enemy forces were concentrated near the isthmuses, and not on the western shore of Lake Tish-Ezers, that he had few troops and weak fortifications, Colonel Mordvintsev proposed trying to cross the lake at night with forward detachments in amphibious vehicles.

The army commander went to the 112th and 119th corps to consult with their commanders on this issue. They joined the common plan. When leaving, Romanovsky gave them instructions when approaching the lakes to strictly observe camouflage, remove all troops further into the forest, leave only observation on the shore and organize reconnaissance well.

It was decided to provide the 119th Rifle Corps with a battalion of amphibians, which would be used for the first push across the lake. To mislead the enemy, it was planned to conduct artillery fire on the isthmuses, creating the appearance that here we would “tear” the enemy’s defenses during the day.

By the morning of October 12, the decision to force the force had finally matured. Lieutenant Colonel P.I. Kiselev, commander of the 285th battalion of amphibious vehicles, having received the necessary orders, ensured that the battalion entered the area indicated to him that same night.

In the morning, Colonel P.Ya. Mordvintsev reported to the army commander that the troops had begun preparing for the crossing. According to the reports of the corps commanders, the enemy put up very strong resistance on the isthmuses between the lakes, but on the western shore of Lake Tish he behaved calmly. Only isolated patrols were noted there. This is what our troops needed. The army headquarters moved closer to the first echelon troops at the Mangali manor. An observation post for the army commander and a small group of staff officers was prepared in the Beltes area, in the sector of the 374th Infantry Division.

In the afternoon, the commander of the 67th Army went to the command post of the commander of the 119th Corps to check how preparations for the crossing were going. The corps commander, General N. N. Nikishin, together with the commander of the 374th division, Colonel B. A. Gorodetsky, the commander of the 1244th rifle regiment, which was supposed to cross the lake in the first echelon, Lieutenant Colonel I. M. Tsarev and the commander of the 285th battalion amphibians, Lieutenant Colonel V.I. Kiselev, bending over the map, developed a crossing plan.

The 285th amphibious vehicle battalion had 75 Ford GPA vehicles. It was calculated that these vehicles in the first echelon could disembark 450 people on one flight (6 people per vehicle, although according to the technical design norm it was allowed to take 4 people). It was assumed that for night operations, and in case of a surprise attack, this would still be a solid group that would be able to do a lot.

It was also decided to divide the first echelon into two detachments. The first detachment was composed of personnel from the 1244th Infantry Regiment. It was supposed to include machine gunners, submachine gunners, armor-piercing soldiers, sappers and mortar men. The detachment was allocated fifty vehicles. The detachment commander, Lieutenant Colonel I.M. Tsarev, was given the task, after landing on the shore, to expand the bridgehead towards Mezaparks, and with one battalion to strike the flank and rear of the enemy defending the isthmus in the northern part of the lake.

The second detachment consisted of one reinforced battalion of the 1250th Infantry Regiment under the command of Captain D.P. Maksimov. They made a dash across the lake in 25 cars. This detachment was supposed to go ashore in the area of ​​​​the Suzha manor, the south-eastern part of Mezaparks and advance in the direction of Čekurkalis, striking the flank and rear of the defending enemy troops on the isthmus between the Tiš and Juglas lakes.

At 19 o'clock, as soon as it got dark, both detachments, stretching along the shore for four kilometers, went onto the water. The artillery fired mainly at the enemy's battle formations defending the isthmuses, and with separate batteries - in front of the front of the crossing units, indicating to them the direction of movement and landing. At 19.30 a report was received that the first echelon of troops had landed on the enemy shore. His units began moving to the rear of the German troops defending the isthmuses between the lakes. When the landing troops approached the isthmuses, units of the 98th and 377th rifle divisions of the 112th rifle corps, as well as the 245th rifle division of the 119th corps, concentrated in the inter-lake defiles, went on the offensive. As captured Germans later said, the night attack by our landing forces from the rear was unexpected. The enemy defending the defile had the impression that he was surrounded. The Germans began to retreat in panic.

As a result of the decisive actions of the landing force, supported by a general offensive along the entire front, the troops of the 67th Army captured the northern part of Riga by midnight. The success of clearing the right bank of Riga from enemy troops was ensured primarily by surprise and careful preparation.

When the enemy was driven out from the inter-lake isthmuses, the 119th, 112th and 111th Rifle Corps launched a general offensive. At the same time, the right-flank divisions of the 61st Army (12th, 75th Guards and 212th Rifle Divisions of the 123rd Rifle Corps) also went on the offensive. By morning, the eastern part of Riga was also cleared.

The blow was so stunning for the enemy that the landing troops alone in the Mezaparks area captured eighteen tanks, fourteen guns of various calibers, twelve mortars, 31 machine guns, 26 vehicles, 11 boats on the canal and many other weapons and property.

The prisoners later said that they did not expect the advance of Soviet troops across the lake. “The continuous roar of engines,” they said, “machine-gun fire and artillery cannonade created the impression that amphibious tanks were advancing across the entire lake in a wide front. And we couldn't do anything. Moreover, your troops simultaneously launched an offensive on the isthmuses.”

Having cleared the northern and northeastern parts of the city from the enemy and pulling up their forces, the army troops, without allowing the enemy to come to their senses, crossed the Western Dvina River north of the city on the night of October 14. The main forces of the front developed an attack on Riga from the south. On October 15, the capital of the Latvian SSR was completely cleared of the enemy.

Offensive of the Red Army in the Baltic States (July-October 1944)

Baltic territory liberated by the Kraska Army in 1944

Map of military operations of troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front in the Vilnius area

Combat actions of the troops of the Leningrad Front to liberate the territory of Estonia

Notes:

History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941–1945, vol. 4. M., Voenizdat, 1962, p. 339.

Directives of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to the Leningrad, 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts dated July 4, 1944 and July 6, 1944.

Only the 2nd shock and 8th combined arms armies were taken into account.

The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front were commanded by Army General I. D. Chernyakhovsky, the members of the Military Council were Lieutenant General V. E. Makarov and Lieutenant General of the Quartermaster Service I. S. Khokhlov, the chief of staff was Lieutenant General A. P. Pokrovsky .

"Military Historical Journal" No. 7, 1964, p. 42–46.

The commander of the troops of the 1st Baltic Front at that time was Army General I. Kh. Bagramyan, members of the Military Council of the front were Lieutenant General D. S. Leonov and Major General V. N. Kudryavtsev, and the chief of staff was Colonel General V. V. Kurasov.

Commander of the 2nd Baltic Front - Army General A. I. Eremenko, members of the Front Military Council - Lieutenant General V. N. Bogatkin and Major General S. I. Shabalin, Chief of Staff - Lieutenant General L. M. Sandalov .

This corps, advancing as part of the 22nd Army of the 2nd Baltic Front, included two Latvian rifle divisions - the 308th and 43rd Guards. The battle path of the Latvian soldiers began near Moscow. The 201st Latvian Rifle Division, together with other Soviet formations, fought on the outskirts of our capital. Later it took part in the liberation of Naro-Fominsk and Borovsk and in October 1942 it was reorganized into the 43rd Guards Rifle Division. The soldiers of this division fought bravely in the battles of Staraya Russa and Velikiye Luki. The 308th Latvian Rifle Division, formed on the basis of the 1st reserve Latvian Rifle Regiment, began combat operations in the second half of July 1944.

The troops of the 3rd Baltic Front were commanded by Army General I. I. Maslennikov, members of the Front's Military Council were Lieutenant General M. V. Rudakov and Major General F. V. Yatichkin, and the chief of staff was Lieutenant General V. R. Vashkevich.

The group included: the 1st tank brigade, the 221st tank and 397th guards self-propelled artillery regiments, a motorized rifle battalion, an anti-tank artillery regiment, one anti-aircraft artillery regiment, one engineering battalion, one guards mortar division.

It included the 152nd tank brigade, the 26th tank regiment, the 1294th self-propelled artillery regiment, one fighter artillery regiment, a mortar division, an anti-aircraft artillery regiment, a guards mortar division, a cannon artillery division, an engineer company and a rifle battalion.

It included the 30th and 220th tank brigades, the 226th, 124th and 27th Guards Tank Regiments, the 351st Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, the 1st Separate Armored Battalion, the 283rd Motorized Amphibious Battalion, one rifle regiment of the 86th rifle division, 17th assault engineer brigade, 33rd anti-tank artillery regiment, 1387th anti-aircraft artillery regiment, one division of the 18th guards mortar regiment.

For decisive actions and personal courage shown in the battles for the liberation of Tallinn, Senior Lieutenant Ya. M. Lobov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The advance detachment of the 8th Estonian Corps consisted of the 45th Tank Regiment, the 952nd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment and one rifle battalion of the 249th Infantry Division.