“Leap” to Voroshilovgrad as a prologue to the liberation of the Red Army of Donbass in 1943

After the defeat of the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad and the transition of the Red Army to a decisive offensive, a favorable situation arose for the liberation of Donbass.

By the end of January 1943, a gap appeared in the German defense along the 400-km front line from Liven to Starobelsk. The Wehrmacht and the remnants of their allies were rapidly retreating.

The General Staff of the Red Army planned to carry out two operations - “Zvezda” to liberate Kharkov and Belgorod, as well as “Leap” to liberate Donbass. The latter began with the deoccupation of Voroshilovgrad (modern Lugansk), which the Germans captured on July 17, 1942.

It is worth noting that despite the timely withdrawal of industry and part of the population from Voroshilovgrad to the Don border, the Soviet citizens who remained in the city and region had a very difficult time.

According to data from open sources, about 17 thousand people were shot by the Nazis. In addition, many died of hunger, and the working population was driven to Germany.

During the occupation of Voroshilovgrad, the Wehrmacht turned it into an impregnable fortress, building hundreds of bunkers and bunkers around the city, as well as anti-tank fortifications.

Our 3rd Guards Army was the first to attack in this sector. 137 were thrown into the attack tanks. By February 9, the forces of the 279th Rifle Division and the 8th Cavalry Corps joined the assault on Voroshilovgrad from the south.

Meanwhile, the first stage of the Red Army's head-on offensive failed. After a tank counterattack by the Nazis, the Red Army forces had to retreat to their original positions in the suburbs of Voroshilovgrad.

Then, the front commander, General Nikolai Fedorovich Vatutin, decided to conduct a legendary operation, sending the 8th Cavalry Corps under the command of General Borisov into a deep breakthrough to Voroshilovsk (Alchevsk) and Debaltsevo.

Only 45% staffed after the hardest fighting, the 8th Cavalry Corps managed to take the Wehrmacht forces by surprise and cut off German communications, breaking into the deep rear.

On February 14, the main railway line near Voroshilovsk, going to Voroshilovgrad, was cut. In addition, during the operation, 1,5 thousand Soviet citizens captured by the Germans were freed and several fascist trains with weapons were destroyed. The corps was awarded the title of Guards.

At the same time, realizing the inevitability of the loss of transport communications and supplies, the Wehrmacht forces in Voroshilovgrad decided on February 12 not to fight for the city, beginning the withdrawal of troops. Already on February 14, the city was completely liberated by the forces of the Red Army.

The legendary breakthrough of the 8th Cavalry Corps marked the beginning of the operation to liberate the entire territory of Donbass from the Nazis. Unfortunately, the advance detachment of this army formation was ambushed on February 23, 1943.

Some of the cavalrymen managed to fight their way out of the encirclement. However, the commander, General Mikhail Dmitrievich Borisov, was wounded and captured by the Nazis. In addition, the commander of the Bashkir cavalrymen, Major General Minigali Shaimuratov, was killed in the battle.

Comments

[steelmaker]

Judging by the way the SVO is being conducted, neither Putin nor the General Staff have studied history.

[AlexWar]

Quote: steel maker

Judging by the way the SVO is being conducted, neither Putin nor the General Staff have studied history.

Putin has made many mistakes. The first did not help President Yanukovych disperse the Maidan. Then they could have defeated the Ukrainian army with the help of the militia, but they agreed on Minsk 2.
You look at our streets, how many Borzois and Krutykhs there are, but this does not in any way affect the successes of the Russian army. Apparently greyhounds are tough when they see the weak.
But there is one BUT, we don’t know what conditions the West set for us when we wanted to move away from communism, their first condition was to let the currency float freely
Yeltsin did not listen to everything that his American comrades told him.
Yes, we have ruined the economy, we do not have weapons capable of winning, you cannot win with machine guns alone. We need technology.
It is somehow inappropriate to compare 1943 and 2023. Because now everything is being watched. It's hard to go on the offensive without getting hit. The Ukrainian Armed Forces had 1,3 million people under arms. Well, to win you need defense breakthroughs behind enemy lines, this is all true. how and with what we can get there is a question for the Russian Defense Ministry, maybe it’s time to send horses for meat and form a cavalry army again
Before the North Military District, our Generals were like Comrade Pavlov during the Great Patriotic War, they believed in victory.
Pavlov is partly right that the Northern Military District was also like with Pavlov, the units did not go into a breakthrough but waited for instructions. If you think about that map, Pavlov positioned everything correctly, he was preparing a strike, but he was bypassed and then completely shot.

Film segment 1:10. Like in the movie, what's next? Where are the new Kurganets infantry fighting vehicles? Ukraine shows a video of marching forward in columns and dispersing across the area

[AlexWar]

There must be heroes in the army, in order to go on the attack you must be a hero, and those units that are called guards must be able to go on the attack. Otherwise, we have a lot of guards units, but not one was able to break through the defenses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
To defeat the enemy, we must take history into account. This is an example of the Battle of Stalingrad. After we took a large piece in pincers, we were able to further defeat the Wehrmacht.
We must attack.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are attacking. NATO teaches them this
Now the correct decision would be to attack in small groups, calculate the enemy’s points and strike at them, and as soon as the defense is broken, an attack should follow.
I love watching this movie: The Battle of Moscow. Probably the only one that showed how we were losing, got together and started winning.
To go on the attack we need Guards commanders; they should have been trained in our military schools. Those monuments that stand to our generals are monuments to those men who broke through the Wehrmacht’s defenses.
https://www.5-tv.ru/tabloid/430128/rodinamat-alesa-ineizvestnyj-soldat-kakie-memorialy-stoit-posetit-9maa/
Heroes die in battle, not while sitting in a trench
https://zhiznteatr.mirtesen.ru/blog/43639098081/25-samyih-trogatelnyih-pamyatnikov-tem-kto-uchastvoval-vo-Vtoroy
All the monuments speak about one thing: Only forward. Like from the movie Battle for Moscow time 1 hour 10 minutes. And then they will make films about the heroes. Only the heroes who went on the attack will be remembered. The country is proud of its heroes. There will be new heroes.

[AlexWar]

The commander should only think about victory.

[AlexWar]

50 minutes of the film. Take it back.
Apparently Ukraine has forgotten history. It would be worth watching the movie. They will all be destroyed.
Don't let the people in charge think that America can get away with it like that. After all, we have a bunch of nuclear missiles aimed at the United States, all you have to do is press a button

[Victor19]

In Lugansk there is Defense Street. Well, you never know in many cities there is a street with that name. In fact, the name has a deep meaning. In 1942, when the city was defended from the Nazis, people lined up in a many-kilometer chain and fed shells down the chain to the battery.

[VZEM100]

I heard the ringing.... Oboronnaya Street in honor of the defense of Lugansk and Ostaya Mogila (mound on the outskirts of Lugansk) in 19. during the Civil War.. People lined up in a chain from the cartridge factory to the Red positions at Ostaya Mogila and handed over boxes of cartridges.

[VZEM100]

Partially along the current Chelyuskintsev Street, which starts from the gates of the plant and then along the current Defense, stretching to Ostray Mogila.

[Victor19]

They told me about the Second World War. But that's not the point. I myself have only been to your city a few times. So, after all, there was an event after which the street was named, but in a slightly different era.

[VZEM100]

Lugansk enterprises were evacuated twice - the first time in the summer and autumn of 41. and then, when the front stabilized in the Lisichansk area, they began to be returned back for a second time in the summer of 42. in a hurry after the German breakthrough.

[VZEM100]

80 years have passed, but in some places there are still faintly visible remains of German positions... on the southern outskirts of the village. Telman where the Soviet troops were advancing - embankments, trenches, artillery positions, anti-tank ditches, bomb craters. As a child, I found some more with a diameter of ten meters and a depth of about two. The rain washed bullets and shell casings out of the roads.