The Eastern Front 1941-43 Page 3

  For the Soviet Union, this was the Great Patriotic War. Appealing to traditional Russian concepts of patriotism had been an effective ploy by Stalin, but the men – and women – of the Red Army were also made to keep fighting by extraordinary levels of brutality. Behind the advancing armies were NKVD troops who swept into newly retaken areas and arrested anyone suspected of collaborating with the Germans in any way whatsoever. These troops also dealt with deserters or those who made any other kind of infringement. One new lieutenant was executed at Stalingrad because several of his men had deserted before he’d even arrived at his post.

  In July 1942, Stalin authorized the formation of shtrafbats – punishment battalions of former officers who had been demoted for perceived cowardice or lack of resolution. They were usually sent to the most difficult parts of the front. Clearing a minefield, for example, was the kind of task given to a shtrafbat: the men would simply be ordered to cross it until the mines had been detonated. There were also punishment companies – shtrafroty – made up of miscreant junior commanders. Life was very cheap in the Red Army, but especially so in these punishment units. Very few survived.

  Women were also used widely from October 1941 onwards. The ‘Night Witches’ were an all-female night-bomber unit using old biplanes. Needless to say, casualties were high. There were also female fighter and dive-bomber units in the air force. Soviet women were used as snipers, and were often very effective too.

  After Kursk, the Red Army continued to drive west into the Ukraine, using five army groups simultaneously. This autumn offensive became collectively known as the Battle of the Dnepr, the river that ran through this part of the Soviet Union. Rokossovsky’s Central Front led the way, reaching the Dnepr north of Kiev in September and closely followed to the south by the Veronezh Front. Bitter fighting followed and Kiev was not retaken until 6 November, but it meant the old capital of the Ukraine was now back in Soviet hands and with it a huge bridgehead some 200 miles wide and 90 deep.

  By the end of December, the entire front had shifted hundreds of miles westwards, the Crimea had been isolated, the Dnepr crossed and the Central Front had created a vast bridgehead that extended as far as the city of Karosten at the edge of the Pripyat Marshes.

  The Red Army triumphed to the north as well. By January 1944, the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts had amassed just under a million men and nearly 22,000 guns, while lying offshore was the Baltic Fleet. The Red Army attack began on 14 January and soon pushed the Germans back. The last German shell to land on Leningrad fell on 23 January and four days later, at 8 o’clock in the evening, the sky over the city lit up with a mass of colour as more than 300 guns fired a salute of triumph. After 880 days, the terrible siege of Leningrad was finally over.

  There was plenty of hard fighting still to come, but no one, least of all the Germans, could now doubt the outcome.

  The Soviet Union would have its revenge.

  The ‘Night Witches’.

  Further Reading

  GENERAL HISTORIES

  Chris Bellamy Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War (Pan, 2009)

  Antony Beevor Stalingrad (Penguin, 2007)

  Svetlana Alexievich The Unwomanly Face of War (Penguin, 2017)

  Robert M. Citino Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942 (University Press of Kansas, 2007)

  Robert M. Citino The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943 (University Press of Kansas, 2012)

  Robert M. Citino The Wehrmacht’s Last Stand: The German Campaigns of 1944–1945 (University Press of Kansas, 2017)

  MEMOIRS

  Hermann Balck Order in Chaos (University Press of Kentucky, 2017)

  Hans von Luck Panzer Commander (Cassell, 2002)

  Konstantin Rokossovsky A Soldier’s Duty (Central Books, 1985)

  Erwin Bartmann Für Volk and Führer (Helion, 2013)

  NOVELS

  Helen Dunmore The Siege (Penguin, 2002)

  Vasily Grossman Life and Fate (Vintage, 2006)

  Guy Sajer The Forgotten Soldier (Cassell, 1999)

  Series 117

  This is a Ladybird Expert book, one of a series of titles for an adult readership. Written by some of the leading lights and outstanding communicators in their fields and published by one of the most trusted and well-loved names in books, the Ladybird Expert series provides clear, accessible and authoritative introductions, informed by expert opinion, to key subjects drawn from science, history and culture.

  The Publisher would like to thank the following for the illustrative references for this book: Here: Getty Images/Tass

  Every effort has been made to ensure images are correctly attributed, however if any omission or error has been made please notify the Publisher for correction in future editions.

  MICHAEL JOSEPH

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  Michael Joseph is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

  First published 2018

  Text copyright © James Holland, 2018

  All images copyright © Ladybird Books Ltd, 2018

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Cover illustration by Keith Burns

  ISBN: 978-1-405-92983-7

 

 

  James Holland, The Eastern Front 1941-43

 

 

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