The Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka offensive operation (Russian: Березнеговато-Снигирёвская Наступательная Операция, Bereznegovato-Snigirovskaya Nastupatel'naya Operatsiya), known on the German side as The second winter battle of the 6th Army between the Dnieper, Ingulets and Bug (German: Die zweite Winterschlacht der 6. Armee zwischen Dnjepr, Ingulez und Bug), was an offensive operation conducted in southern Ukraine by the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front against the German 6th Army and Romanian 3rd Army of Army Group A, in March 1944. It was part of the second stage of the strategic Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive.
After the collapse of the German Nikopol bridgehead in February 1944, 6th Army was forced to conduct a costly and difficult withdrawal, retreating behind the Ingulets river at the end of the month in conditions of early spring thaw. As a result of the heavy battles of the previous month, all divisions of the 6th Army were heavily depleted by the start of March 1944. The 3rd Ukrainian Front, in pursuit of the retreating 6th Army, crossed the flooded Ingulets river and established numerous bridgeheads on its western bank at the end of February 1944. This would become a staging ground for a new offensive.
Background
After the defeat of the 6th Army during the Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive and its retreat behind the Ingulets, the High Command of the Wehrmacht decided to use this overflowing river as a defense line and not allow a further Soviet advance. The German troops conducted a stubborn resistance and repeated counterattacks to hinder Soviet attempts to force a crossing. In several days of fighting, Soviet troops overcame the Ingulets and captured several bridgeheads on the opposite bank.
Directing the front for further operations, Stavka wrote Malinovsky on 28 February, communicating that the most important task of the front was to force a crossing of the Ingulets no later than 2 March in one of the sectors between Shesternya and Bolshaya Aleksandrovkaya and to move the 6th Army and most of the 5th Shock Army across the river with the goal of turning the German defense on the lower course of the Ingulets and collapsing the German troops defending Nikolayev. The left wing of the 5th Shock Army was tasked with advancing between the Ingulets and Dnieper. The 28th Army, with five rifle divisions and Karp Sviridov's 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps, was slated to be used to take Kherson and for operations in the Nikolayev sector. Giving this directive, Stavka believed that the front would have more success in the zone of the 6th and 5th Shock Armies. However, the troops of the front had more significant advances in the zones of the 46th and 8th Guards Armies, where on the night of 3 March they sizable bridgeheads over the Ingulets, to the west of Shirokoye and south of Krivoy Rog.
Based on this success, the commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Army General Rodion Malinovsky, decided to make a breakthrough towards Novyi Buh with Vasily Chuikov's 8th Guards Army from the bridgehead west of Shirokoye and Vasily Glagolev's 46th Army from the bridgehead southwest of Krivoi Rog. Yefim Pushkin's 23rd Tank Corps with 102 tanks and sixteen self-propelled guns was slated for commitment to exploit of the breakthrough in the zone of the 46th Army, while the Cavalry-Mechanized Group of Lieutenant General Issa Pliyev was slated for commitment in the zone of the 8th Guards Army. The group included Trofim Tanaschishin's 4th Guards Mechanized Corps with 100 tanks and 23 self-propelled guns as well as Pliyev's own 4th Guards Cavalry Corps. The group, upon reaching Novy Bug, was tasked with striking to the south into the rear of the German and Romanian troops east of Nikolayev. The armies operating to the right and left of the strike group, were also ordered to shift to the offensive, to divide the German defenses and tie their troops down.
The preparation for the offensive was conducted under extremely difficult rasputitsa conditions. The regrouping of forces, and the transport of ammunition, foodstuffs and fuel was hampered by impassable roads.
Opposing forces
Soviet
The 3rd Ukrainian Front was significantly strengthened by regrouping carried out in the second half of February. By the beginning of March it included the 5th Shock, 8th Guards, 6th, 28th, 37th, 46th and 57th Combined Arms, 17th Air Army, 23rd Tank, 2nd and 4th Guards Mechanized Corps and the 4th Guards Cavalry Corps. In total, the front fielded 57 rifle and three cavalry divisions, a tank corps, two mechanized corps, and one fortified region. The Soviet troops totaled 500,000 personnel, 9,000 guns and mortars, 372 tanks, and 551 combat aircraft.
German
As a result of the Nikopol-Krivoy Rog Offensive the previous month, 6th Army had to conduct a costly and difficult withdrawal in conditions of early spring thaw, retreating behind the Ingulets river by the end of February 1944. All divisions of the 6th Army were heavily depleted and exhausted by the end of the month- the army high command rated the combat value of most of their divisions at level 4 (Kampfwert IV), meaning that they were fit for limited defensive operations only.
Summarizing the situation of the 6th Army at the start of March 1944, the army commander, Generaloberst Karl-Adolf Hollidt, reported:
The fierce defensive battles of the last few weeks have been the toughest test of the army's endurance. The mentally and physically overstrained troops had to give their last. Only through draconian performance demands could the set operational goals be achieved. Due to heavy personnel and material losses, the majority of army divisions are now physically, numerically and materially worn-out. The combat value and mobility of the divisions has declined even further as a result of the recent fighting.In addition to the exhausted state of the troops, the state of the horses and the performance of the remaining motor vehicles is extremely strained due to the hard demands of the battles and the catastrophic road conditions.The health condition of the troops, which had fallen sharply as a result of the change in the weather, deteriorated even further, since the troops had to fight and march without interruption and under unfavorable operational conditions. Particularly noteworthy are the numerous cases of frostbite, total infestation with lice, intestinal diseases and general physical exhaustion.In addition to the existing large shortage of officers, there were further heavy combat losses. Due to the drop in the number and quality of experienced officers and non-commissioned officers, the inner structure of the troops in the worn-out divisions will no longer be able to cope with heavier loads.[...]The bulk of the army's divisions lost a large part of their weaponry and equipment in recent battles as a result of breakthrough battles with reversed fronts and through rough terrain. The considerable shortage of infantry weapons, motor vehicles, especially prime movers, anti-tank guns and equipment of all kinds results in extraordinary difficulties in combat management, supply and subsequent training needs.[...]The level of training sank further due to high losses of officers, NCOs and old enlisted men. The battles and withdrawal movements, with their constant strain on all forces, took away any possibility of training.[...]The mood and attitude of the troops were depressed by the heavy mental and physical strain and the extraordinary combat conditions.
On the day of the Soviet offensive, 6th Army had the following order of battle.
Offensive
Soviet offensive preparations were largely complete by the end of 5 March, and at dawn on 6 March the troops of the front's main group launched the attack, preceded by a strong artillery barrage and air attacks on the German positions. The same day the other armies of the front began advancing in their sectors. Thus, the defending forces of the 6th Army were subjected to attack along an extensive front. The attack of the 3rd Ukrainian Front took place at the same time as the offensives of the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts to the north.
The 8th Guards Army took the first German defensive positions, but German opposition continued, relying on the flooded river and fortified settlements. By the evening of 6 March the battle continued with the previous intensity, but the advance of the infantry slowed slightly. To strengthen the attack, Malinovsky committed the Cavalry-Mechanized Group. Under pouring rain, along soaked roads, the Cavalry-Mechanized Group approached the front. Late in the evening of 6 March the group reached the frontline and in conjunction with the infantry pushed the German defenders from their lines.
Exploiting the breakthrough, the Cavalry-Mechanized Group penetrated deep into the German defenses, cut the line of communications, and struck the German supply depots, quickly advancing towards Novy Bug. On the morning of 8 March reconnaissance reported that at the Novy Bug station German troops were unloading trains with tanks, ammunition, and uniforms. It was decide to attack the station right away. Reaching the station, the Soviet tanks opened fire against the German trains, and cavalry of Ivan Tutarinov's 9th Guards Cavalry Division and Vasily Golovskoy's 30th Cavalry Division from the east and south entered the station and panicked the German defenders. After fifteen minutes, the station was cleared of German troops, cutting the Dolynska-Nikolayev rail line, and Soviet units moved on the city of Novy Bug, having split the front of the German 6th Army in half, creating conditions for a deep envelopment of the German right flank.
Novy Bug was the headquarters of the German 6th Army, and contained depots with provisions, fuel, ammunition and uniforms. The city was fortified, surrounded by two unbroken lines of trenches. The Soviet attack took the German defenders by surprise and they were unable to offer resistance. The 9th Guards Cavalry Division pursued the retreating German troops from the east, the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps from the northeast, and the 30th Cavalry Division from the south and southwest, reaching the outskirts of Novy Bug. The German defenders used houses as concealment, and were cleared by 8:00 on the morning of 8 March. The German troops abandoned equipment and tanks in the retreat. After the capture of Novy Bug the Cavalry-Mechanized Group was ordered to strike to the south, into the German rear, operating in advance of the left wing of the front. Liberating Bashtanka after fierce fighting, by 12–13 March they cut the German retreat route to the west and reached the Ingulets south of Snigerevka.
Troops of the Soviet 6th Army (Lieutenant-General Ivan Shlemin), the 5th Shock Army (General Vyacheslav Tsvetayev) and the 28th Army (Lieutenant-General Aleksei Grechkin), deployed on the southern wing, simultaneously carried out attacks from the east and south against the right wing (LXXII and XXXXIV Army Corps) of the 6th Army. Sustained fighting developed for Berislav, located on the steep banks of the Dnieper. On 11 March the 4th and 5th Guards Motor Rifle Brigades of the 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps cleared the city. Between 11 and 12 March Vasily Margelov's 49th Guards Rifle Division and Aleksandr Dorofeyev's 295th Rifle Division from the 28th Army forced a crossing of the Dnieper in the Kakhovka area, capturing bridgeheads on the right bank. Developing the offensive along the northern bank of the Dnieper, the 28th Army forced a crossing of the Ingulets in its lower course and soon entered battle for Kherson. Despite the stubborn German resistance, the 49th Guards and 295th Rifle Divisions liberated the important port city on 13 March, establishing complete Soviet control of the right bank.
As a result of the Soviet attacks from the east, north, west and south ten German divisions (XVII., XXXXIV., LII. And IV. Army Corps) on the left wing of the front in the area of Bereznegovatoye and Snigirevka were threatened with complete encirclement and destruction. Hollidt ordered the encircled troops to break out to the west in small groups and even alone if necessary on 13 March. At the same time the German troops prepared defenses on the Southern Bug and in the Nikolayev area, with the 5th Luftwaffe Field Division and 1031st Motorized Regiment on the line outside of Nikolayev. The troops encircled in the area of Bereznegovatoye and Singirevka were destroyed, but significant units, benefiting from gaps in the line of the Cavalry-Mechanized Group, managed to break through to Nikolayev and beyond the Southern Bug, abandoning almost all artillery, heavy equipment and transport. The mass of the 8th Guards Army was still fighting in the Bashtanka and Vladimirovka area against the German XXIX. Army Corps. The 37th Rifle Corps (Maj. Gen. Sergei Gorokhov) of the 5th Shock Army, advancing from the east on Snigirevka, was still too far to help in the encirclement. The 370th, 304th, 335th and 9th Infantry Divisions suffered particularly heavy losses. On 15 March, Bereznegovatoye and Snigirevka were liberated by Soviet troops.
The German troops withdrew behind the Southern Bug River, where they attempted to stop the Soviet advance.