The Road to Berlin (144 page)

FHO Intelligence Appreciations:

Teil A.,
Beurteilungen der Feindlage vor deutscher Ostfront im Grossen
. Reports for July (11, 12, 27, 28th), August (2, 18, 28th), September (8, 19, 21, 25, 27, 30th), also 11 October: report 19 September on Soviet field strength/deployment, 25 September on Soviet planning for winter offensive. T-78/R466, 6445988–6025.

FHO
(I): also (Wirtschaftsstab Ost.). Bandenlage im Osten (1943), including ‘Banden-Statistik’, maps, tables: Soviet partisan movement. T-78/R489, 6475168–213.

Reichsführer-SS

Interrogation of Captain Boris Russanow (sic), ‘General Staff officer’/Soviet partisans; Ukrainian partisan movement, under Col.-Gen. Strokatsch (Chief of Staff of Ukrainian partisan movement). T-175/R38, 1548473–487.

Soviet materials

IV0VSS, 3
, pt 2, ch. 5 (5), Soviet counter-offensive, attack on Orel, pp. 276–85; ch. 5 (6), offensive on Belgorod/Kharkov, pp. 286–93; ch. 6, the Soviet drive to the Dnieper, pp. 305–13; ch. 6 (2), liberation of the Donbas, pp. 314–22.

IVMV, 7
, (i) pp. 157–78, Soviet counter-offensive/Kursk, attack on Orel (1,286,000 men, 21,000 guns, 2,400 tanks, 3,000 aircraft), Belgorod-Kharkov operation, Voronezh Front outflanking of Kharkov, Steppe Front closes on Kharkov 17 August, liberation of Kharkov 23 August; pp. 193–210, Donbas operation (1,053,000 men, 21,000 guns, 1,257 tanks, 1,400 aircraft), Vasilevskii co-ordinating S and SW Front operations, defeat of German forces on Mius Line, Central Front offensive sweep into northern Ukraine (60th Army), opening of battle for Dnieper river line, 6 September
Stavka
assigns Voronezh Front to attack on Kiev (with reinforcement of 3rd Guards Tank Army), Steppe Front to Poltava and Kremenchug (reinforced with 5th Guards Army and 46th Army from SW Front), planning for Kiev attack (p. 200), German withdrawal to ‘Eastern Wall’, Soviet pursuit under Stalin’s order to break through to Dnieper on a broad front, Pukhov’s 13th Army first to cross Dnieper 22 September.

(ii) pp. 238–48,
Smolensk/Bryansk-Gomel operation
(codename
Suvorov I
), W and Kalinin Fronts, offensive designed to penetrate deeper into Belorussia (note:
Stalin’s visit to ‘Smolensk axis’ beginning August (p. 241)
, lack of camouflage and deception discloses Soviet intentions to German defenders, slow progress, 17 September Bryansk liberated, German withdrawal from river Desna.

Biryuzov, Marshal SU S.S.,
Surovye gody 1941–1945
, pp. 175–204, liberation of the Donbas, Biryuzov chief of staff to Tolbukhin, Southern Front operations.

Bychkov, L.N.,
Partizanskoe dvizhenie v gody VOV
, pp. 303–26, partisan operations during Kursk battle, Smolensk region and Ukraine.

Chuikov, Marshal SU V.I.,
Ot Stalingrada do Berlina
(Moscow: Voenizdat (VM) 1980), pt 2 (1), ‘Zaporozhe …’, pp. 360–83, 8th Guards Army (62nd Army from Stalingrad) in SW Front operations (Zhukov’s request for 8th Guards to be transferred to Steppe Front under Koniev resisted by Malinovskii), fall of Zaporozhe, advance on Nikopol. (This edition—the latest—is a compound of the innumerable versions and editions of Chuikov’s ‘memoirs’: e. g.,
Gvardeitsy Stalingrada idut na zapad
, 1972, and
V boyakh za Ukrainu
, Kiev, 1972.)

Domnikov, Lt.-Gen. V.M. (ed.),
V nastuplenii Gvardiya
(Moscow: Voenizdat 1971), pp. 105–43, ‘Krushenie “Mius-Fronta”’, 2nd Guards Army/Southern Front operations, liberation of the Donbas.

Fedyuninskii, I.I.,
Podnyatve po trevoge
(2nd edn), pp. 148–52, Fedyuninskii assumes command 11th Army (14 July), explanations to Front commander (and
Stavka)
for slow rate of advance.

Istomin, Colonel V.P.,
Smolenskaya nastupel’naya operatsiya (1943 g.)
(Moscow: Voenizdat 1975),
passim
. This highly detailed monograph on the ‘Smolensk operation’ (7 August–2 October) is an indispensable source, based largely on Soviet military archives and objectively critical of Soviet performance.

Istomin V.P., ‘Smolenskaya nastupel’naya operatsiya 1943 goda’,
VIZ
, 1973 (10), pp. 11–23. (Summary version.)

Kolos, Ivan,
Rel’sovaya voina v Poles’e
(Moscow: Voenizdat 1962). Popular account of partisan railway sabotage.

Koniev, I.S.,
Zapiski komanduyushchevo frontom
, pp. 22–46, Belgorod-Kharkov offensive, operational plan submitted to Stalin (pp. 23–5), deployment of 53rd Army and 1st Mech. Corps, directive for capture of Kharkov, 53rd and 57th Army close on Kharkov from west and south-west, 22 August Koniev orders for night attack on Kharkov, insists on wakening Stalin with news of fall of Kharkov; pp. 51–80, drive to the Dnieper.

Koniev I.S., ‘Na Kharkovskom napravlenii’,
VIZ
, 1963 (8), pp. 49–61. Koniev’s account of the assault on Kharkov (with fulsome tribute to N. Khrushchev, judiciously removed from the volume of memoirs published in 1972).

Koltunov, G.A. and Solov’ev, B.G.,
Kurskaya bitva
, pt. Two, pp. 185–272, the Orel operation (12 July–18 August 1943), operations of 11th Guards and 50th Army, Central Front offensive operations, Soviet operations NW Orel, capture of Bolkhov, liberation of Orel, advance on Bryansk; pp. 275–352, Belgorod-Kharkov operation (3–23 August), liberation of Belgorod, Steppe Front advance on Kharkov axis, Voronezh Front operations, fighting at approaches to Kharkov, right-flank operations/Voronezh Front, repulse of German counter-attacks Akhtyrka (17–23 August), fall of Kharkov. (Immensely detailed day-by-day (also hour-by-hour) operational narrative, with extensive use of Soviet military archives.)

Krylov, Marshal SU N.I.
et al., Navstrechu pobede. Boevoi put 5-i armii
, (Moscow: Nauka 1970), pp. 146–71, 5th Army (commander Lt.-Gen. VS. Polenov) in Smolensk operations. (See also V.P. Istomin,
op. cit.)
.

Kuzmin, A.T. (ed.),
Vsenarodnoe partizanskoe dvizhenie v Belorussi
, (Minsk: Belarus 1978), vol. 2/2. Important documentary material on Belorussian partisans, July–December 1943.

Kuznetsov, Lt.-Gen. P.G.,
Marshal Tolbukhin
(Moscow: Voenizdat 1966), pp. 79–97, ‘Na Yuzhnom Fronte’, Tolbukhin promoted colonel-general April 1943, given Front command (with Biryuzov as chief of staff), Tolbukhin’s disappointment with July offensive but Stalin satisfied, 11 August Tolbukhin and Biryuzov in Moscow, planning for Donbas operation, capture of Taganrog, September offensive with SW Front, Tolbukhin promoted full general.

Managarov, Col.-Gen. I.M.,
V srazhenii za Kbar’kov
(Kharkov: Prapor, 2nd edn 1978), pp. 54–90, 53rd Army (Steppe Front) alerted 0400 hours 9 July, deployed defensively, preparation for Soviet counter-offensive on Belgorod-Kharkov axis (codenamed Operation
Commander Rumyantsev)
, Zhukov’s inspection 27 July, Zhukov’s instructions for proposed attack and further visit, failure to meet Marshal Zhukov (who was
not
pleased), advance on Kharkov, 23 August broke into Kharkov from the west, liberation of Kharkov. (Illuminating comments on the style of Zhukov and Koniev.)

Moiseyev, O.V.,
Velikaya bitva za Dnepre
(Kiev: Akad. Nauk, 1963), pp. 44–132, ‘Forsirovanie Dnepra’, establishment of Bukrin bridgehead, Kremenchug and Zaporozhe bridgeheads, contribution of partisans.

Popel, Lt.-Gen. (Tank Troops) N.K.,
Tanki povernuli na zapad
(Moscow: Voenizdat (VM) 1960), pp. 184–6, 1st Guards Tank Army in Soviet counter-offensive, cooperation with Kulik’s 4th Guards Army; Kulik, erstwhile Marshal SU, was demoted in 1941 for losing an army, re-instated as a lieutenant-general in 1943 but abruptly dismissed by Marshal Zhukov after a ferocious denunciation.

Sandalov, Col.-Gen. L.M.,
Na moskovskom napravlenii
(Moscow: Nauka 1970), ch. 5, offensive on Orel, Bryansk Front operations. (Sandalov as chief of staff).

Solomatin, Col.-Gen. (Tank Troops) M.D.,
Krasnogradtsy
(Moscow: Voenizdat 1963), pp. 51–69,
1st Mechanized Corps/Steppe
Front operations, assigned as ‘mobile group’ to 53rd Army, preparations for offensive 23 July–2 August, 3 August on Koniev’s own orders 1st Mech. committed to assist in breaching German defences (thus weakening ‘shock power’ of the corps), slow progress through defences, capture of Belgorod, operations with first echelon of 53rd Army, liberation of Kharkov.

Vasilevskii, A.M.,
Delo vsei zhizni
, pp. 347–74, ‘Osvobozhdenie Donbassa’, Zhukov and Vasilevskii co-ordinate offensive on Kharkov, discussions with Malinovskii and role of SW Front for liberation of Donbas, report to
Stavka
on planning talks with Tolbukhin/Southern Front, 10 August
Stavka
confirms plans for SW and S Fronts, S Front offensive on the Mius timed for 18 August, 12 August Zhukov and Vasilevskii received
Stavka
directive for Voronezh, Steppe and SW Front operations, Kulik’s 4th Guards Army to reinforce Voronezh Front (Vasilevskii’s extreme dislike of ex-Marshal Kulik), heavy resistance to SW Front offensive across N Donets, 17 August Stalin threatens to dismiss Vasilevskii for failing to report in due time to
Stavka
(signal, p. 356),
Stavka
signal to Zhukov (evening 22 August) on Kharkov operation, Vasilevskii report to Stalin 26 August, 2 September Stalin reinforces S Front to exploit success, German withdrawal to the Dnieper, operations to isolate German forces in the Crimea, 28 September conversation with Stalin to review further offensives of Voronezh, Steppe, SW Fronts, fresh
Stavka
orders for Malinovskii (SW Front), redesignation of Fronts.

Vasilevskii, A.M., ‘Osvobozhdenie Donbassa i levoberezhnoi Ukrainy. Bor’ba za Dnepr’,
Istoriya SSSR
, 1970, No. 3, pp. 3–45. An extremely important collection of operational orders, reports to Stalin, operational directives to SW and S Fronts: this article is an indispensable adjunct to Marshal Vasilevskii’s memoir account
(Delo vsei zhizni)
which supplies much personal detail.

Voronov, N.N.,
Na sluzhbe voennoi
, pp. 381–99, Voronev,
Stavka
representative with Western Front, Smolensk offensive.

Yakubovskii, Marshal SU I.I.,
Zemlya v ogne
(Moscow: Voenizdat (VM) 1975), ch. 2, ‘Ot Kursha k Dnepru’, pp. 124–51, operations of 3rd Guards Tank Army assigned to Bryansk front, deployed 17 July (with 40,000 men, 731 tanks and
SP
guns, 700 guns and mortars), Front commander M.M. Popov assigns mission but this altered by
Stavka
18 July, end July 3rd Guards Tank transferred to Central Front to co-operate with Romanenko’s 48th Army, capture of Orel, Yakubovskii’s commentary on tank operations. (Though a memoir, Yakubovskii’s work is a substantial contribution to the history of 3rd Guards Tank—he commanded 91st Independent Tank Brigade—also excellent pen portraits of Soviet commanders, as well as reviewing the organization and battlefield employment of Soviet tank armies.)

Yeremenko, Marshal SU A.I.,
Gody vozmezdiya 1943–1945
(Moscow: Nauka 1969), Yeremenko’s Kalinin Front co-operation with W Front, Smolensk operation, Kalinin Front strength, deployment, pp. 37–44; August operations, Lt.-Gen. A.I. Zygin (39th Army) relieved of command, lack of results, pp. 45–61.

Zhukov, G.K.,
Vospominaniya i razmyshleniya
, vol. 2, pp. 195–201, the battle for the Ukraine, General Staff appreciation that Germany incapable of further
offensive
action, Stalin in agreement but demanded immediate
frontal blows
against German forces, Zhukov disagreed with this method, Stalin (August 25) demanded rapid seizure of Dnieper and river Molochnaya, Zhukov’s request for reinforcements cut substantially by Stalin—‘The rest we will give you when the Fronts reach the Dnieper’—reinforcement of Voronezh Front with 3rd Guards Tank Army, end September Soviet troops across Dnieper on 750-km front.