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Upper Silesian offensive

September 21, 2023

The Upper Silesian offensive (Russian: Верхне-Силезская наступательная операция) was a strategically significant Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II in 1945. It was aimed at capturing the considerable industrial and natural resources located in Upper Silesia and involved forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front under Marshal Ivan Konev. Due to the importance of the region to the Germans, considerable forces were provided to Army Group Centre for its defence and the Germans were only slowly pushed back to the Czech border. Fighting for the region lasted from mid January right until the last day of the war in Europe on May 8, 1945.

Upper Silesian offensive
Part of the Silesian offensives on the Eastern Front of World War II

Russian map of the Silesian offensives
Date15–31 March 1945
Location
Upper Silesia, Germany
Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
 Germany  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Ferdinand Schörner Ivan Konev
Strength
unknown 408,400[1]
Casualties and losses
unknown 66,801 (including 15,876 irrecoverable)[1]

Prelude Edit

After the end of the Soviet summer offensive of 1944 (Operation Bagration), the frontline of the Eastern Front had stabilised roughly in the middle of Poland, running from Riga on the Baltic coast over Warsaw via the Vistula to the Carpathian Mountains. Most of the pre-war German territory was still under control of the Third Reich at the end of 1944. On 12 january 1945, Soviet troops launched the simultaneous Vistula–Oder and Western Carpathian offensives.

The front lines in Silesia had been established at the end of the Vistula–Oder offensive in January, during which Konev's troops had forced the German Seventeenth Army of General Friedrich Schulz out of the industrial heartland of Upper Silesia around Kattowitz. The Lower Silesian offensive operation, taking place in February, had seen the northern wing of Konev's forces make further gains, closing up to the Neisse River. This had, however, left a long exposed flank to the south and east in the Sudeten Mountains, still held by Schulz's troops, which formed a potential threat to the proposed Soviet advance on Berlin.

Operation Gemse: the German counter-attacks at Lauban and Striegau Edit

 
Joseph Goebbels awards 16-year-old Hitler Youth member Willi Hübner the Iron Cross for the defense of Lauban.

The commander of Army Group Centre, Field-Marshal Ferdinand Schörner, began to build up Schulz's forces during February for a counter-attack against the 3rd Guards Tank Army's spearheads, which had reached and taken Lauban during the Lower Silesian offensive. The LVI Panzer Corps and XXXIX Panzer Corps were grouped under the command of General Nehring; a two-pronged attack began on 1 March, with the 17th Panzer and Führer Grenadier Divisions attacking in the north, and 8th Panzer Division to the south.[2]

The 3rd Guards Tank Army was initially taken by surprise, though by 3 March German forces found themselves threatened by Soviet counterattacks from Naumberg. As a result, Nehring decided on a more limited plan of encirclement. Rybalko's troops evacuated Lauban to avoid being cut off, and the town was retaken by the 6th Volksgrenadier Division. By 4 March, the encirclement was closed, though large numbers of Soviet troops were able to escape; within 4 days the trapped force had been destroyed (the fighting in Silesia has been characterised as "merciless", with German forces not taking prisoners).[3]

Despite the limited nature of the victory, the recapture of Lauban was presented as a great success by German propaganda, with Joseph Goebbels visiting the town on 9 March to give a speech on the battle. Schörner made preparations for a further attack to the south-east at Striegau, which was commenced on 9 March. Though there were not enough forces available for a double envelopment, the Germans were able to penetrate the Soviet lines and cut off elements of the 5th Guards Army on the night of 11–12 March; there was an outbreak of panic amongst the trapped troops, who were massacred by Schörner's men as they tried to escape.[4]

Schörner began to organise a more ambitious offensive to the north to relieve the besieged city of Breslau, moving Nehring's divisions northwards from Lauban by rail, but Konev acted decisively to regain the initiative in Silesia. Shifting the 4th Tank Army from the northern flank of his Front, he redeployed it near Grottkau in order to spearhead a major attack into Upper Silesia, neutralising the threat to the left flank of his forces and taking the area around Ratibor.

Deployments Edit

Red Army Edit

Wehrmacht Edit

Divisional assignments to Corps as of 31 Dec. 1944.[5] Units tended to move between Corps depending on situation.

Also present: 8th, 16th, 17th, 19th and 20th Panzer Divisions. These tended to pass between Corps. Also Führer Begleit Division,[7] 18th SS Div., 20th SS GD, and Panzer Division Hermann Göring.[8]

The offensive Edit

Konev launched his main attack on 15 March. The 4th Tank Army broke through the German lines west of Oppeln and drove directly southward, heading for Neustadt. A subsidiary attack by the 4th Guards Tank Corps fanned out to take Neisse. South-east of Oppeln, the 59th and 60th Armies also broke through, the former swinging westwards to link up with the 4th Tank Army. The First Panzer Army's XI Corps, holding the lines near Oppeln, was now threatened with encirclement.

In the south, the 38th Army attacked German troops of the LIX Corps defending with their backs to the highlands of Moravia. By means of a limited tactical withdrawal on 10 March, Heinrici was able to minimise the damage inflicted by the preparatory bombardment, and the front in this sector remained firm.[9]

The encirclement at Oppeln Edit

The LVI Panzer Corps positioned near Oppeln also started to pull back, but the 20th Grenadier (Estonian) Division of the SS and 168th Infantry Division found themselves trapped by the advance of the 4th Tank Army and 59th Army which linked up near Neustadt. By the 22nd, Soviet forces of the 59th and 21st Armies succeeded in reducing the Oppeln 'cauldron' (German: Kessel), claiming to have killed 15,000 and captured a further 15,000 of the German troops trapped there.[10]

Konev launched further attacks on 24 March, and by 31 March, when Ratibor and Katscher were taken, was able to declare the offensive phase of operations over.[11]

Aftermath Edit

The Upper Silesian Offensive succeeded in stabilising Konev's left flank in preparation for the advance on Berlin, and removed the threat of any German counter-attacks from Army Group Centre. The lines in Silesia remained largely unchanged until the end of the war, when Schoerner's force surrendered.

Notes Edit

  1. ^ a b See Grigoriy Krivosheev, at soldat.ru
  2. ^ Duffy, p. 139.
  3. ^ Beevor, p. 127.
  4. ^ Duffy, p. 141.
  5. ^ Gunter, p. 293.
  6. ^ Gunter p. 21.
  7. ^ Gunter p. 255.
  8. ^ Gunter p. 222.
  9. ^ Duffy, p. 147.
  10. ^ Beevor, p. 129.
  11. ^ Duffy, p. 146.

References Edit

  • Beevor, A. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
  • Duffy, C. Red Storm on the Reich: The Soviet March on Germany, 1945, Routledge, 1991, ISBN 0-415-22829-8.
  • David M. Glantz, : Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay.
  • Georg Gunter, Last Laurels: The German Defence of Upper Silesia, Helion & Company, 2002, ISBN 1-874622-65-5.

Further reading Edit

  • Georg Gunter, Duncan Rogers, Last Laurels: The German Defence of Upper Silesia, January–May 1945, Helion & Co., 2002, ISBN 1-874622-65-5.

September 21, 2023
upper, silesian, offensive, russian, Верхне, Силезская, наступательная, операция, strategically, significant, soviet, offensive, eastern, front, world, 1945, aimed, capturing, considerable, industrial, natural, resources, located, upper, silesia, involved, for. The Upper Silesian offensive Russian Verhne Silezskaya nastupatelnaya operaciya was a strategically significant Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II in 1945 It was aimed at capturing the considerable industrial and natural resources located in Upper Silesia and involved forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front under Marshal Ivan Konev Due to the importance of the region to the Germans considerable forces were provided to Army Group Centre for its defence and the Germans were only slowly pushed back to the Czech border Fighting for the region lasted from mid January right until the last day of the war in Europe on May 8 1945 Upper Silesian offensivePart of the Silesian offensives on the Eastern Front of World War IIRussian map of the Silesian offensivesDate15 31 March 1945LocationUpper Silesia GermanyResultSoviet victoryBelligerents Germany Soviet UnionCommanders and leadersFerdinand SchornerIvan KonevStrengthunknown408 400 1 Casualties and lossesunknown66 801 including 15 876 irrecoverable 1 Contents 1 Prelude 1 1 Operation Gemse the German counter attacks at Lauban and Striegau 2 Deployments 2 1 Red Army 2 2 Wehrmacht 3 The offensive 3 1 The encirclement at Oppeln 4 Aftermath 5 Notes 6 References 7 Further readingPrelude EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Upper Silesian offensive news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message After the end of the Soviet summer offensive of 1944 Operation Bagration the frontline of the Eastern Front had stabilised roughly in the middle of Poland running from Riga on the Baltic coast over Warsaw via the Vistula to the Carpathian Mountains Most of the pre war German territory was still under control of the Third Reich at the end of 1944 On 12 january 1945 Soviet troops launched the simultaneous Vistula Oder and Western Carpathian offensives The front lines in Silesia had been established at the end of the Vistula Oder offensive in January during which Konev s troops had forced the German Seventeenth Army of General Friedrich Schulz out of the industrial heartland of Upper Silesia around Kattowitz The Lower Silesian offensive operation taking place in February had seen the northern wing of Konev s forces make further gains closing up to the Neisse River This had however left a long exposed flank to the south and east in the Sudeten Mountains still held by Schulz s troops which formed a potential threat to the proposed Soviet advance on Berlin Operation Gemse the German counter attacks at Lauban and Striegau Edit nbsp Joseph Goebbels awards 16 year old Hitler Youth member Willi Hubner the Iron Cross for the defense of Lauban The commander of Army Group Centre Field Marshal Ferdinand Schorner began to build up Schulz s forces during February for a counter attack against the 3rd Guards Tank Army s spearheads which had reached and taken Lauban during the Lower Silesian offensive The LVI Panzer Corps and XXXIX Panzer Corps were grouped under the command of General Nehring a two pronged attack began on 1 March with the 17th Panzer and Fuhrer Grenadier Divisions attacking in the north and 8th Panzer Division to the south 2 The 3rd Guards Tank Army was initially taken by surprise though by 3 March German forces found themselves threatened by Soviet counterattacks from Naumberg As a result Nehring decided on a more limited plan of encirclement Rybalko s troops evacuated Lauban to avoid being cut off and the town was retaken by the 6th Volksgrenadier Division By 4 March the encirclement was closed though large numbers of Soviet troops were able to escape within 4 days the trapped force had been destroyed the fighting in Silesia has been characterised as merciless with German forces not taking prisoners 3 Despite the limited nature of the victory the recapture of Lauban was presented as a great success by German propaganda with Joseph Goebbels visiting the town on 9 March to give a speech on the battle Schorner made preparations for a further attack to the south east at Striegau which was commenced on 9 March Though there were not enough forces available for a double envelopment the Germans were able to penetrate the Soviet lines and cut off elements of the 5th Guards Army on the night of 11 12 March there was an outbreak of panic amongst the trapped troops who were massacred by Schorner s men as they tried to escape 4 Schorner began to organise a more ambitious offensive to the north to relieve the besieged city of Breslau moving Nehring s divisions northwards from Lauban by rail but Konev acted decisively to regain the initiative in Silesia Shifting the 4th Tank Army from the northern flank of his Front he redeployed it near Grottkau in order to spearhead a major attack into Upper Silesia neutralising the threat to the left flank of his forces and taking the area around Ratibor Deployments EditRed Army Edit Southern wing of 1st Ukrainian Front Marshal Ivan Konev 3rd Guards Tank Army Colonel General Pavel Rybalko 4th Tank Army General Dmitry Lelyushenko 21st Army General Dmitry Gusev 60th Army General Pavel Kurochkin 59th Army Major General Ivan Korovnikov Northern wing of 4th Ukrainian Front Army General Ivan Yefimovich Petrov 38th Army General Kirill Moskalenko Wehrmacht Edit Divisional assignments to Corps as of 31 Dec 1944 5 Units tended to move between Corps depending on situation Army Group A General Josef Harpe until 20 Jan 1945 until 25 Jan 1945 then renamed Army Group Centre later Army Group Schorner Field Marshal Ferdinand Schorner Ninth Army General Heinrich von Luttwitz LVI Panzer Corps Korpsgruppe Schlesien General Rudolf Koch Erpach incl 17 ID 214 ID VIII Army Corps General Walter Hartmann incl 251 ID 6 VGD 4th Panzer Army General Fritz Hubert Graser XXXXVIII Panzer Corps General Maximilian von Edelsheim incl 68 ID 168 ID 304 ID Seventeenth Army General Friedrich Schulz LIX Corps General Edgar Rohricht later Georg Ritter von Hengl incl 359 ID 371 ID 544 VGD XI SS Corps SS Obergruppenfuhrer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp incl 78th Sturm Division 320 VGD 545 VGD 1st Panzer Army Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici to 19 March then General Walther Nehring XI Corps General Horst von Mellenthin to 19 March then General Rudolf von Bunau incl 75 ID 253 ID 100 JD XXXXIX Mountain Corps General Karl von Le Suire incl 254 ID 97 JD 101 JD 1 SkiJD 1st Hungarian Army Colonel General Miklocz 6 XVII Corps General Wilhelm Fahrmbacher incl 3 GebD 4 GebDAlso present 8th 16th 17th 19th and 20th Panzer Divisions These tended to pass between Corps Also Fuhrer Begleit Division 7 18th SS Div 20th SS GD and Panzer Division Hermann Goring 8 Air support from Luftflotte 4 The offensive EditKonev launched his main attack on 15 March The 4th Tank Army broke through the German lines west of Oppeln and drove directly southward heading for Neustadt A subsidiary attack by the 4th Guards Tank Corps fanned out to take Neisse South east of Oppeln the 59th and 60th Armies also broke through the former swinging westwards to link up with the 4th Tank Army The First Panzer Army s XI Corps holding the lines near Oppeln was now threatened with encirclement In the south the 38th Army attacked German troops of the LIX Corps defending with their backs to the highlands of Moravia By means of a limited tactical withdrawal on 10 March Heinrici was able to minimise the damage inflicted by the preparatory bombardment and the front in this sector remained firm 9 The encirclement at Oppeln Edit The LVI Panzer Corps positioned near Oppeln also started to pull back but the 20th Grenadier Estonian Division of the SS and 168th Infantry Division found themselves trapped by the advance of the 4th Tank Army and 59th Army which linked up near Neustadt By the 22nd Soviet forces of the 59th and 21st Armies succeeded in reducing the Oppeln cauldron German Kessel claiming to have killed 15 000 and captured a further 15 000 of the German troops trapped there 10 Konev launched further attacks on 24 March and by 31 March when Ratibor and Katscher were taken was able to declare the offensive phase of operations over 11 Aftermath EditThe Upper Silesian Offensive succeeded in stabilising Konev s left flank in preparation for the advance on Berlin and removed the threat of any German counter attacks from Army Group Centre The lines in Silesia remained largely unchanged until the end of the war when Schoerner s force surrendered Notes Edit a b See Grigoriy Krivosheev at soldat ru Duffy p 139 Beevor p 127 Duffy p 141 Gunter p 293 Gunter p 21 Gunter p 255 Gunter p 222 Duffy p 147 Beevor p 129 Duffy p 146 References EditBeevor A Berlin The Downfall 1945 Penguin Books 2002 ISBN 0 670 88695 5 Duffy C Red Storm on the Reich The Soviet March on Germany 1945 Routledge 1991 ISBN 0 415 22829 8 David M Glantz The Soviet German War 1941 45 Myths and Realities A Survey Essay Georg Gunter Last Laurels The German Defence of Upper Silesia Helion amp Company 2002 ISBN 1 874622 65 5 Further reading EditGeorg Gunter Duncan Rogers Last Laurels The German Defence of Upper Silesia January May 1945 Helion amp Co 2002 ISBN 1 874622 65 5 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Upper Silesian offensive amp oldid 1170301334, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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