the field artillery journal - Fort Sill - U.S. Army

1943 THE AUTUMN, 1942, CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA 191
The German forces around Kotelnikov were supplied
from bases at Rostov and Azov, both on the Sea of Azov,
from where water transportation was available to Rumania.
During the next few days there was no important
fighting in the Stalingrad area. The Axis raiders in the
Kalmuck Steppes continued to capture and destroy supplies
and lines of communications, all of which was annoying
but did not interfere with the main Russian forces. The
Russians closed in on the hedgehog, and commenced to lay
the lines for a siege.
A new Axis force had by now been organized. It
appeared on the west bank of the Chir river and started
operations (but on a limited scale) toward recovery of the
Don Loop, by starting an advance eastward over the Chir.
During the ensuing week it made a minor advance.
On 12 December the Axis troops within the Stalingrad
hedgehog commenced offensive operations. Hungarian and
Italian divisions, which had previously been within the
Don Loop, made limited attacks starting on the north side.
The barrier line, which the Russians had broken through on
24 November near the Volga River, was again definitely
closed. Other attacks were obviously intended to improve
the alignment of the front. Up to the last week of
December the Axis had made some gains in this direction.
The Russians were content to maintain their siege, feeling
confident that the Stalingrad hedgehog must fall sooner or
later.
RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE EAST AND WEST OF RZHEV
This was offensive (a) according to the original plan,
and was to have started about the first of October. It wasn't
ready at the time, and then autumn rains set in. This made
the terrain unfavorable for operations so the offensive was
postponed until after the ground froze.
The German line in this sector ran east from Velikie
Luki to Toropets (exc.), thence to Rzhev. Both V. Luki and
Rzhev were fortified areas, capable of a hedgehog defense
should they be isolated. Rzhev is an important city with
road and railroad junctions, but it was not valuable to the
Germans for its transportation facilities as it lay on the
edge of the front line. In fact, the latter went through the
city, the Russians holding that part of it which was north of
the Volga River. Rzhev would be valuable to the Russians,
though, should they be able to clear the railroad from V.
Luki to Rzhev and thence eastward. The city was important
to the Germans because it deprived the Russians of through
routes, and forced long detours through forest and swamp
lands.
East of Rzhev the line ran south of the Volga River to
Zubtsov (to Russia), thence to southwest of Kalanin, where
it turned south. The entire Axis line from V. Luki to the
vicinity of Kalinin was held by German troops. The main
Russian attack was to be between V. Luki and Rzhev, with
a secondary one east of Rzhev. The main attack, with a
front of about 125 miles, would have the mission of
advancing to the line Smolensk-Vyazma.
The Germans learned about this attack in September;
they started a continuous day and night program of
bombing Russian railheads, depots and dumps. The
country is generally wooded and swampy. Traffic can not
easily move off roads, and the latter are easily seen from
the air. The bombing thus had considerable effect, and had
much to do with causing a postponement of the attack even
though it was unable to prevent it entirely.
With the arrival of cold weather toward the end of
November, the Russian High Command believed the time
had come when the offensive could be profitably launched.
It started on the entire front on 25 November. There is no
information yet available as to the strength of the Russian
armies. The German strength in the intervals between the
fortified areas appears to have been reduced to an average
of about 1 infantry division to each 15 kilometer of front,
with Panzer divisions (in corps and army reserve) ready to
move to the assistance of any part of the threatened front.
Strong German air forces were available, and had been
accustomed to intervene on short notice to support ground
troops.
The attack started with a violent artillery preparation.
Neither side mentions any special air activity, low clouds
and some snow preventing extensive flying. The Russian
attacks met strong resistance and at first made only short
gains. Details of this fighting have not been given except as
a whole for the four days 25 to 28 November. By evening
of the 28th Russian attacks against V. Luki and Rzhev had
broken down, but in the interval between these two strong
areas they had made four penetrations:
one east of V. Luki, 30 kilometers wide;
three west of Rzhev, respectively 20, 17, and 10 kilometers wide,
centered south of Olenino.
Each of the four Russian advances claimed to have routed
1 German infantry division, plus 1 Panzer division