The Odessa Offensive Operation (Russian: Одесская Наступательная Операция, Odesskaya Nastupatel'naya Operatsiya), known on the German side as the Defensive battle of the 6th Army between Bug and Dniester (German: Abwehrschlacht der 6. Armee zwischen Bug und Dnjestr), 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 South Ukraine (until 5 April 1944 Army Group A) in late March–April 1944. It was part of the second phase of the Dnieper-Carpathian Strategic Offensive.
The offensive followed the Soviet Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka offensive launched in early March that pushed the German 6th Army back behind the Southern Bug river and captured several bridgeheads across the river. After expanding and consolidating the bridgeheads, the Odessa Offensive began on 28 March. The 3rd Ukrainian Front sought to rout the Axis forces between the Southern Bug and Dniester rivers, liberate the northwestern coast of the Black Sea, including the major port city of Odessa, and reach the Soviet-Romanian border on the Dniester. On the first day, Soviet units advancing along the Black Sea coast captured the important port of Nikolayev, while those in the northern sector broke through, spearheaded by Pliev's Cavalry-Mechanized Group.
These Soviet penetrations threatened both flanks of the 6th Army and as a result it began a hasty retreat along the entire front. In the course of this retreat in early April 1944, the 6th Army sustained further heavy personnel losses and lost a considerable part of its artillery, anti-tank guns, motor and armoured vehicles in the mud. With the Cavalry-Mechanized Group capturing the important Razdelnaya railway station on 4 April 1944, the front of the 6th Army was split in two – one part being pushed back to Tiraspol area, the other being enveloped from the northwest and pressed against Odessa. The threat of encirclement loomed for the latter part.
On the evening of 9 April, Soviet units reached the outskirts of Odessa, with German-Romanian forces and their rear services making a chaotic withdrawal to the Ovidiopol area, the only open path left, after which they crossed the Dniester Estuary. By 10 a.m. on 10 April, Odessa was completely cleared from Axis forces. Between 10 and 14 April, all across the front, the Red Army pursued the German forces to the Dniester, with first Soviet units reaching its eastern bank on 11 April. On 12 April, the Soviets took Tiraspol, an important supply and communication center, situated along the Dniester. Soviet troops forced crossings of the Dniester and seized several bridgeheads in mid-April, fighting to expand them for the remainder of the month. German counterattacks, overextended supply lines, and unfavorable weather forced a halt to the Soviet offensive on 6 May.
Background, planning and preparation The Odessa Offensive continued the Red Army's drive towards the Romanian border in the spring of 1944, following the advance to the Southern Bug during the Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka offensive that began on 6 March. In the latter, Rodion Malinovsky's 3rd Ukrainian Front failed to destroy the German 6th Army, but secured bridgeheads that it spent much of the second half of March fighting to consolidate and expand. These bridgeheads provided a staging ground for the offensive. Retreating behind the Southern Bug in muddy rasputitsa conditions, the German troops suffered heavy personnel and equipment losses.A.O.K.6 Operationsakten. KTB, Akte C, Band 26 vom 18.4.44 bis 4.5.44. Betr.: Zusammenfassende Stellungsnahme des Oberbefehlshabers zu den Zustandsberichten vom 1.4.44. Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv (BA-MA) RH 20-6/392, fol. 174.
For the Odessa Offensive, the 3rd Ukrainian Front was assigned to rout the German 6th Army, capture the strategic Black Sea port of Odessa, and advance to the Soviet-Romanian border on the Dniester. Stavka, the Soviet high command, predicted that the front would take at least ten days to take the port. The three southernmost armies and the cavalry-mechanized group of the front were assigned to besiege Odessa itself. Vasily Chuikov's 8th Guards Army and Ivan Shlemin's 6th Army were given the mission of encircling Odessa from the northwest and west, advancing behind Issa Pliyev's spearhead Cavalry-Mechanized Group. The group had been the vanguard of the Soviet advance in the previous months and was adapted to operations in rasputitsa conditions. To their south, Vyacheslav Tsvetayev's 5th Shock Army was assigned to attack Odessa frontally from the east.
The three armies to the north on the right wing: Nikolai Gagen's 57th Army, Mikhail Sharokhin's 37th Army, and Vasily Glagolev's 46th Army, supported by Aleksey Akhmanov's 23rd Tank Corps, were tasked with pushing the German troops back to the and over the Dniester, in cooperation with the 5th and 7th Guards Armies on the left wing of Ivan Konev's 2nd Ukrainian Front, attacking towards the Romanian border, and securing the right flank of the front. The 37th and 46th Armies, advancing behind the Cavalry-Mechanized Group, were also assigned to capture the transportation hub of Razdelnaya to the northwest of Odessa and cut off the German line of retreat toward the Dniester. The drive towards Razdelnaya slowed both armies down in their attempts to reach the Dniester.
The collapse of Army Group South and Army Group A in Ukraine in March 1944 resulted in major changes in German upper levels of command. At the end of the month, commanders of both army groups, Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein and Generalfeldmarschall Ewald von Kleist, were dismissed by Hitler.Ziemke, E., F. Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East. Center of Military History, UnitedStates Army, Washington, D. C., 2002, p. 286. Their respective replacements were Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model and General der Gebirgstruppen Ferdinand Schörner. At the start of April 1944, both army groups were reorganized into Army Group North Ukraine and Army Group South Ukraine. Among the high-ranking General Officers dismissed by Hitler was the commander of the 6th Army, Generaloberst Karl-Adolf Hollidt, who was replaced by General der Artillerie Maximilian de Angelis on 21 March 1944. Up until then, Angelis commanded the XXXXIV Army Corps of the 6th Army.Ziemke, E., F. Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East. Center of Military History, UnitedStates Army, Washington, D. C., 2002, p. 283.
Comparison of forces
Soviet
The 3rd Ukrainian Front included seven field armies: the 57th, 37th, 46th, 28th, 6th, 8th Guards and 5th Shock Armies. The 57th Army, 37th, and 46th Armies included nine rifle divisions in three rifle corps each. The Cavalry-Mechanized Group combined Pliyev's own 4th Guards Cavalry Corps with three horse cavalry divisions, three separate tank regiments, with artillery support, and Trofim Tanaschishin's 4th Guards Mechanized Corps with three mechanized brigades, and one tank brigade with artillery support. Despite its heavy losses in the previous months, the group still fielded over 250 tanks and self-propelled guns. The 4th Guards Cavalry Corps had 17,532 men, 13,008 horses, 64 tanks, eleven self-propelled guns, and 122 guns on 27 March, while the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps had 4,935 men, 84 tanks and fourteen self-propelled guns.
The 8th Guards Army included ten rifle divisions as the strongest Soviet army in the operation, with 55,682 men, of which 38,175 were in infantry units, 1,148 machine guns, 458 mortars, 352 field guns, 240 howitzers, and 119 anti-tank guns on 1 April. The 6th Army, with 20,000 men, 320 machine guns, 60 mortars, 32 anti-tank guns, and 35 field guns on 31 March, was smaller than the others with six rifle divisions in two rifle corps, and no other combat support troops. Malinovsky planned to pull the 6th Army out of action after the fall of Odessa and use it as a front reserve. The 5th Shock Army included eight rifle divisions and a fortified region. After months of combat, the infantry strength of the front had been significantly reduced, and due to the German destruction of infrastructure during their retreat, the flow of replacements was interrupted. Instead, the front relied on the conscription of men in liberated territories for replacements.For the offensive, the 3rd Ukrainian Front included 57 rifle and three cavalry divisions, a tank corps and a mechanized corps. According to a postwar history, these totaled 470,000 men, 12,678 guns and mortars, 435 tanks and self-propelled guns. The front was supported by the 17th Air Army with 436 combat aircraft. The 3rd Ukrainian Front's report on the operation, drawn up in August 1944, provides figures for the operational strength of the front on 28 March: 243,074 men, 42,512 submachine guns, 4,824 machine guns, and 344 tanks and self-propelled guns (only counting those in the 23rd Tank Corps and Cavalry-Mechanized Group), 2,112 mortars, 1,616 field guns, and 781 anti-aircraft guns. The 28th Army included five rifle divisions, a fortified region, and the 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps with 29 tanks. The 28th Army fielded 33,671 men, 1,102 machine guns, 382 mortars, and 444 guns of all types.
The 28th Tank Corps fielded 77 T-34s and 21 SU-85s on 28 March. On the eve of the offensive, by 27 March, the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps received new armor: 80 T-34s and thirteen SU-76s. On 29 March it had one KV-1, four SU-152, 102 T-34, one SU-85, fifteen SU-76, three Valentine Mk 3, two M4A2 tanks and self-propelled guns with a reported total of 130 tanks and self-propelled guns. The 128th, 134th and 151st Tank Regiments (equipped with Lend-Lease tanks) and the 1815th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment were part of the 4th Guards Cavalry Corps. By 30 March the 128th Tank Regiment had eleven M4A2, ten Mk 3, the 134th Tank Regiment nine M4A2 and nine Mk 3, and the 151st Tank Regiment nine M4A2 and ten Mk 3, while the 1815th SP Regiment had fifteen SU-76. At the same time, the cavalry corps reserve also included eleven M4A2 and ten Mk 3 for a total of 94 tanks in the corps. The mobile group of Colonel Vladimir Krasnogolovy, attached to the 23rd Tank Corps, included the 52nd Tank Regiment, 3rd Guards Separate Motorcycle Regiment, 53rd Motorcycle Regiment and 67th Separate Motorcycle Battalion. On 26 March the 52nd Tank Regiment had nine T-34, eight T-70, two SU-76, the 3rd Guards Motorcycle Regiment five T-34 and three T-70, and the 53rd Motorcycle Regiment two T-70 and six T-60.