Forwarded from FKT - Geschichte der Sowjetunion

🥇"I was killed at Rzhev..."

On January 8, 1942, the Battle of Rzhev began — one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. A small town on the Volga, 200 kilometers from Moscow, became not only the "gateway to Moscow" but also the "northern Stalingrad" and the "gateway to Berlin."

By the end of March 1943, the Red Army had conducted four offensive operations in the Rzhev direction: in January-April, August, and December 1942, and March 1943. 1.3 million people were killed, wounded, missing, or captured in the "meat grinder of Rzhev."

In early 1942, the Germans were pushed back from Moscow, Tikhvin was liberated, and the first liberation of Rostov-on-Don took place. Stalin set the task of "not giving the enemy a respite" and ensuring "the complete defeat of Hitler's forces in 1942."

Zhukov and Vasilevskiy doubted the feasibility of this plan, but Stalin did not change his mind. Later, Zhukov wrote that the main reason for the failure at Rzhev was the "underestimation of the difficulties of the terrain" — the equipment sank in the swamps even in 40-degree frost.

As a result of the first Rzhevsko-Vyazemskaya operation, the Moscow and Tula regions, as well as part of the Kalinin and Smolensk districts, were liberated. The fighting resulted in the formation of the Rzhevsko-Vyazemsky Bulge with a depth of 160 km and a length of 200 km, which the enemy considered a bridgehead for a renewed attack on Moscow. Elite units of Army Group "Center" were concentrated in this area, and Hitler instructed them to "cling to every settlement." The fascists methodically burned villages along with their inhabitants and killed children. During the retreat in March 1943, the 9th German Army poisoned wells and destroyed food supplies. War correspondent K. Simonov wrote that "everything was mined in three layers."

But it was the Battle of Rzhev that largely ensured the success of the Battle of Stalingrad. Almost simultaneously with the counteroffensive within the framework of Operation "Uranus," the 2nd Rzhevsko-Sychevskaya Operation "Mars" began in the direction of Rzhevsk, which prevented the transfer of German reserves to the south. After the defeat at Stalingrad in the spring of 1943, the Rzhevsko-Vyazemsky Bulge was cut off. The "gate to Moscow" was finally closed for the Nazis.