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| 1944: 24 salutes to the liberators of Odessa |
| 2024-03-31 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [RedStar] 80 years ago, an offensive operation was successfully carried out in southern Ukraine. by Yuri Avdeev The goal of the operation was the defeat of the enemy's coastal group between the Southern Bug and Dniester rivers, the liberation of the northwestern coast of the Black Sea, including the port city of Odessa, and access to the State border of the USSR with Romania. The reward materials of the Red Army soldiers, which are carefully stored in the archives of the Ministry of Defense, tell in detail about the exploits of the liberators of Odessa. ACCORDING TO THE PLAN AND OUTSIDE THE PLAN The plan for the Odessa operation, developed by the commander of the front forces, Army General Rodion Malinovsky, together with the representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky, was approved on March 19, 1944 by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin. The planned liberation of Nikolaev, Odessa and the defeat of enemy troops became part of a unified system of offensive operations to liberate the territory of the USSR from the occupiers. in the general plan of the strategic offensive, this was the so-called third Stalinist blow to defeat the enemy on the entire Soviet-German front of the Great Patriotic War. The operation was entrusted to the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General Rodion Malinovsky, who was symbolically from Odessa. The front was allocated additional forces, including the Black Sea Fleet under the command of Admiral Philip Oktyabrsky and the 17th Air Army under Colonel General Vladimir Sudets. The total strength of the created group consisted of about 470,000 soldiers, more than 400 tanks and self-propelled guns, 12,000 guns and mortars, and over 400 aircraft. They were opposed by a German-Romanian group, which had a total of about 350,000 soldiers, 3,200 thousand guns and mortars, 160 tanks and assault guns, 550 aircraft. The start of the operation was postponed to March 26. The fact is that the area of the upcoming offensive was covered by heavy torrential rains. The roads turned into a solid clayey mess, in which even tractors and heavy tanks got stuck. In order to increase the mobility of troops, quickly bypass resistance centers and enemy strongholds, reach the rear and capture important road junctions, crossings and bridges on rivers, divisions created mobile forward detachments consisting of up to a company of machine gunners, a platoon of sappers in vehicles, with one two 45-mm guns or self-propelled artillery mounts. During the Odessa operation, Red Army soldiers showed examples of endurance and military skill NIKOLAEV LANDING On the night of March 26, shock units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front began crossing the Southern Bug and attacking Nikolaev. A landing detachment from the 384th Separate Naval Infantry Battalion and the 1st Guards Fortified Area of the 28th Army in the amount of 67 people under the command of the holder of the Order of Alexander Nevsky, senior lieutenant Konstantin Olshansky, left the village of Bogoyavlenskoye for Nikolaev on seven rowing boats. Overcoming the current, in inclement stormy conditions, the paratroopers walked up the Southern Bug for about 25 km. At dawn, they quietly landed in the area of the new elevator in the port of Nikolaev, silently removed the sentries and took up defense in the elevator building. The enemy soon discovered that he had lost control of an important facility. Not knowing the size of the landing party, the enemy initially estimated its forces at a battalion and sent up to 1000 soldiers against it. The enemy's attacks did not reach the target, and he increased the force of continuous attacks, using mortars, artillery, tanks, and flamethrowers. All the officers died in fierce battles, but the landing force continued to fight. The award sheet for Senior Lieutenant Olshansky states: “A detachment of paratroopers-sailors fought the enemy for two days and inflicted losses on the enemy of up to 700 soldiers and officers killed and wounded. During this time, 18 enemy attacks were repulsed, including fierce battles using all types of weapons. ...The heroic landing accelerated the advancing units of the Red Army in quickly capturing the mountains. Nikolaev". The troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front launched a decisive offensive from bridgeheads on the right bank of the Southern Bug. On March 28, together with units of the 6th, 5th Shock and 28th Armies, the 384th Separate Naval Infantry Battalion under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Fedor Kotanov entered the city. For the courage and heroism shown during the liberation of Nikolaev, the battalion was given the name Nikolaevsky. The Motherland highly appreciated the feat of the paratroopers in the elevator area. All of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 55 of them posthumously. The square in the center of Nikolaev is named after the heroic paratroopers. On it, the city residents erected a majestic monument to immortalize this feat. One of the streets is named after K.F. Olshansky. The liberation of the city was celebrated in Moscow with a gun salute - 224 guns fired twenty artillery salvos. ASSAULT ON ODESSA Troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front attacked simultaneously in several directions. Soviet troops almost immediately broke through the enemy's layered defenses near Odessa, and the cavalry-mechanized group of the Guards Lieutenant General Issa Pliev, having destroyed the enemy's rear, created the threat of complete encirclement. Units of the Red Army, interacting with the partisans, actively maneuvered, knocked out the enemy from key positions, and created threats of encirclement in various areas. The enemy made a breakthrough, withdrawing its troops from Odessa. The troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front were supported by the 17th Air Army, as well as naval aviation and ships of the Black Sea Fleet, which launched massive attacks on the columns of the retreating enemy. On the evening of April 9, units of the 8th Guards and 6th Armies reached the approaches to Odessa from the northwest. The next day, troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, with the active participation of partisans and underground fighters, liberated Odessa from the invaders. At the same time, partisan detachments eliminated the enemy’s subversive teams, preventing port structures, warehouses, and dams of the Khadzhibey estuary prepared for explosions in order to flood the Peresyp, which opened the way to the city for Soviet troops. The Soviet flag was raised over the building of the Opera and Ballet Theater. The occupation of Odessa by Romania and Germany lasted 907 days and claimed the lives of 82,000 Soviet citizens. Of the 604,000 people who lived in the city before the war, a little more than half remained on the day of liberation. During the Odessa operation, Red Army soldiers showed examples of endurance and military skill. Many units and formations of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, which most distinguished themselves in combat operations, were awarded orders, and 27 were awarded honorary titles of Odessa. From the award sheet of the mortarman of the Guard Sergeant Vladimir Gerasimov: “Pursuing the retreating enemy, his crew provided the opportunity for our units to break through to the city of Odessa, while up to 18 enemy soldiers and officers were destroyed and his crew was among the first to break into the city of Odessa, for which it is worthy of the government awards of the Order of the Red Star. “In the battles on the outskirts of Odessa, and especially in the battle on the outskirts of the city on April 10, 1944, Comrade. Kovalev showed courage and courage, boldly attacked the enemy, quickly knocked the Nazis out of the occupied trenches, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. Thanks to a skillful maneuver, the company quickly broke into the outskirts of the city and started a street battle, pursuing the fleeing Nazis. In this battle, the soldiers of his company destroyed 60 and captured 15 German soldiers,” the command noted, presenting Lieutenant Andrei Kovalev for a government award. As a result of the operation carried out between March 26 and April 14, 1944, Soviet troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the German 6th and Romanian 3rd armies. Enemy losses amounted to over 27,000 people killed and more than 11,000 people captured, 952 guns, 443 tanks and assault guns, 95 warehouses with ammunition and food. In the coastal direction, significant changes have occurred in the strategic plan. The Black Sea Fleet was able to relocate ships and aircraft to the northwestern region of the Black Sea basin. A threat from the sea was created to the enemy's Crimean group, which was already blocked from land, and conditions were created for further operations in Moldova, Romania, and the Balkans. On April 10, Moscow saluted the valiant troops who liberated Odessa with twenty-four artillery salvoes from 324 guns. |
| Posted by:badanov |