Operation Gallop
![]() | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (May 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
![]() | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (April 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Operation Gallop | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
![]() |
![]() | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
![]() |
![]() | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Initial strength [1]
|
Initial strength[1]
|
Operation Gallop (Russian: Операция Скачок, romanized: Operatsiya Skachok) was a Soviet Army operation on the Eastern Front of World War II. The operation was part of a series of counteroffensives after the encirclement of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) following the German Summer offensive in 1942. The Soviet High Command expected a collapse of the German front line in southern Russia and northeast Ukraine and launched a number of counteroffensives to exploit the weak German situation. The operation was launched on 29 January 1943 in conjunction with Operation Star and aimed against Voroshilovgrad (Luhansk), Donetsk, and then towards the Sea of Azov to cut off all German forces east of Donetsk. It was conducted by the Southwestern Front, commanded by Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin. The offensive was initially successful as the Soviets broke through the weak German lines. The Germans were pushed back to a line west of Voroshilovgrad.[2][3]
In face of a total collapse in the south the German command arranged a number of reorganisations and created a new Army Group South out of the shattered forces of the old Army Groups A, B and Don, under the command of Erich von Manstein. The Soviet offensives, initially successful, ultimately outran their supply lines, and during a counteroffensive at Kharkov, the Germans were able to regain the momentum. The result would be a last German strategic offensive at Kursk.[2][3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Glantz, David M. (1991). From the Don to the Dnepr: Soviet Offensive Operations, December 1942 – August 1943. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-18130-7.
- Glantz, David M. (1995). When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-70060-899-0.
- Nipe, George M. Jr. (2000). Last Victory in Russia: The SS-Panzerkorps and Manstein's Kharkov Counteroffensive—February–March 1943. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 0-76431-186-7.
- Battles and operations of World War II
- Battles and operations of the Soviet–German War
- Battles of World War II involving Germany
- Battles involving the Soviet Union
- Strategic operations of the Red Army in World War II
- Military operations of World War II involving Germany
- January 1943 events
- February 1943 events