Battle of Velikiye Luki
Part of World War II
Velikiye Luki (red, upper left) and the nearby rail trunks, in the context of the Soviet 1942-1943 offensives. (click to enlarge)
Date: 19 November 1942 – 16 January 1943 Location: Velikiye Luki, Pskov Oblast, Russia Result: Qualified Soviet victory
Combatants
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders
Kurt von der Chevallerie	M. A. Purkayev
Strength
~20,000 (on 19 Nov)	100,000 (on 19 Nov)
Casualties
17,000 killed or wounded, 3,000 captured	30,000 killed or wounded

Situation after the initial Soviet advance.

The Battle of Velikiye Luki between Germany and the Soviet Union occurred in and around the Russian city Velikiye Luki during the winter of 1942-1943. Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... Download high resolution version (900x880, 224 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Velikiye Luki (also transliterated as Velikie Luki, Russian Великие Луки) - city in Russia, in Pskov Oblast. ... Pskov Oblast (Russian: ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). ... The Eastern Front of World War II was the theatre of war covering the conflict in central and eastern European regions from June 1941 to May 1945. ... Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Supreme commander: Adolf Hitler Supreme commander: Josef Stalin Strength ~ 3. ... Combatants Axis Powers, Spanish Blue Division Soviet Union Commanders Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Georg von Kuechler Kliment Voroshilov Georgy Zhukov Strength 725,000 930,000 Casualties Unknown 300,000 military, 16,470 civilians from bombings and estimated 1 million civilians from starvation The Siege of Leningrad (Russian: блокада Ленинграда) was the German... Combatants Germany, Romania Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein Filipp Oktyabrskiy, Ivan Petrov Strength 350,000+ 106,000 Casualties at least 100,000 killed, wounded or captured. ... Combatants Germany Soviet Union Commanders Fedor von Bock Georgi Zhukov Strength ~ 1,500,000 ~ 1,500,000 Casualties 250,000 700,000 The Battle of Moscow refers to the defense of the Soviet capital of Moscow and the subsequent counter-offensive against the German army, between October 1941 and January... The formation of the Rzhev salient during the winter of 1941-1942. ... Combatants Germany Soviet Union Commanders Friedrich Paulus, Fedor von Bock Semyon Timoshenko Strength 300,000 men, 1000 tanks, 1500 aircraft 640,000 men, 1200 tanks, 1000 aircraft Casualties 20,000 killed, wounded or captured 207,057 killed, wounded or captured, 652 tanks, 1,646 guns, 3,278 mortars, 57,626... Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein Friedrich Paulus Hermann Hoth Georgy Zhukov Vasily Chuikov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Strength German Sixth Army German Fourth Panzer Army Romanian Third Army Romanian Fourth Army Hungarian Second Army Italian Eighth Army 500,000 Germans Unknown number Reinforcements Unknown number Axis-allies Stalingrad... The eastern front at the time of the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive. ... Combatants Germany Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein, Günther von Kluge, Walther Model Georgy Zhukov, Konstantin Rokossovsky, Nikolai Vatutin Strength 800,000 infantry, 2,700 tanks, 2,000 aircraft 1,300,000 infantry, 3,600 tanks, 2,400 aircraft Casualties 500,000 dead, wounded, or captured 500 tanks 200... Combatants Axis Soviet Union Commanders Günther von Kluge Andrei Yeremenko Vasily Sokolovsky Strength 850,000 men 8,800 guns 500 tanks 700 planes[1] 1,253,000 men 20,640 guns 1,430 tanks 1,100 planes[2] Casualties (Soviet est. ... Combatants Axis Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein Rokossovsky, Konev Strength 1,250,000 men 12,600 guns 2,100 tanks 2,000 planes 2,650,000 men 51,000 guns 2,400 tanks 2,850 planes Casualties Low est. ... The 1943 Battle of Kiev resulted in a Soviet victory, forcing the German invaders of the Soviet Union to retreat further. ... Korsun Pocket, also known as the Cherkassy Pocket, was the name of the large pocket of German troops between the towns of Korsun and Cherkassy on the lower Dnepr River in the Southern Ukraine, during World War II. In January of 1944, the encroaching Soviet Red Army executed a pincer... Combatants Germany Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein (Army Group South) Hans-Valentin Hube (First Panzer Army) Georgi Zhukov Nikolai Vatutin (1st Ukrainian Front) Ivan Koniev (2nd Ukrainian Front) Strength 200,000 500,000 Casualties  ?  ? 357 tanks The Battle of the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket, also known as Hubes Pocket... Combatants Axis Soviet Union Commanders Ernst Busch Konstantin Rokossovski Georgy Zhukov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Strength 800,000 1,700,000 Casualties (Soviet est. ... The Lvov-Sandomierz Operation was the general attack by Soviet forces to clear the Germans from Ukraine. ... Combatants Red Army Wehrmacht Heeresgruppe Südukraine, Romanian Army Commanders Marshal Semyon Timoshenko Generaloberst Friessner Strength 1,341,200, 1,874 tanks and assault guns ca. ... Combatants Wehrmacht i. ... Combatants Axis Soviet Union Commanders General Otto von Lasch Marshal Vasilevsky Marshal Rokossovsky Strength 130,000 250,000 Casualties 50,000 60,000 The Battle of Königsberg was the last battle of the East Prussian Operation. ... Combatants Nazi Germany Soviet Union (incl. ... The Eastern Front at the time of the Prague Offensive. ... Operation August Storm was the code name for the Soviet invasion of Japanese occupied Manchuria, Korea and southern Sakhalin Island during World War II. The Soviets agreed at the Yalta Conference to enter the war against Japan within 3 months of the end of the war in Europe. ... Download high resolution version (650x1116, 79 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (650x1116, 79 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Velikiye Luki (also transliterated as Velikie Luki, Russian Великие Луки) - city in Russia, in Pskov Oblast. ...

When Operation Barbarossa had played out and the front line in the northern sector of the Eastern Front had stabilized in the spring of 1942, the Germans were left in control of the town Velikiye Luki, which provided them a bridgehead over the Lovat River. A major north-south rail trunk ran parallel to the river somewhat to the west, behind the German lines, and marshy terrain leading to Lake Peipus began just north of the city, making attack difficult for either side there. The city itself was therefore a natural point for a Soviet counterattack, to reduce the German bridgehead and establish a bridgehead of their own on the opposite side, denying the Germans use of the rail trunk. Thus the Germans garrisoned the city and fortified it heavily over the course of 1942. Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Supreme commander: Adolf Hitler Supreme commander: Josef Stalin Strength ~ 3. ... The Eastern Front was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ... This article is about the year. ... A bridgehead is literally a military fortification that protects the end of a bridge that is closest to the enemy. ... Ловать Length 530 km Elevation of the source  ? m Average discharge 105 m³/s Area watershed  ? km² Origin Lake Lovatets Mouth Lake Ilmen Basin countries Belarus,Russia Lovat River (Russian: река́ Ло́вать) is a river in Pskov and Novgorod Oblasts of Russia. ... Lake Peipsi - Landsat satellite photo Lake Peipus (Estonian: Peipsi järv, Russian: Чудское озеро (Chud Lake), German: Peipussee) is a large lake, on the border between Estonia and Russia in Eastern Europe. ... Rail can mean: Rail tracks, see also third rail Rail transport A Railroad-related periodical For the group of birds called rails, see Rallidae For the Mayfair Games board games, see Crayon Rails For rail in electronics, see . ... This article is about the year. ...

A major Soviet offensive to retake the city did indeed develop in mid-November 1942, beginning just days before the larger Operation Uranus that surrounded Stalingrad, and Velikiye Luki was likewise quickly surrounded. However, the garrison and fortifications prevented its immediate seizure. While the Soviets fought to reduce the fortified heart of the city the Germans brought up reserves and began a series of attempts to relieve the garrison. All the attempts failed, and during the final attempt commandos from the Brandenburger Regiment were used to infiltrate the lines and help the remnant of the garrison break out, but the city was permanently lost to the Red Army and only a small fraction of the original German garrison escaped with the Brandenburgers. The defenders in the Eastern half of the city finally surrendered on 16 January 1943. This article is about the year. ... The eastern front at the time of Operation Uranus. ... Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein Friedrich Paulus Hermann Hoth Georgy Zhukov Vasily Chuikov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Strength German Sixth Army German Fourth Panzer Army Romanian Third Army Romanian Fourth Army Hungarian Second Army Italian Eighth Army 500,000 Germans Unknown number Reinforcements Unknown number Axis-allies Stalingrad... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Brandenburger Regiment. ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ...

The battle is sometimes called "The Little Stalingrad of the North" due to its similarities with the larger and better-known Battle of Stalingrad that raged simultaneously in the southern sector of the front. (However, a number of other battles in World War II and afterward have also been dubbed a "Little Stalingrad".) Combatants Axis Powers Soviet Union Commanders Erich von Manstein Friedrich Paulus Hermann Hoth Georgy Zhukov Vasily Chuikov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Strength German Sixth Army German Fourth Panzer Army Romanian Third Army Romanian Fourth Army Hungarian Second Army Italian Eighth Army 500,000 Germans Unknown number Reinforcements Unknown number Axis-allies Stalingrad...

Orders of battle

German

• Army Group Center
  • Group Chevallerie
    • Velikiye Luki garrison
    • Group Wöhler
      • 8th Panzer Division
      • 20th Motorized Infantry Division
      • 3rd Mountain Division
      • 83rd Infantry Division
        • 3rd Ski Battalion (attached)
      • 205th Infantry Division
      • 291st Infantry Division
      • 331st Infantry Division
      • Elements of the 3rd Mountain Division
      • 1st SS Motorized Brigade
        • 459th Assault Gun Company (attached)
        • RFSS Battalion (attached)
        • Freikorps Danmark (attached)
      • 185th Assault Gun Battalion
      • One company from the 803rd Brandenburger Commando Regiment
    • II Luftwaffe Corps
      • 6th Luftwaffe Field Division
      • One battalion from the 7th Flieger Division

Most of Army Group Center was engaged in resisting the second Soviet Rzhev-Sychevka offensive throughout this period. Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte in German) was one of three German army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, code-named Operation Barbarossa. ... 3rd Light Division 8th Panzer Division The 3rd Light Division (sometimes described as Light Mechanized or Light Panzer to distinguish it from the later Light infantry divisions) was raised in November 1938. ... 20th Infantry Division 20th Motorized Infantry Division 20th Panzergrenadier Division The German 20th Infantry Division was established in 1934 under the cover name Reichswehrdienststelle Hamburg, and did not assume its bona-fide designation until the creation of the Wehrmacht was announced in October 1935. ... The German 3rd Mountain Division was raised from the Austrian 5th and 7th Divisions. ... 14th Landwehr Division 205th Infantry Division The 14th Landwehr Division was mobilized a few days before the invasion of Poland, and remained on garrison duty in Germany throughout that campaign. ... The German 3rd Mountain Division was raised from the Austrian 5th and 7th Divisions. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Brandenburger Regiment. ... The eastern front at the time of the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive. ...

Prior to the battle the forces in and around Velikiye Luki were under the control of the LIX Corps, commanded by General Chevallerie. As the battle developed LIX Corps was temporarily redesignated Group Chevallerie, an army in all but name, and a new Group Wöhler was organized to control the troops in the relief attempts. Group Chevallerie was redesignated back to LIX Corps after the battle.

Almost half of 83rd Infantry was assigned to the Velikiye Luki garrison.

3rd Mountain was at little more than half strength, since its 139th Regiment had been left in Lapland when the division withdrew from northern Finland. The 138th Mountain Regiment was the unknown unit of 3rd Mountain shown in Maps 2 and 3.

8th Panzer was dispatched from Army Group North's reserve. It was greatly understrength in tanks at the time of the battle. Those it had were mostly the useful but obsolescent PzKW 38t models of Czechoslovakian pre-war design reinforced with only a few PzKW III and PzKW IV, no match for the Soviet tanks encountered in the battle. Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord in German) was a high level command grouping of military units operating for Germany during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached army corps, reserve formations, and direct-reporting units. ... The Panzer 38(t) was a Czechoslovakian tank used by Germany during World War II. (The Czechoslovak military designation was LT-38. ... Czechoslovakia (Czech: ÄŒeskoslovensko, Slovak: ÄŒesko-Slovensko/before 1990 ÄŒeskoslovensko) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1918 until early 1993 (with government-in-exile during the World War II period). ... The Panzerkampfwagen III (PzKpfw III), more commonly referred to as the Panzer III, was a tank developed in the 1930s by Germany and used extensively in World War II. It was designed to fight other AFVs, serving alongside the infantry-support Pzkpfw IV. It soon became obsolete in this role... The Panzerkampfwagen IV (PzKpfw IV), more commonly referred to as the Panzer IV, was a tank developed by Germany and used extensively in World War II. It was designed initially as an infantry-support medium tank, to work in conjunction with the anti-tank Pzkpfw III. Later in the war...

20th Motorized was from Army Group Center's reserve.

Soviet

German relief attempts. (Notice that the order of battle given on this 1952 map is not accurate.)

• Kalinin Front (Purkayev)
  • Third Shock Army (K. N. Galitsky)
    • 21st Guards Rifle Division
    • 28th Rifle Division
    • 32nd Rifle Division
    • 150th Rifle Division Stalin
    • 360th Rifle Division
    • 129th Tank Brigade
    • 184th Tank Brigade
    • 236th Tank Brigade
    • 45th Ski Brigade
    • 23rd Rifle Brigade
    • 100th Rifle Brigade
    • 389th Tank Destroyer Regiment
    • Supporting troops
  • 2nd Mechanized Corps
    • 381st Rifle Division
    • 33rd Tank Brigade
    • 36th Tank Brigade
    • 18th Mechanized Brigade
    • 34th Mechanized Brigade
    • 43rd Mechanized Brigade
    • 44th Ski Brigade
    • 26th Rifle Brigade
    • 31st Rifle Brigade
    • Supporting troops
  • 5th Guards Shock Corps
    • 9th Guards Rifle Division
    • 46th Guards Rifle Division
      • 34th Breakthrough Tank Regiment (attached)
    • 257th Rifle Division
    • 357th Rifle Division
    • 92nd Tank Brigade
    • Supporting troops
  • 8th Estonian Rifle Corps
    • 19th Guards Rifle Division
    • 7th Estonian Rifle Division
    • 249th Estonian Rifle Division
    • 45th Tank Brigade
    • Supporting troops

Most of Maksim Alekseevich Purkayev's Kalinin Front was engaged in the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive to the south of Velikiye Luki; only the units on his right flank participated in this battle. K. N. Galitsky commanded the 3rd Shock Army which was part of the Kalinin Front. Download high resolution version (650x1129, 95 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (650x1129, 95 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Kalinin refers to: Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin The city of Tver, which from 1931 to 1990 was named after Kalinin. ... The eastern front at the time of the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive. ...

The 92nd Tank Brigade was equipped with heavy KV-1 tanks. K. 1 is a designation given to two works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the original Köchel Verzeichnis. ...

Conversely, the 34th Breakthrough Tank Regiment was equipped with T-34 tanks rather than the expected KV-1 tanks. Also, notice that the 34th was not a Guards unit, though it operated as part of the 46th Guards Rifle Division. The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank first produced in 1940. ...

The 184th Tank Brigade was destroyed and rebuilt again over the course of the battle. However, for some reason it was rebuilt as the 78th Tank Brigade.

See also

• Eastern Front (WWII)

The Eastern Front was the theatre of combat between Nazi Germany and its allies against the Soviet Union during World War II. It was somewhat separate from the other theatres of the war, not only geographically, but also for its scale and ferocity. ...

References

• Chadwick, Frank A. et al. (1979). White Death: Velikiye Luki, The Stalingrad of the North. Normal, Il: Game Designers Workshop.
  • White Death is a board wargame that covers the battle with exacting detail. It includes notes on the battle, detailed orders of battle for each side, and a 1:100,000 map derived from Soviet wartime situation maps.
• Department of the Army Pamphlet 20-234 "Operations of Encircled Forces: German Experiences in Russia" Washington, DC 1952
• Webb, William A. (2002). "Battle of Velikiye Luki: Surrounded in the Snow". Accessed on April 21, 2005.