Sandomierz bridgehead

The bridgehead was captured in the last days of July by the troops of the 1st Guards Tank and 13th armies . On July 29, units of the 13th Army (Lieutenant-General N.P. Pukhov ) and forward detachments of the 1st Guards Tank Army (Colonel-General M.Ye. Katuk ) forced the river south of Sandomir. On July 30 and 31, the 3rd Guards Army (Colonel-General V.N. Gordov ) forced the Vistula north of Sandomir. On the left bank of the Vistula, small size bridgeheads were captured. Following the formations of the 13th and 1st Guards Tank Armies , the 3rd Guards Tank Army (Lieutenant General P. S. Rybalko ) crossed the southern bridgehead. By the end of August 1, the southern bridgehead was expanded to 30 km along the front and 20 km in depth. By August 10, as a result of bloody battles, it was possible to expand it to 60 km along the front and up to 50 km in depth. On August 14, the 3rd Guards and the 13th armies launched an offensive against Sandomierz and the next day took the city.

On the morning of August 2, the German command of the forces of the 4th tank and 17th army , in an effort to eliminate bridgeheads, launched counterattacks . Within 3 days were fierce battles.

On August 4, the 5th Guards Army (Lieutenant General A.S. Zhadov ) was introduced into the battle - reserve of the front. The enemy’s counterstrikes were repelled. From August 5 to 10, the main forces of the 13th Army, the 1st and 3rd Guards Tank Armies, regrouped into the southern bridgehead, broke through the enemy defenses southwest of Sandomierz, defeated the enemy's 4th tank army and significantly expanded the bridgehead. In connection with the concentration by the enemy of fresh forces for the new counterstrike, the front command additionally advanced artillery and the 31st tank corps to the southern bridgehead.

On August 11, the enemy, in the area of ​​the Laguvian ledge, by forces of 2 tank and 1 motorized divisions struck a counterblow at the junction of the 13th and 5th Guards Army in the direction of Staszów and within two days penetrated the defense of the Soviet troops by 8-10 km. On August 13, the enemy, using 3 tank and 1 infantry divisions, inflicted a new counterstrike in the area of Stopnitsa and pressed the troops of the 5th Guards Army to 6-10 km; Here, for the first time, Tigr II heavy tanks (the “Royal Tiger”) were used near Oglanduva . The Soviet command transferred the 4th tank army and the rifle corps to the southern bridgehead.

On August 14, the 13th Army, the 3rd and 1st Guards Tank armies launched an offensive and surrounded the formations of the German 42th Army Corps in the Sandomir area, but from August 19 to August 21, the enemy managed to unblock them.

By August 20, 1944, the captured bridgeheads were extended to 80 km along the front and up to 50 km in depth. Fighting on the Sandomierz bridgehead continued until the end of August.

Significant assistance to the Soviet troops was provided by the aviation of the 2nd Air Army , which made up to 17,000 combat aircraft sorties during this period.

On January 12, 1945, the Sandomir bridgehead became the starting area for the main forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front to launch an offensive in the Sandomierz-Silesian operation as part of the 1945 Vislo-Oder operation . During an almost half-year lull, the front received the necessary replenishment of resources. The rapidly developing offensive allowed the liberation of the territory of Poland within a week to reach the border of 1939 and then on the territory of Germany.

• Sandomirsky bridgehead // Radio control - Tachanka / [total]. ed. N.V. Ogarkova ]. - Moscow : Military Publishing House of the USSR Defense Ministry , 1980. - ( Soviet Military Encyclopedia : [in 8 tons.]; 1976-1980, Vol. 7).
• Sandomirskiy bridgehead / World War II, 1941-1945 : encyclopedia / ed. M.M. Kozlov . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1985. - p. 632. - 500 000 copies.