Landing in Zhebriyany - Vilkovo

In the course of the Yassy-Kishinev offensive operation, which began on August 20, 1944, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front (Commander Marshal of the Soviet Union F. I. Tolbukhin ) broke into the defense of the German-Romanian forces of the Army Group "Southern Ukraine" (Commander Colonel-General J. Friesner ) on the Dniester River and rapidly attacked the Danube Delta . The defeated enemy troops of the 3rd Romanian army (commander of the army general Petre Dumitrescu ) were also hurried away in the hope of organizing a solid defense using numerous water obstacles. To disrupt this plan, the Danube military flotilla (the commander of Rear Admiral S. G. Gorshkov ) received an order to land landings in the Danube Delta and intercept the airborne detachments of the enemy troops. To support the landings, the main forces of the flotilla were to break into the Danube from the Black Sea .

On August 23, 1944, the ships of the breakout detachment and the landing detachment left Odessa . A detachment of boats - the Kerch brigade of armored boats (10 armored boats , 3 small hunter boats, 2 mineboats, 3 hydroplanes, the brigade commander and the commander of the landing team, Hero of the Soviet Union, Captain 3rd rank P.I. Derzhavin ) - near Zhebriyana village at dawn 24 on August 28, 285 people were landed from the 384th Separate Marine Battalion (armed with 4 mortars, 10 anti-tank guns), the commander - Major Kotanov F. Ye. ). At the same time, a landing force operated in the detachment. Simultaneously, a breakthrough was made into the Kiliya arm of a detachment of 39 different flotilla boats (11 armored boats, 6 mine boats, 6 minesweepers, 10 hydroplanes, 6 ZIS boats) under the flag of the flotilla commander SG Gorshkov .

After a three-hour battle, the landing force occupied the Zhebriyans, turned by the enemy into a powerful fortified point, and entrenched there. This was a complete surprise for the Romanian troops, who were getting out of the blow of the Soviet ground forces from Lake Kunduk . In the area of ​​Zhebryan, the German Jäger battalion, the Romanian infantry battalion, and units of the 153rd German infantry division occupied the defense. But the troops retreating from the front continuously approached them. Soon, using numerical superiority, the Romanians, by forces of up to two infantry regiments, attempted to break through the positions of the landing force. All day August 24 was a tough fight. Using the fortifications prepared by the enemy, the paratroopers with the artillery support of the ships and aviation kept the village, and with the approach of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front around 8:00 pm on August 24 the enemy group of 4,800 people laid down their arms. Also in the battle was destroyed (according to Soviet data) about 1,500 soldiers and officers.

Simultaneously with the battle for Zhebriyans, the breakthrough squad at dawn on August 24 entered the Kiliya channel and began to move up the river under the cover of Black Sea Fleet aviation . On the morning of August 24, this detachment had already reached Vilkova and opened fire on the enemy troops that had accumulated on the coast to cross the Danube. A landing party was landed in the port of Vilkovo (the landing party consisted of 16 boats under the cover of 8 torpedo boats ). Also, to strengthen this landing on the same day, another detachment of boats (29 units) from Odessa broke through in Vilkovo.

The battle for Vilkovo turned out to be short: because of the threat of encirclement, the Romanian troops did not get involved in a stubborn battle with the landing force, but hurriedly retreated into Romanian territory, losing common control and throwing equipment. Reports of a coup in Bucharest on Aug. 23 increased demoralization of personnel. In the afternoon of August 24, the forward parts of the front reached the northern outskirts of Vilkov. The east coast of the Kiliya Arm of the Danube turned out to be completely in the hands of the Soviet troops, which had a positive effect on the further advance of the troops into the depths of Romanian territory. In the Vilkov area, about 2,000 enemy soldiers and officers were captured, and up to 300 people were killed.

The losses of the paratroopers in both landings amounted to 18 killed and 36 wounded, the losses among the crews of the ships are unknown.

On the afternoon of August 24, in the area of ​​Vilkova, a battle took place between the river Soviet and Romanian flotillas - 5 Soviet armored boats from the troop support group forced the detachment of Romanian ships to depart (1 monitor and several boats). During the battle, a called-up aviation group struck the Romanian ships (10 Pe-2 bombers and 6 Yak-9 fighters), while the monitor was sunk.

For his courage in this operation, F. E. Kotanov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, many paratroopers were awarded state awards.

• Yassy-Kishinev operation

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